Synology for NAS/Time Machine/Backup? Newb Backup Here

Personally, I do not want my backup destination to be a NAS that I also use for other purposes. If for no other reason... then your NAS data is not being backed up.

I have a TC dedicated to each iMac that we own (4)... plus another TC for all of our laptops.

/Jim

 

I use a DS212j, with two drives and an external USB drive for backup.

One drive is TM only, the other contains everything else including the DS OS. The USB drive is scheduled to backup the everything else drive once a week as it doesn't change daily.

I don't backup the TM backup as I figure if I lose the drive I still have a copy and can restart a TM backup anytime. If I plan to use TM to restore a machine then I'll back it up manually first. I've rarely used TM to get at an old file.

 

Don't know your storage requirements but you could store media on the internal you installed in the CD bay and backup the entire laptop to a Time Capsule. Time Capsule is the easiest network based backup solution for Time Machine IMO. And a must if you operate laptops. Who wants to be tethered to external drive-yuck!

 

I have an Airport Express with a 2TB USB disk plugged into it. This is basically a Time Capsule. It work for Time Machine backups but I would not recommend it for anything else. The first backup takes 10+ hours but after that it goes quick. You Time Machine disk needs to be at least 2x the size of all the data you need to back up. Larger is better.

But just using TM is not enough. You need to be more redundant. Keep at least three copies of all data and in two geographical locations. Crash Plan is worth looking into. Use it in addition to Time machine.

A NAS like Synology would work for live data but NEVER mix live data and backup on the same device. Synology is one of the best NAS boxes unless you want to build a FreeNAS,

Rather than time capsule, just plug a USB disk into an airport router. This way you can upgrade or replace a failed drive. But do not store live data on it.

And while you CAN use a Synology NAS for Time Machine, if you do then use it ONLY for a backup.

 

That seem expensive and to many boxes to worry about. Why not use one bigger NAS for all you Time Machine backups? Keep it just for TM. Keep other live data on another NAS.


If you are really worried about loosing data with Lion you can specify two or more Time Machine disks and TM will rotate through the list. You can have two NASes where each NAS is hared by all the Macs.

One yu have a dozen or some computers somethings become economical. At work we had one NAS that was conected to all of the computers in the building. But there were two other NASes in other buildings that were programmed to sync files between the three so they were all identical. If two buildings burned down onthe same day we's still have a good backup Unlike the Time Capsules, the higher-end NAS boxes can synchronize files in the background over the network. It sounds complex but you build it all with FreeNAS and generic server hardware.

 

I don't understand the statements that the Synology should *only* be used for TM backups and nothing else, unless you're saying don't store data on the Synology outside of the TM backup because it won't be backed up...which is true...and which is why I use CrashPlan with my Synology.

RAID is not a backup. The "don't use it for anything else" statements are quite vague and not particularly helpful. A better statement would be "Don't keep only one copy of your data, even if it's on RAID."

CrashPlan is basically $50/yr for unlimited storage. The CrashPlan client is available in the Synology "Package Center" and there are docs on how to connect from your Mac to the service running on the Synology so that you can configure the backups.

My Synology (A DS1511+, for what it's worth) is the backup destination for the computers in the house. It's also where I archive photos I've taken from 2+ years ago. The computer backups don't get backed up to CrashPlan, but my pictures and other media kept on it does get backed up. Again, no matter where you store files/data, if there is only one copy of it then it is not backed up.

So get a Synology (They are AWESOME, I love mine), use it as a TM backup destination (Mine is quite fast) and whatever else you want, just make sure that you aren't keeping the only copy of whatever else you have on it and no place else otherwise you'll be hurting should something catastrophic happen to the NAS. $50/yr is cheap piece of mind for me.

I don't care what someone uses for storage, if you ask yourself "Is this data kept anywhere else?" and the answer is "no" then your data is living on borrowed time.

 

The reason that we have so many Time Capsules... is because our kids move in/out of the house as they go to college, come back... get a job and move out... and come back... etc. It makes sense for them to have a personal TC that they use for their own computing environment... wherever they happen to be living this week.

I could share a NAS between my wife and myself (because we remain living together) ... but I really dislike using an unsupported NAS for backups. Apple occassionally breaks compatibility with NAS boxes... and life is too short to try and keep up. I really want backup to be bulletproof.

The reason that we have a dedicated TC for our laptops... is because I originally had a 2TB TC for our first iMac (it was the biggest available at the time)... and when I outgrew it, I replaced it with the 3TB model, and then repurposed the 2TB TC as the destination for our laptops.

Had I known that we would be an 8 Mac family when I started... I probably would have bought a Mac Mini running OSX server... attached a DAS... and used it for "whole house" backup... and just buy a few TCs for the kids as they went off to college.

/Jim

 

If you have just one computer, Time Machine on an external HD will do the trick.