How to Backup Synology NAS to External USB Drive in Windows?
Is Synolgy NAS Any Good?
Synology is a top-notch network attached storage (NAS) manufacturer that enables users to backup PC data to NAS or external storage devices, and provides an advanced storage system for handling massive network data storage.
Synology offers a wide range of data protection options through its four series of products, catering to different needs of enterprises, businesses, home users, and personal users.
The Synology DiskStation DS412+ and DS1513+ are two top-notch products that offer an eight-bay feature, a staple in Synology NAS solutions. They boast stable performance and a mainstream design, making them a solid choice for users. However, setting them up might be a bit challenging for those new to NAS systems, and their speed and capacity ultimately depend on the hard drives chosen for configuration.
Why Backup Synology to USB Drive?
Synology NAS is a great storage option, but it's made up of individual hard drives that will eventually fail. To protect valuable data from this inevitability, backing up Synology NAS to a USB disk is a good way to ensure its safety.
Synology NAS devices are vulnerable to damage from natural disasters, human-caused accidents, theft, and physical harm due to events like earthquakes.
Losing precious data can be a nightmare, especially when it involves confidential company documents or irreplaceable family memories. A more reliable method of transferring files is to back them up on Synology and then transfer them to a USB drive, providing an added layer of security and peace of mind.
It's wise to keep multiple copies of important data for security, and backing up Synology NAS to a USB drive is a good option, allowing you to have a backup that's separate from the source data and portable.
How to Backup Synology NAS to External USB Drive?
To back up data from your Synology NAS to another device, insert a USB drive into one of the NAS's USB ports, making sure it's recognized. Note that the USB drive needs to be formatted, and formatting to FAT32 is a suitable option.
To back up data, click on the menu button and select "Backup and Restore" (for older NAS) or "Hyper Backup" (for newer models). Then, follow the backup wizard to create a "Data backup task". This involves selecting the source data, choosing a destination storage location, and configuring any personal settings. Once complete, you can start the backup process.
While using the method to protect data, it may sometimes fail and display a random error message. To continue with the data protection task, it's not a bad idea to use Synology backup to a USB drive in a different way.
You can protect your Synology NAS data by using Qiling Disk Master Professional, a reliable backup software that allows you to backup NAS files to external hard drive, USB drive, local disk, etc. To backup your Synology NAS at a regular basis, you can set it up with the Schedule option.
Synology Backup Data to USB Drive via Qiling Disk Master
It's recommended to sort your data on the NAS, especially when dealing with large storage capacities like several TB. This is because the USB drive has limited capacity, so it's essential to prioritize and decide which files and folders are crucial and cannot be lost. Additionally, using Qiling Disk Master requires a Windows PC in the same LAN segment.
To complete a backup on a Synology NAS, you can either input the NAS's IP address as the source path and perform a file backup, or map the NAS as a network drive to a Windows folder and perform a folder backup. The first method is generally more straightforward. For this example, we'll use the first approach by inputting the Synology NAS IP address as the source path.
Qiling Disk Master Professional offers a 30-day free trial and a 90-day unconditional money back guarantee, allowing users to download and try it for free for a month before committing to a purchase.
1. To backup your data, insert the USB drive into your PC, install and run Qiling Disk Master, and then select the "Backup" and "File Backup" options.
2. Click on Files or Folders.
3. In the pop-up window, click Share/NAS.
4. To add a Synology NAS device, click on "Add share or NAS device" and enter the IP address, username, and password of your Synology NAS.
5. Choose the USB drive as the destination path.
6. Click Proceed.
Tips:
- To do an incremental backup from Synology to a USB disk, click on "Schedule" and then select "Advanced".
- To backup your Synology to a USB drive encrypted, you'll need to set up the options accordingly.
Backing up your Synology NAS to a USB drive is a straightforward process, with multiple options available. Choosing the right method is crucial, and Qiling Disk Master is also a viable option for backing up data, similar to how it can be used to backup Windows 7 to a WD NAS like the My Cloud.
✨ Helpful notes:
When you create a Qiling account, you can back up files to Qiling Cloud using the Cloud Backup feature.
To protect unlimited computers within a company, Qiling Disk Master Technician can be used. It comes with a Qiling Image Deploy tool that enables deploying or restoring system image files to multiple client-side computers from a server-side computer over a network.
Qiling offers a program called Qiling Centralized Disk Master, which allows for the backup of multiple computers over a network using a single, centralized management console.
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