Syncing a USB RoundTrip drive with a Datto appliance

NOTE  USB RoundTrips are not currently compatible with Microsoft Hyper-V environments. You can use a NAS RoundTrip device with a Hyper-V machine.

1. Ensure that you have enabled USB passthrough (external link) on the VMware environment that hosts your Virtual SIRIS.

2. Connect the USB RoundTrip to the server hosting the Virtual SIRIS.

3. Access the VMware management environment and select the Virtual SIRIS host.

4. From the inventory screen, right-click the Virtual SIRIS, and select Edit Settings.

5. On the Virtual Hardware tab, select USB Host Controller from the New device drop-down menu and click Add. The new USB controller will appear at the bottom of the Virtual Hardware device list.

6. Click OK.

7. Proceed to the Perform the RoundTrip sync section of this article.

   NOTE  If the VMware host does not detect the USB RoundTrip, reconnect the drive to either the upper left corner blade USB port on the server or to a known good USB port, such as one assigned to a mouse or keyboard. If the issue persists, ensure that your server meets the environment requirements described in USB Configuration from an ESXi Host to a Virtual Machine(external link) or contact VMware support to troubleshoot the controller.

1. Connect the Datto RoundTrip drive's USB cable into an available USB port on the Datto device.

2. Log into your Datto device's GUI and click the Synchronize tab.

3. If your appliance detected the USB drive, you will see a green Perform RoundTrip Sync button. If drive detection failed, the button will read, "Please attach a RoundTrip Drive."
   

4. Click Perform a USB RoundTrip Sync. You will see the RoundTrip Wizard welcome screen. Click Next to continue.
   

   By default, the RoundTrip Wizard pauses all local backups for the duration of the sync. While you can override this setting, the sync may take longer to complete as a result. With backups paused, the average sync transfer speed is 15 MBps / 120 Mbps.

5. Select the enclosures (USB drives) you will use for the RoundTrip. To select multiple drives for a RAID 0, hold down CTRL and click the drives. Click Next to continue.
   

6. You will see the Select Agents window. Select the agents and NAS shares that you want to sync to the RoundTrip.

   • Uncheck Encrypt Drive if you are performing a local archive. You should only check the Encrypt Drive option for drives that are being sent to Datto to store in the Cloud. If you leave this box checked, you'll have to plug the drive into the same Datto device from which the data came to be able to read it.

   • Unchecking This RT is for Cloud Sync stops the recovery points within this RoundTrip from syncing offsite. Only uncheck this if you are making a local archive.

   • When ready, Click Next to continue.

   

7. If you checked Manually Select Snapshots in the previous step, click the Agent or NAS (on the left) to select snapshots to sync to the RoundTrip (on the right). Click Next to continue.
   

8. Click Start RoundTrip to have the Datto device sync the specified information to the RoundTrip drive.

   IMPORTANT  Clicking Start RoundTrip will delete all data on the drives you selected for the RoundTrip process. It will also stop offsite synchronization, screenshots, and local backups (if not initially set) for the duration of the syncing process. If you restart the RoundTrip process with a drive containing existing RoundTrip data attached, all information previously synchronized to the USB drive will be deleted.

9. You will see the confirmation window Click the Start Roundtrip button to continue.
   

   NOTE  Entering an email address will send you a notification when the synchronization completes. To add multiple email addresses, separate each email address with a comma and no spaces.

10. Click the Close Wizard button. The device's GUI will update with "RoundTrip is running" and indicate the step it is on.

11. When the RoundTrip sync finishes, the left panel will update the Last RoundTrip timestamp, and you will see the Start RoundTrip button.

12. To check the status of the RoundTrip while it is running, access the appliance GUI and click the Synchronize tab. Your Datto device will report the RoundTrip's sync status.
    

13. When the RoundTrip Sync finishes, send the RoundTrip drive back to Datto to have the data synchronized to the Datto Cloud. You can find the return shipping label in the box the RoundTrip drive came in. The PO# field will match the serial number of the Datto appliance for which you ordered the RoundTrip.

14. If you misplace the label, email rtoperations@datto.com with your device information, Datto will email you a printable PDF return label.