Knowledge Center

macOS

You can add new Mac computers to Active Backup for Business, create backup tasks for Mac computers, restore backup data, and manage these computers on this page. You need to install the Active Backup for Business Agent on your computers to perform backups for them.

Create Backup Tasks

Before you create a backup task, install the Active Backup for Business Agent on your computer and connect the computer to your Synology NAS via the agent. Your computer will be listed at PC/Mac > macOS, where you can manage it.

To add a Mac to the device list:

Go to Download Center, select your product model, and download the Active Backup for Business Agent installer for macOS.

Note:

  • You can use backup task templates to apply the same backup settings to multiple computers simultaneously. Go to Settings > Template to configure the templates.

To create a backup task:

Once the agent is installed on the Mac that is connected to the Synology NAS, a backup task will be created based on the matching template. You can also create more than one backup task for each device.

  1. Do either of the following to start the backup creation wizard:
    • Go to PC/Mac > macOS, select a computer you want to back up, and click Create Task.
    • Go to PC/Mac > Task List and click Create.
  2. Select Target Device:

    This step only appears if no device is selected before you click Create. A list of computers already connected to the server will be displayed in this step.

  3. Configure Task Settings:
    • Task name: Set the name of the task. We recommend using a consistent naming pattern to make it easier to filter and search for tasks.
    • Source type: The following types of sources are supported.
      • Entire device: The entire Mac, including the device settings, applications, and all files, will be backed up.
        • Backup external hard drive: You can choose to back up external hard drives.
      • System volume: System volumes, Macintosh HD, and Macintosh HD - Data will be backed up.
      • Customized volume: Click Select then choose the target volume you wish to protect. Floppy drives, thumb drives, and APFS-formatted external hard drives are supported. Flash card readers are not supported.
    • Data transfer settings: The following task settings can be configured in this step.
      • Enable Data Transfer Compression: Compress data during transmission to reduce transferred data size.
      • Enable Data Transfer Encryption: Encrypt data during transmission to enhance data security.
      • Enable bandwidth consumption limit: Limit the data transfer rate from your computer.
  4. Backup Destination:

    Select a shared folder in Btrfs file system as the backup destination. During the package installation, the Btrfs shared folder "ActiveBackupforBusiness" will be created automatically.

  5. Backup Destination Settings: When creating the first task in a backup destination, you can configure compression and encryption settings of the backup destination in this step.
    • Enable compression at backup destination: Compress data to save more storage at the backup destination.
    • Enable encryption at backup destination: Encrypt data to enhance data security at the backup destination.

    Note:

    • If you have also configured traffic throttling on the Settings page, the actual data transmission rate will depend on the distributed bandwidth.
    • To back up external drives on your Mac, make sure that Full Disk Access is enabled, the format of the drives is APFS, and they are not encrypted.
    • The compression and encryption settings of a backup destination are not changeable after the first backup task is created. If you want to use different settings for future tasks, create a task on a new destination.
  6. Schedule Backup Task:
    • Manual backup: Manual backup means one-time-only backup. After creating a backup task, you can run the task by choosing to back up immediately in the last step or selecting the task and then clicking Back up in the Task List tab.
    • Scheduled backup:
      • Back up by time: Configure the desired backup schedule to occur daily or only on specific days. The task can be set to run once a day or once an hour, depending on your specific needs. The backup task will start automatically after it is scheduled for a specific day and time.
        For example, suppose you have configured the backup task schedule with the following settings: Run on: Wednesday and Saturday, Repeat type: Hourly, and Start at: 03:00. In this case, the task will start at 03:00 every Wednesday and Saturday, and will continue to run every hour until the end of the day.
      • Back up by event: Configure the backup task to run automatically when certain events occur on the protected device, such as when the screen is locked, when signing out, or upon startup.
        • Screen locked: The screen of the protected device is locked.
        • Signing out: The user logs out from the protected device.
        • Startup: The protected device is started up.
        • Backup interval: You can set up the backup frequency for your device. Even if the defined events occur multiple times, the backup task will only run once within the configured backup interval. For example, if the backup interval is set for 1 hour, and the backup task was triggered after the device screen was locked, the backup task will not run again even if another event occurs ten minutes later.

      Note:

      • When Back up by time and Back up by event are both enabled, the backup frequencies you set will apply to both types of backups.
    • Only run backup tasks within the allowed backup windows: Click Configure Backup Window to set a specific time when the backup task can or cannot run in order to ensure the backup source device can operate efficiently. Only the restore points of scheduled backup tasks will be displayed on the time slot since the restore points of manual and event-triggered backup tasks are unpredictable.

  7. Select Retention Policy:

    Setting a retention policy helps you manage your storage space more efficiently by keeping the versions you want. There are three options for retention policies to choose from:

    • Number of latest versions to keep: Specify the number of the latest versions to retain.
    • Keep all versions for: Retain all versions backed up within a certain number of days.
    • Advanced retention policy: Versions can be kept for longer periods but your storage space can be saved at the same time. Click Set Rules to edit the retention rules.
      • You can set multiple rules and customize the retention policy according to your needs.
        • Specify the days on which all versions backed up versions will be saved.
        • Advanced retention policy also allows you to keep the latest versions of a different time frame for certain periods. You can choose how long the daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly versions will be retained in the system. For example, Keep the latest version of the week for "7" weeks means that the system will retain the last version during a week for seven weeks after it is backed up.
        • You will also need to set the Number of the latest versions to keep. If there are fewer versions than the specified number, the retention policy will not take effect. This is a required field.
      • Advanced retention policy employs the Long-Term Retention Policy (GFS).
      • A version can meet more than one retention rule at a time. For example, a version can be retained by the weekly retention rule and daily retention rule at the same time.

    Example:

    It's October now and you have a backup schedule that backs up once every day. If you are planning for a retention policy that covers the past nine months and want to keep the following versions, refer to the example image:

    • Daily versions for the first 3 months (September, August, and July)
    • Weekly versions for the 4th to 6th months (June, May, and April)
    • Monthly versions for the 7th to 9th months (March, February, and January)
    • 10 latest versions


    A version can meet more than one retention rule. Therefore, the first weekly version can also be the seventh daily version, and the first monthly version can also be the fourth weekly version.

    Setting the Number of latest versions to keep prevents the retention policy from deleting all versions when the system stops backing up your device, and the 10 latest versions will be the daily versions backed up in the past 10 days.

  8. Click Done and then click Yes to backup immediately, regardless of the schedule.

Note:

  • To streamline the backup process, the Changed Block Tracking (CBT) technology is adopted for Mac backups by default.
  • Changed Block Tracking leverages Apple Software Restore (asr) to take snapshots and identifies blocks that have changed between snapshots. Your Mac records the image blocks with its built-in snapshot feature and uses CBT to back up only changed blocks to your Synology NAS. This helps to save bandwidth usage and accelerate the backup process.
  • The initial backup for each task is a full backup. After that, the system will perform incremental backups using the CBT technology, unless VSS is turned off.

Restore Mac Computers

You can restore individual files and folders after your Mac computers are backed up.

To restore individual files and folders:

Mac backup supports granular (file- and folder-level) restore through the Active Backup for Business Portal. Package managers can delegate the restore permission to each users through DSM Control Panel. For more information, refer to the Active Backup for Business Portal help article.

To restore an entire device:

To restore an entire device or a backed-up volume on your Mac, download the Active Backup for Business Recovery Wizard for Mac from the Download Center. For more information on restoring an entire device, refer to Frequently asked questions about Active Backup for Business.

Note:

  • Only package managers, operators with the restoration privilege, and owners of backup data can access the backup versions of devices from Active Backup for Business Portal or restore the device with the recovery media.
  • Make sure you enable Full Disk Access to recover an entire Mac.
  • Make sure you enable kernel extensions (kexts) on your Mac before installing the Active Backup for Business Recovery Wizard.

Manage Devices

To delete a device:

  1. On PC/Mac > macOS, select the device you want to delete, and click Delete.
  2. Keep in mind that the selected Mac's backups will also be deleted. Click Confirm Deletion to remove the Mac from the device list.

To update the agent on the computer:

When there is a newer version of the agent, you can update the agents on source computers by installing the new version. Package managers can update the agents on multiple computers at once from the admin console.

The installation method depends on whether the computers are connected to the Internet or are on a private network.

  • If your Synology NAS is connected to the Internet:
    1. Go to Active Backup for Business > PC/Mac.
    2. Select a computer with the agent that needs updating and click More > Update Agent.
  • When your Synology NAS is on a private network:
    1. Download the Active Backup for Business Agent installer from the Download Center, and upload it to any folder of your Synology NAS with File Station. Make note of the location of the installer.
    2. Sign in to DSM with root permissions on your computer.
    3. Execute the following command to install the agent on your target devices.
      cp /[volume_where_you_uploaded_the_installer_to]/[name_of_the_folder_where_you_uploaded_installer_to]/[installer_name] /[volume_where_you_install_Active_Backup_for_Business]/\@tmp/

      For example, if the location of the installer is "/volume1/Files/Synology Active Backup for Business Agent-2.5.0-2448.dmg" and Active Backup for Business is installed on "volume1", then the command would be:

      cp /[volume1]/[Files]/[Synology Active Backup for Business Agent-2.5.0-2448.dmg] /[volume1]/\@tmp/
    4. Make the agent file readable by running the following command.
      chmod 444 Synology Active Backup for Business Agent-2.5.0-2448.dmg
    5. After completing the setup, the agent will be successfully updated.
Create Backup Tasks
Restore Mac Computers
Manage Devices