Synology recommendation for Time Machine?

Hardware
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Hi all,

We’re a laptop-only family and our machines get moved around quit a bit/ We’re considering a Synology for Time Machine instead of replacing a cheap, portable drive that’s no longer working with Ventura.

I’m looking for a recommendation for a Synology that we could use as a Time Machine that would back up two MacBooks to (possibly three in the future) so we don’t have to attach drives physically. Ideally, the NAS would easily wake up when backups run and be seamless – kinda like those Airport Time Capsules used to be.

There’s nothing else planned for this NAS, so wondering what base model Synology fans would recommend for just a simple Time Machine solution. We don’t have any external storage needs or any kind of media server needs – the only potential thing I could possibly foresee in the long-run is a place to store video for cameras (we only have one external camera now and we’ve had success just storing those videos on the device). We’d be hard-wiring it into home ethernet and we’re using the latest eeros for WiFi.

Thanks for any recommendations and/or drives folks would suggest. :pray:

Warmly,
Dave

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Basically, any Synology NAS will be able to fulfill this task. If you just want to have a one disk solution, the DS118 will suffice. I would prefer a two-bay solution (running in RAID 1): DS 218play or DS218 (more powerful) or DS220+ (suitable for almost anything a NAS can do, so a good choice if you will add more NAS services in the long run). Inside of those NAS enclosures, the NAS drive series by Seagate (IronWolf) and Western Digtal (Red) are a good choice.

One caveat:

A NAS is a server running 24/7 (you can restrict that via Energy Settings) and connected via LAN or WiFi. While the hard disk drives may go to sleep (or not) inside of the NAS, the NAS itself will keep running. A NAS just for Time Machine feels like overkill to me.

And Time Machine on a NAS has the reputation not to be as reliable as Time Machine on a local connected portable drive. Apple intends Time Machine to be used with a USB or Thunderbolt drive these days: Back up your Mac with Time Machine - Apple Support - Synology does a good job though, too: How do I back up files from my Mac to Synology NAS using Time Machine? - Synology Knowledge Center

Synology is using Bonjour Time Machine broadcasts to present the NAS as a Time Machine device to the Macs via WiFi. That is something the Time Capsule apparently has done, too. The thing is that Apple is not promoting this option these days (Bonjour Time Machine broadcasts). I do not see it going away, though. But it could eventually.

But a local connected drive will be not only way cheaper, but also more reliable. Restoring files from a NAS Time Machine backup is a good thing, restoring a whole machine can be interesting. It should work, except when it won’t.

A NAS that already is running on your network for other tasks is nice - and also an option for Time Machine. A NAS just for Time Machine… I do not know. I could not live without a NAS, I use it for so many things, but not for Time Machine.

But there are for sure a lot of other MPUs out there that do use them that way, too. :slight_smile: Maybe, some of them will answer, too - and share different opinions. :slight_smile:

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Totally agree. First step ought to be using local connected drives (which are nowadays inexpensive) for TimeMachine Backups.

Perhaps in due course, if a NAS is available, use it for a secondary TimeMachine backup because … well, it’s there and available. BUT I would not recommend buying a NAS for the main purpose of TimeMachine backups. You state so many reasons why!

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Agreed.

If you invest in a NAS, buy future proof as it will be around for a long time and can do so much more.
To name a few:

  • File Station (personal dropbox)
  • Media Server (movies, music and photos)
  • Home automation server
  • Pi-hole ad-blocker and privacy/network protection
  • Backup of mobile devices

I would buy a 4-5 bay device and start with 2 drives as per @Christian suggestion. Add more drives when you need space.

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Honestly, sounds like a job for Backblaze.com
A DS220+ and two 8T drives will be about $600.
While Backblaze is $70/yr, so for two machines, that’s 4 years for $560. And it’s dead reliable.

TimeMachine is hit and miss, with some not having problems, and some (such as myself) having it crap out after 6 months and having to start backups again. Backing up over Wi-Fi seems to exacerbate this. You can search the forum here for success/failure stories.

I personally use arqbackup.com to my Synology for laptops and desktops, and haven’t had any problems. It’s a little more technically challenging to set up.

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I tried that for my Dad’s Mac leaving an unattended G-Drive self-powered disk drive connected via USB cable to his Mac but by the next visit it had always disconnected and Time Machine backups were not being performed. So I’ve just taken to plugging it in for him whenever I go over for a visit and unplugging it before I leave.

When the Time Machine backup failed recently in my 2018 Apple Time Capsule, I turned off file sharing for its disk drive and set up an old Mac Mini and have been running wireless Time Machine backups to it from my M1 MacBook Air. I wanted the wireless backup solution as it’s a shame to have to always keep a disk drive plugged into an otherwise highly portable laptop.

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Super helpful, @Christian – and appreciate the thought that I might be over-engineering this. We used a Drobo years back with Time Machine and I recall it not always working 100% – good to know that’s still an issue. :pray:

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@JohnAtl thanks for the suggestion. Yeah, we already use Backblaze for all machines, so Time Machine is just another failsafe. Based on the replies here, we’ll probably just go with some new portable drives rather than trying to get too complicated with a NAS.

Appreciate your insight! :pray:

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Yeah, that’s where a NAS Time Machine that would be nice. We have kids at the age now where sometimes they are using our laptops for school and it’s a pain to work around making sure people disconnect the portable drives before moving machines. But, sounds like the costs/reliability don’t justify that benefit.

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FYI, Drobo never worked for me. That’s why I now have a Synology.

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You didn’t mention that above. That very well may be a good reason to have backups to a networked device.

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An always-on server of some kind that supports wireless backup would seem to be the solution. This is one way to do it that may also come in handy in other ways.

Running OS Monterey on a Mac Mini Late 2014 in 2021 - YouTube

How to set your Mac as a shared backup destination for Time Machine | Macworld Fleishman 2019

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A usb charger/dock with an external drive attached.
Train folks to plug it in there to charge. Backup happens as a side benefit.

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I will disagree with this statement for one reason, laptop users will not plug in that external drive reliably. The best backup is one that is automatic and doesn’t require the user’s actions.

My preference for backup to a NAS is Carbon Copy Cloner. Much easier to access the files. It’s also more reliable as some people run into issues with TM on NAS devices. I use a Mac Mini as a file server instead of a NAS. I have both TM and CCC backups going to it and haven’t had any problems.

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I want to highlight this great option. It is a shared time machine backup. It works well if you have a laptop or computer that is mainly stationary and you can leave the external hard drive connected.

I have used this method as well as synology for an additional time machine destination.

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Some great advice here. Virtually any Synology will work fine as a TM destination. I would most certainly go with a 2-drive model so that you have data redundancy. I think unless you are planning other server applications, a 4, 5 or more drive unit is overkill for you - the expense exceeds your benefit.

TM definitely has its warts. It is very reliable for me, until it isn’t, and like others, I then have to totally restart the backup - losing all previous versions / data. It’s a great first step, but I would never use TM as my only backup.

You are partway there with BackBlaze, but BB has some limitations as well. Firstly, unless you are paying for extended backup duration (you can pay extra for 1 year or unlimited time retention) your files are actually only preserved for 30 days. What that means if that as long as the file is on your local computer, it’s also on BB. But, if you were to change to delete a file, the old version is going from BB after 30 days. Thus, if you accidentally trashed something you needed but did not discover it for more than 30 days, you are out of luck if you are not paying for the extended file preservation option. Secondly, to restore files means either a download or waiting for BB to ship you a drive with your data. For a couple of files, a download is no big deal, but if you lose your entire drive and need to rebuild quickly, a local / onsite backup is the only way to get back up and running really fast. If you need that ability, you need something local.

My own process has multiple onsite and offsite steps.
Onsite:

  • An SSD drive connected to my Mac Studio for TM
  • A second TM destination on my Synology
  • A daily clone of the Mac Studio to the Synology
    Offsite:
  • Backblaze on the Mac Studio (no extended file preservation, although I may add that)
  • Arq to Wasabi on the Mac Studio
  • iDrive from the Synology to the iDrive servers

I also have an M2 MBAir. All files on the Studio and Air are in sync’d folders using SynologyDrive to the Synology, and those shares are backed up via iDrive (along with other folders on the Synology that hold my media library and archives). Therefore, all files that are really important are always in sync between my two Macs and the Synology (actually there’s another folder for my wife files that via SynologyDrive always exists on her iMac and my Studio and Air as well). The laptop itself doesn’t have any backup running on it at present, since there are no files on it that are not mirrored via SynologyDrive.

There’s a lot of complexity and redundancy, but I have lost both files and drives in the past, but have been fortunate that I was, so far, always able to recover them through backups. Once I had to d/l 500GB from Google’s cold storage, which took days, but it worked. Once when my daughter had just arrived at graduate school over 1000 miles away, her MBAir died after her first day of classes. Thankfully, she had Are running. I ordered a new Air, fortunately in stock at the local BestBuy, she booted up at home, connected to the internet, downloaded Arq, connected to her archive, and by morning everything was restored. Worth the price for Arq software and the online storage!

One final note; The suggestion to connect an external drive to a USB (or TB) hub and use that for charging laptops is awesome. What a great way to ensure that an external drive, connected to the hub, is regularly connected to ensure a TM backup is done.

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You are absolutely correct regarding the issue sitting in front of the MacBook also known as “user”. Thank you for making the point! :laughing: I like @JohnAtl’s idea using a dock to charge the MacBook - with an external drive attached to it.

I was talking about the general technical reliability of Time Machine backups - and there can be issues when they are done over the network. Apple is promoting Time Machine in combination with external USB or Thunderbolt drives for a reason. You can do it differently (for now and probably a long time to come) - with a Synology NAS. But it is not how Apple intends it to happen. :slight_smile:

Doing backups is no trivial thing. My opinion: Everybody needs to put a 3-2-1 policy in place (Synology’s idea (food for thoughts): Backup & Data Protection | Synology Inc.). My personal solution is quite similar to the one @nlippman has described above.

If you want to do it hassle-free and just with Apple means (no real 3-2-1 I guess, but it comes close): How to back up your Mac - Official Apple Support

It is important to make use both of Time Machine AND storing the files in iCloud (iCloud alone is no backup).

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Thank you everyone for this exceptional input!

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This thread reminded me to verify my Time Machine, SuperDuper!, Backblaze setup. :+1: