How can I back up my Synology NAS?
How can I back up my Synology NAS?
Details
To protect your data on Synology NAS in case of an IT disaster, we suggest that you follow the 3-2-1 backup strategy (3 copies; 2 storage mediums; 1 offsite). This article will introduce several tools that can help to build your own 3-2-1 data protection solution, including Hyper Backup, Snapshot Replication, USB Copy, and Cloud Sync.
Resolution
Back up to the same Synology NAS
Having a multi-version local copy gives you the advantage of fast recovery in the event of data corruption or accidental file deletion, since the data copy can be retrieved directly from your Synology NAS. However, even when such measure is taken, RAID crash and hard drive failure might still cause data loss. Thus, we highly recommend you to create a multi-version local copy to ensure restore efficiency while also backing up to a different destination for further data protection.
Hyper Backup allows you to back up applications and system configurations and restore them when needed. Hyper Backup also features block-level incremental backup, meaning that only files that have been changed will be backed up, while files that are simply renamed or duplicated will be deleted via cross-file deduplication to avoid unnecessary storage consumption.
If your NAS model supports the Btrfs1 file system, you can also consider creating a local copy using Snapshot Replication. The snapshot process is quick and has a minimal impact on system performance. Compared to Hyper Backup, Snapshot Replication is faster in terms of backup speed/recovery time, and it is also applicable to shared folders and iSCSI LUN.
To learn how to create backup tasks, refer to this article for Hyper Backup and this article for Snapshot Replication.
Back up to a different destination
Hyper Backup allows you to back up applications and system configurations to external devices, and restore them when needed, while also featuring the block-level incremental backup and cross-file deduplication features mentioned previously.
On the other hand, USB Copy does not support the backup of applications or system configurations, and its lack of the cross-file deduplication feature might lower storage efficiency. However, this package can start backing up data as soon as an external device is plugged in, and ejects the device upon completion of the backup process. Additionally, the format of data backed up via USB copy is readable, while the Hyper Backup counterpart is not.
To learn how to back up data to external devices, refer to this article for Hyper Backup and this article for USB Copy.
When backed up to another Synology NAS, data is transferred via the protocol of your Synology NAS.
With Hyper Backup, you can easily back up data to a remote NAS device by installing Hyper Backup Vault on the destination, a package that allows you to view the backup tasks you received and task-related logs on the receiving device. Hyper Backup supports both the EXT4 and the Btrfs file system, but the format of the backup data is not readable.
Snapshot Replication provides the convenience of replicating snapshots to multiple remote Synology NAS and only replicates altered data blocks to reduce bandwidth and time consumption. For management flexibility, one replication can be extended to up to three remote sites. Snapshot Replication is only applicable to models that support the Btrfs1 file system.
To learn how to back up data to another Synology NAS, refer to this article for Hyper Backup and this article for Snapshot Replication.
This backup approach supports the rsync, HTTP, WebDAV, OpenStack, as well as S3 protocols and consumes more storage on the client side for cache than for volume used when backing up to another Synology NAS.
Hyper Backup allows you to back up data to file servers via the rsync and HTTP (WebDAV and OpenStack) protocols. Its multi-version support helps step up the protection of your data, and cross-version deduplication reduces the amount of space in your volume required to store multiple versions. The support for applications and system configurations backup also enables you to restore to your original settings.
Refer to this article to learn how to back up data to file servers using Hyper Backup.
Hyper Backup allows you to back up data to Synology's cloud service Synology C2 Storage, as well as other public cloud services.
Cloud Sync can also be employed as a real-time solution to sync Synology NAS data to public clouds if the one-way upload feature is enabled. However, this package only retains the current version of all files on your Synology NAS. If the cloud service you use supports versioning, you can still create multi-version backup tasks. Also, files synchronized to the destination remain the same format as that of the source.
To learn how to back up data to cloud services, refer to this article for Hyper Backup and this article for Cloud Sync.
Compare backup solutions
After understanding the 3-2-1 strategy and having at least two data copies, you can rest assured that your data is readily available and well protected.
The table below provides a summary of all of the backup tools introduced in this article and a comparison of their features. Refer to the table to find out which package is the most suitable for your needs.
Backup Destination |
Hyper Backup |
Snapshot Replication1 |
USB Copy |
Cloud Sync |
---|---|---|---|---|
Local Shared Folders |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
External Devices (USB) |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
No |
Another Synology NAS |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
File Servers |
Yes |
No |
No |
Only WebDAV and OpenStack data synchronization |
Public Clouds |
Yes |
No |
No |
Yes |
Features Summary |
||||
Applications2 & System Configurations Backup |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Backup & Restore Performance |
Low |
High |
Medium |
Medium |
Storage Efficiency |
Medium |
High |
Low |
Low |
Backup Frequency |
Hourly |
5 mins (shared folder) |
Hotplug support |
Sync when changed are made |
Protect Backup Data with WriteOnce |
No |
Only immutable snapshots3 |
No |
No |
Notes:
- Snapshot Replication only supports the Btrfs file system, while the EXT4 file system is not supported. Refer to the list of compatible models.
- Only a select list of applications are supported for backup. You can refer to the application page of the backup wizard for more details.
- Learn more about immutable snapshots and how to create them.