Can I copy a SnapMirror snapshot to a USB drive?

chris_davis — Wed, 04 Jun 2025 18:37:16 GMT

I have a request from a member of a different team to have his virtual machines copied onto a USB drive to be used as an archive.

Here's my setup:

Two FAS2240 filers, one is primary and one is strictly a backup filer.

VMWare is connected via NFS.

I use SnapMirror to create and transport my snapshots over to my backup filer at least once an hour.

Would it be possible to copy one of the snapshots on the second filer onto a USB drive to be used as an off-site backup of sorts? Would it be possible to use it as a potention restore point at some point in the future?

If so, what's the best method for copying the files off?

Re: Can I copy a SnapMirror snapshot to a USB drive?

aborzenkov — Tue, 18 Oct 2016 06:40:12 GMT

Not that I'm aware of. It is possible to perform SnapMirror to tape (connection can be FC or SAS) or store SnapMirror stream to a file on the filer. The latter may be alternative if you have enough space; file can be then copied off filer. To use it for restore you would need to SnapMirror from it to a volume first, which again requires additional space.

Not sure how much single tape drive costs, but that can be alternative.

topic Can I copy a SnapMirror snapshot to a USB drive? in VMware Solutions Discussions

Can I copy a SnapMirror snapshot to a USB drive?

Re: Can I copy a SnapMirror snapshot to a USB drive?