Frequently Asked Questions

How do I find my QNAP NAS architecture?

To identify the architecture for your model,

1. Login to your QNAP NAS.
2. Go to 'App Center' > 'Backup'/'Sync'.
3. Click the IDrive package icon. A popup window for IDrive package appears.
4. Click the 'download' link. It will download the App center's package of IDrive App for your QNAP model. Package name will contain the architecture for your QNAP.

Once you know the architecture for your QNAP device , download the latest package of the same architecture.

How do I install the QNAP Backup App on my QNAP NAS device?

To install the QNAP Backup App on your QNAP NAS device,

1. Login to your QNAP NAS device as 'admin'.
   
   
   
   
2. Open 'App Center'.
   
   
   
   
3. Click the Search icon and search for 'IDrive'.
   
   
   
   
4. Click IDrive Thumbnail from the search list.
5. Click 'Install'. After installation, the IDrive App will be listed in 'App Center' under the 'My Apps' tab.
6. To start the application, click .

How can I install the QNAP Backup App on my QNAP NAS device if the latest version is not available in the QNAP App Center?

To install,

1. Login to your QNAP NAS device as 'admin'.
   
   
   
   
2. Download the QPKG file compatible for your QNAP device.
3. Navigate to 'App Center', and click 'Install Manually'.
4. Click 'Browse' and select the IDrive QPKG file.
5. Click 'Install'. After installation, the IDrive App will be listed in 'App Center' under the 'My Apps' tab.
6. To start the application, click 'Open' under .

How do I launch and use the QNAP Backup App?

To launch the QNAP Backup App,

1. Login to the QNAP device and click 'App Center'.
2. Under , click 'Launch'. You will be redirected to the 'IDrive QNAP Backup' login page.
3. Enter the QNAP username and password, and click 'Login'.
4. Enter IDrive Username and Password and click 'Login'.

Note:

• If you had set a private key for your account, on clicking 'Login', it will redirect to the 'Encryption Key' page. Enter your encryption key and click 'Continue'.
• If Two-factor Authentication is enabled for your IDrive Account, on clicking 'Login', a pop-up will prompt you to enter the code.
• If SSO is enabled for your IDrive Account. Click on the single-sign-on(SSO) link, it will redirect to the SSO login page.

The QNAP Backup App launches and the following tabs are available:

1. Backup: Enables you to backup data from the QNAP device to your IDrive account.
2. Restore: Enables you to restore data from your IDrive account to the QNAP device.
3. Scheduler: This allows you to manage your scheduled backup jobs.
4. Log: Enables you to view the status of your backup and restore operations.
5. Express Backup: Enables you to backup data from the Qnap device to the IDrive Express^™ device.

How to perform a manual backup/restore operation?

To perform a manual backup/restore operation,

1. Click the 'Backup'/'Restore' tab and select the file(s)/folder(s) you wish to backup/restore manually. You can also click next to backup/restore location to specify a different backup/restore location.
2. Click 'Backup Now'/'Restore Now'.
   To exclude individual files/folders (for e.g. file extension like tmp), which may be part of the backup set, from being backed up to your account, from the 'Select files/folders for Backup' list, click the drop-down arrow against the respective file/folder and click 'Add to Exclude List'.

Note: For certain accounts, users may have to enter the backup location name manually.

How to create a new scheduled backup?

To create a new scheduled backup,

1. Click the 'Backup' tab and then click 'Create new backup set'.
2. In the 'Backup Set Name' field, enter a name for the new backup job.
3. Select the file(s)/folder(s) to backup.
4. To view the file(s)/folder(s) you have selected for backup, click the 'Selected files/folders list' tab.
5. To remove a selection from the backup list, select the file/folder and click .
6. Click 'Schedule Backup'. The 'Schedule backup parameters' window appears.
7. Select the settings for schedule backup (Hourly, Daily, and Monthly) and click 'Update Schedule'.
8. Select 'Email notification' and enter an email address to receive backup notifications.

Note: You can create a maximum of five backup sets.

How to edit an existing scheduled job?

To edit an existing scheduled job,

1. Click the 'Scheduler' tab and the list of all existing jobs appear.
   
   
   
2. Click the job you want to edit and the schedule parameters for that job appear.
3. Edit the schedule settings and click 'Update Schedule'.

Can I cancel a scheduled job?

Yes, you can cancel a scheduled job.

To cancel,

1. Click the 'Scheduler' tab and the 'Manage All Scheduled jobs' window appears.
2. Click , corresponding to the job you want to cancel.

How can I delete a job?

To delete an existing job,

1. Click the 'Scheduler' tab and the 'Manage All Scheduled jobs' window appears.
2. Click, corresponding to the job you want to delete.

Is it possible to change the default location for my backup jobs?

Yes, you can change the default location of your backup jobs.
To change,

1. Login to the QNAP Backup App, click the NAS username on the top-right corner, and then click 'Preferences'.
2. Under the 'General' tab, click to change the backup location.
3. Select the new backup location in your account.
   
   
   

Note: For some accounts, sections like backup location and mirror path will not be available.

How do I change the restore location?

To change the restore location,

1. Login to the QNAP Backup App, click the 'Restore' tab.
2. Click and the 'Select your restore location' window appears.
3. Select the new restore location and click 'OK'.

What is meant by Mirror and Relative Path Backup?

The 'Mirror Path Backup' option replicates the file/directory hierarchy present on the QNAP system to your IDrive account. By default, the 'Mirror Path' option is enabled. For example, if you select to backup the file 'bin' from 'root/opt/bin' with mirroring option selected, then IDrive will maintain the same directory structure in your online IDrive account as 'ShanePC/root/opt/bin'.

The 'Relative Path Backup' option will not replicate the directory hierarchy of the file as it exists on your QNAP system, but instead it would just backup the file to the selected folder on your IDrive account. For example, if you select to backup the file 'bin' from 'root/opt/bin' with the 'Relative Path' option selected, IDrive will maintain the directory structure in your online IDrive account as 'ShanePC/bin'.

To enable Relative Path backup,

1. Login to the QNAP Backup App, click the NAS username on the top-right corner, and then click 'Preferences'.
2. Click the 'General' tab and the 'Backup Location' window appears.
3. Under backup folder location, click the drop-down menu and select 'Relative Path'.
   
   
   

Note: For some accounts, sections like backup location and mirror path will not be available.

Can I exclude certain file(s)/folder(s) from being backed up?

Yes, you can exclude file(s)/folder(s) from being backed up during manual and scheduled backups in two ways:

1. Exclude files/folders based on full path name
2. Exclude files/folders based on partial name

To exclude files/folders based on full path name,

1. Login to the QNAP Backup App, click the NAS username on the top-right corner, and then click 'Preferences'.
   
   
   
2. Click the 'Exclude' tab and then click next to 'Exclude files / folders with full path names'. The 'Add files/folders to your exclude list' window appears.
   
   
   
3. Select the files/folders to exclude and click 'Add to Exclude List'.

To exclude files/folders based on partial name,

1. Login to the QNAP Backup App, click the username on the top-right corner, and then click 'Preferences'.
2. Click the 'Exclude' tab and enter partial names of files/folders in the 'Enter partial names' section and then click .

Can I stop my scheduled job at a particular time?

Yes, you can stop your scheduled job at a particular time using the 'Cut-off Time' option

To stop your scheduled job,

1. Click the 'Scheduler' tab and then click the job you want to update.
2. The 'Schedule for job' window appears.
3. Enable the 'Cut-off Time' option and set the time you want the job to stop.

How do I update the backup set content for a job?

To update backup set content for a job,

1. Click the 'Backup' tab.
2. From the 'Backup Set Name' drop-down list, select the backup set you want to update.
3. Select the file(s)/folder(s) you want to add. The selected file(s)/folder(s) will be added to that existing backup set.

Can I check if my job is running or not?

Yes, you can check if your job is running or not.
To check,

1. Login to the QNAP Backup App and click the 'Log' tab.
2. Under 'Status' you will see the different states of a job:

• 'In Progress' indicates a particular job is in progress.
• 'Success' indicates all the files were successfully backed up/restored.
• 'Aborted' indicates the backup/restore job was cancelled by user.
• 'Failure' indicates some/majority of the files were not backed up/restored.

To check the status of your scheduled jobs, click the 'Scheduler' tab

How do I check the number of files backed up or restored for an ongoing or a finished job?

To check the number of files backed up or restored,

1. Click the 'Log' tab and the 'Logs' window appears.
2. Under 'Details', click for a particular job and the 'View Log Report' screen appears.
3. Under the 'Summary' section, you can view the number of files backed up or restored.
4. Click 'Download Log report' to download the log file.

How can I check the quota usage for my backup jobs?

To check your quota usage,

1. Login to the QNAP Backup App and click .
2. The quota is calculated and the percentage of 'Storage used' is displayed.

My QNAP device is connected to a Proxy Server. How do I configure the Proxy Server settings on the QNAP Backup App?

If your QNAP device is connected to the internet through a Proxy Server, you can configure the Proxy Server settings on the QNAP Backup App.

To configure proxy settings,

1. Login to the QNAP Backup App, click the NAS username on the top-right corner, and then click 'Preferences'.
2. Click the 'Network' tab and the 'Proxy Settings' window appears.
3. Select 'Manual' and enter the proxy Server IP/Domain Name and port number.
4. Select 'Proxy Server requires password', if your proxy server requires password authentication and enter the 'Username' and 'Password' for the proxy server.

Note: Select 'Auto Detect' for the IDrive QNAP App to automatically detect the proxy settings.

I have installed the IDrive App but when I launch it I get an error page while my URL shows correct address. How to fix this?

You are getting the error because your NAS web station is disabled. IDrive app is web based and requires web station. Go to 'Control Panel' > 'Applications' > 'Web Server'. Check the 'Enable Web Server' option, and click 'Apply All'.

My backups are failing and the log file shows 'Quota over limit' message. How to make sure my backup works fine?

If logs are showing 'Quota over limit' message, it means your account has exceeded the storage space limit and you need to upgrade your account to a higher storage plan. Click 'Upgrade' in the IDrive App to upgrade your account.

Can I search for files/folders on my computer, using the IDrive QNAP app?

Yes, you can search for files/folders present on your computer.

To search,

1. Click 'Search' under the 'Backup' tab. The 'Search' screen appears.
2. Enter the full or partial file/folder name in the 'Search' field. The QNAP local search is case sensitive.
3. Click 'Search'. Files/folders matching the search criteria will appear.

The 'Search' feature can be used to exclude individual files/folders (e.g. file extension like tmp), which may be part of the backup set, from being backed up to your account. Just search for the files and folders, and from the search results that appear, click the drop-down arrow against the respective file/folder and click 'Add to Exclude List'.

Can I search for files/folders in my cloud account, using the IDrive QNAP app?

Yes, you can search for files/folders present in your cloud account.

To search,

1. Click the 'Restore' tab, select the 'Restore files from my Online Account' radio button, and click 'Search'. The 'Search' screen appears.
2. Enter the full or partial file/folder name in the 'Search' field.




3. Click 'Search'. Backed up files/folders matching the search criteria appear.

Note: For some accounts, certain functions like new folder/rename are not available, and drop-down list to select the bucket will be available.

What is Archive Cleanup?

Archive Cleanup does a one-to-one match of the local data in the backup set selected for cleanup with your account files, and permanently deletes data from your account that no longer exists on your NAS device. This frees up space in your account.

By default, Archive Cleanup considers 25% of files for deletion. You can also regulate the percentage according to your preference.

Note: Archive/Periodic Cleanup is not supported for relative path. Archive Cleanup menu will not be visible if relative path is selected. Manual/periodic Cleanup cannot be initiated when manual/scheduled backup is in progress.

To start manual archive cleanup,

1. On the 'Backup' tab, click 'Archive Cleanup'. The 'Archive Cleanup' window appears.





2. Click 'Cleanup Now'. IDrive will generate a list of items to be deleted from your account.
3. Click 'Delete'.

What is Periodic Cleanup?

Periodic Cleanup lets you delete files from your IDrive account that do not exist on your NAS device. It deletes files from your account by matching them to the data in the backup set selected for cleanup. Once enabled, Periodic Cleanup automatically deletes files at the frequency set by you.

You can set the frequency between 5 and 30 days and percentage of files for cleanup between 5% and 25%.

To enable Periodic Cleanup

1. On the 'Backup' tab, click 'Archive Cleanup'.
2. Select 'Periodic Cleanup'.
3. Set the number of days and percentage of data to be considered for cleanup.

Can I retrieve previous versions of my backed up files?

Yes, you can retrieve previous versions of your backed-up files.

Currently IDrive retains up to 30 previous versions of all the backed up files. For accounts created prior to 11-07-2018, up to 10 versions can be restored.

To restore previous versions of a file,

1. Click the 'Restore' tab and hover over any file in the list.
2. Click the icon that appears on the right side of the list.
3. Click on the 'Version' menu. All available file versions will be displayed.
4. Select any one of the previous versions of the file and click 'Restore'.

How do I send error reports to IDrive support?

To send error reports,

1. Login to the QNAP Backup App.
2. Click the NAS username on the top-right corner, and click 'Send Error Report'.
3. Fill the required fields and click 'Send'.

When I am logging in to my IDrive account for the first time on a new QNAP machine, it is asking me to select location/computer for backup. Why?

IDrive lets you restore backup archive of your previous computer on your new computer. You can select the 'Adopt/Link to an existing location/computer' option for this. After logging in, reconnect to the previous computer's backup archive in case you are replacing an old computer. By adopting the previous computer's backup archive, you can avoid time consuming initial backup of your files.

To adopt your backup archive,

1. Install QNAP backup app in your NAS machine and login to QNAP Backup App.
2. Click 'Adopt/Link to an existing location/computer' when prompted to select location/computer for backup. A list of locations/computers linked to your account appears.





3. Select the desired computer/location from the list and click 'Adopt/Link Selected Location' to restore your previous backups.





If you do not want to adopt your previous backups on the new machine, you can click 'Proceed to create new location with this computer name' when prompted to select location/computer for backup.

Can I login to another IDrive account while I am already logged in to the QNAP app?

Yes, you can switch from one IDrive account to another.

To switch accounts,

1. Click the IDrive username on the top-right corner, and then click 'Logout'.
2. Enter the other account credentials and click 'Login'.

Why is the CPU load becoming high while running backup/restore?

If you have enabled the 'Upload multiple file chunks simultaneously' option under 'Preferences' tab, the backups or restores will consume a little more load than expected. This is because the option speeds up data transfer by using multiple thread concept. You can disable this option if your machine resource utilizations are higher.

I am unable to create backup sets. Why?

If you have already created five backup sets you will not be able to create any more new backup sets further. In order to add a new backup set, you will have to delete any of the existing sets.

What is meant by "failed verification - update retained" error message in backup logs?

When IDrive transfers your file, it calculates a checksum for all the data it sends, at the client side and the server side. After successful transfer of full file data, client checksum gets compared at the server end to find on wire corruption and if both checksum does not match then this error will be displayed for the respective file. Usually such an issue arises when files get updated from another source while getting backed up.

What should I do if I am not able to see my backed up data under the 'Restore files from my local device' section in the 'Restore' tab?

If you are not able to see your backed up data under the 'Restore files from my local device' section in the 'Restore' tab, then you can run the 'Re-index' operation. This will re-generate the file/folder list with all the backed up data. However, while the re-index operation is in progress, you will not be able to perform local restore/express backup.

Can I backup data to the Express device without internet connection?

You do not need internet connection to perform Express backup. If you are already logged in to the IDrive application then you can run backup even when your machine is not connected to the internet. But, an active internet connection is required to login to the IDrive application.