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How to Add and Configure Backup Devices in NovaBACKUP

If you're unable to see backup devices when creating a backup job, or receiving errors about "no devices to backup to," this guide will walk you through properly adding and configuring backup devices in NovaBACKUP. This is a common requirement for the device-centric backup approach used in NovaBACKUP version 21 and newer.

What You'll Learn:

  • How to add local backup devices (USB drives, NAS, network shares)
  • How to configure device settings and credentials
  • How to troubleshoot common device configuration issues
  • How to create backup jobs using your configured devices

Prerequisites

  • NovaBACKUP version 21 or newer installed
  • Administrative access to your computer
  • Network credentials (if backing up to NAS or network share)
  • Target storage device connected and accessible

Step 1: Add a Local Backup Device

Open Device Configuration

  1. Launch NovaBACKUP on your computer
  2. Navigate to the Device tab in the main interface
  3. Click the "Add" button to create a new device choosing the Local Backup (that can either be a locally connected drive, or a network path device such as a NAS) option.

Step 2: Configure Device Settings

For Network Devices (NAS/Network Share)

Device Name:

  1. For the first "Device Name" parameter, specify a value for whatever friendly name that you want to give this NAS/Network Share, that will show up as the target device name in the UI, and logs. Please make sure not to specify the same base name as the network path utilizes at the base, as that can cause a problem with backup to it, so for instance don't utilize the "Device Name" value of "NAS" here if the start of the UNC network path address is '\\nas', and don't utilize the "Device Name" value of "192.168.1.100" here if the start of the UNC network path address is '\\192.168.1.100'.

Device Path Configuration:

  1. Enter the device path using UNC format for the network path address:
    • Example: \\NAS-Name\BackupFolder
    • Example: \\192.168.1.100\Backups
    • Example: \\ServerName\SharedFolder\Backups

Network Credentials:

  1. Provide network credentials if required:
    • Username: Enter the username for the network device
    • Password: Enter the corresponding password
    • Domain: Leave blank for local users that exist on the NAS, or enter domain name if the NAS device is using Active Directory for domain authentication.
  2. Test the connection by clicking the "Check credentials" button. This will check to make sure that it can make the authentication to the network path, but it does not attempt to write a file there to check if it does in fact have the necessary write permissions keep in mind.
  3. Look for a green checkmark indicating a successful connection. If you get an error during the test, please confirm the network path and the network credentials. If you still have an issue please reference this guide here (as there are some very common reasons why that can occur, usually to do with there is an open network connection to that network path already on the client machine, which will need to be temporarily disconnected to be able to add the device).

For local Internal/USB/External Drives (that has a local drive letter, that is not  a mapped network drive)

  1. Select the local drive letter from the dropdown menu
  2. Specify a folder path (optional) - Example: E:\Backups

Step 3: Create a Backup Job

Set Up Your Backup Job

  1. Go to the Backup tab
  2. Click "Create New Job"
  3. Choose the files or folders you want to back up
  4. Click the "Backup to..." button at the bottom left, to set the destination to be the device that you had just added
  5. Configure job settings as needed, including E-mail Notification, and Run As, etc.

Configure Retention Rules

Set Backup Retention:

  1. Define retention period - How long backups should be kept
    • Number of days (or months or years) to retain backups
  2. Save the job and optionally schedule it

Best Practices

Security Recommendations

  1. Use dedicated backup credentials rather than administrator accounts when possible
  2. Create specific backup users on NAS devices with limited permissions
  3. Test restore procedures regularly to ensure device accessibility

Performance Tips

  1. Use wired network connections for NAS devices when possible
  2. Ensure adequate bandwidth for network-based backups

Maintenance

  1. Monitor device space regularly
  2. Update device credentials when network passwords change

Related Articles

Still Need Help?

If you're still experiencing issues with device configuration:

  1. Contact Support at support@novabackup.com
  2. Include in your support request:
    • Screenshots of device configuration screens
    • Error messages you're encountering
    • Device type and connection method
    • NovaBACKUP version information

Phone Support: Available for technical assistance with device setup and configuration issues.