How to backup one Synology NAS to another
Synology Drive ShareSync is the application to sync data across multiple Synology NAS. It is automatically installed along with the Synology Drive Server package in DSM.
Glossary:
- Local Synology NAS: The NAS on which you are operating Synology Drive ShareSync. Data on this NAS will be synced with another NAS.
- Remote Synology NAS: The centralized NAS with which you wish to sync data on the local NAS.
- Local folders: The shared folders on the local NAS.
- Remote folders: The shared folders on the remote NAS.
Before you start
Before you begin to use Synology Drive ShareSync, be sure to check the following:
- Synology Drive Server has been installed on all Synology NAS that you wish to sync with.
- You have enabled Team Folder on your remote NAS in Synology Drive Admin Console > Team Folder.
To sync files between the remote and local NAS, you need to establish the connection first.
To create a new connection on the local NAS:
- The first time you open Synology Drive ShareSync, the setup wizard will appear. Click Start Now to begin.
- Enter the IP address (or QuickConnect ID), username, and password of your remote NAS. For domain users, sign in with your domain name/username. For LDAP users, use “username@Base_DN” to sign in. You can also connect via IPv6 or proxy service.
- Select the remote shared folders on the remote NAS you wish to sync to the local NAS. If you wish to modify the folder path on the local NAS, click the folder icon to select a local sync folder. Click Apply.
Note:
- You must sign in to the local NAS using an account belonging to the administrators group to create Synology Drive ShareSync connections.
- To locate your QuickConnect ID, sign in to the remote NAS using an account belonging to the administrators group, and go to Control Panel > QuickConnect.
- If you are unable to connect to the remote NAS or authorize the connection with your user credentials, please check your network settings, or go to Control Panel on the remote NAS, click on Privileges > Synology Drive and make sure your access to Synology Drive has been enabled by the DSM administrator.
- Mounted shared folders and folders without write permission cannot be used as sync folders on the local NAS when you try to create connections.
- Each local NAS can connect with multiple remote NAS, but a remote NAS and a local NAS can only be paired once. Also, a local shared folder cannot be set as the sync folder for multiple remote NAS at the same time. For example, folder abc on local NAS A is used as the sync folder for synchronization between local NAS A and remote NAS X. Thus, it cannot be used as the sync folder for the connection between local NAS A and any other remote NAS.
- The synchronization will be download-only if the account used to sign in to the remote NAS does not have write permission to the remote shared folder. Likewise, it will be upload-only syncing if you don’t have write permission to the local folder on the local NAS.
Overview
To manage connections:
Once a connection has been successfully created, you can view the connection information and modify your syncing tasks.
- Select the connection you want to edit from the connection list on the left panel.
- Under the Overview tab, do any of the following:
- Pause syncing: Pause the syncing between your remote and local NAS.
- Resume syncing: Resume the syncing between your remote and local NAS.
- Edit connection: Enter user credentials and enable SSL if desired.
- Unlink: Disconnect the connection with the remote NAS, and remove it from the list on the left panel.
Note:
- After you unlink a connection, data in the local shared folder on the local NAS will remain while the connection configuration will be deleted.
Sync Folders
To sync a shared folder:
You can specify which shared folder on the remote NAS you would like to sync with, as well as the folder on the local NAS that is to be synced with the remote NAS.
- Select the connection you want to edit from the connection list on the left panel.
- Under the Synced folders tab, you can find all shared folders on the remote NAS that can be synced.
- Tick the checkbox next to the shared folder you want to sync under the Enable column, and then click on the folder icon to select a local sync folder. Click OK.
- Click Save to apply the change.
Note:
- A local shared folder cannot be set as the sync folder for multiple remote NAS at the same time. For example, folder abc on NAS A is used as the sync folder for synchronization between local NAS A and remote NAS X. Thus, it cannot be used as the sync folder for the connection between local NAS A and any other remote NAS.
- If you have set up a mount point on the local NAS, files and folders under the mount point will not be synced.
To sync specific folders or files:
After selecting a local shared folder, you may select specific sub-folders to sync, as well as specify the maximum file size and file types that are to be synced.
- Click on the Synced folders tab and click the wrench icon next to the shared folder you want to apply the settings to.
- In the Folder tab, tick the checkboxes next to the folders and sub-folders you would like to sync.
- In the File filter tab, you may modify the following settings:
- Filter By File Size: In the blank field next to Don’t sync files over, enter a number between 0~10240000 (MB). 0 means unlimited.
- Filter By File Type: Untick the file types to be excluded from the synchronization. You may also enter file names or file extensions in the field below and click Add. Files with the specified file names or types will not be synced.
- Click OK and Save to apply the settings.
Note:
- Files scattered in the root layer of a shared folder will always be synced unless they are filtered out by File Filter.
- We do not recommended synchronizing and collaborating on Synology Office files across multiple NAS. Modifications made to the same files via different NAS might cause unexpected synchronization results.
- Files will not be synced by Synology Drive ShareSync under the following circumstances:
- The folder or file path contains any of the following characters:
\, / - The file type is any of the following:
.tmp, .temp, .swp, .lnk - The file name starts with a tilde (~)
- The file or folder name is or contains any of the following:
- @tmp
- @eadir
- .SynologyWorkingDirectory
- #recycle
- desktop.ini
- .DS_STORE
- Icon\r
- thumbs.db
- $Recycle.Bin
- @sharebin
- System Volume Information
- Program Files
- Program Files (x86)
- ProgramData
- #snapshot
- The file path is longer than 2,048 characters.
- The file name is longer than 255 characters.
- The folder or file path contains any of the following characters:
To sync shared folder privileges:
Synology Drive ShareSync allows you to sync files between two NAS with flexible sync mode settings.
- Go to the Synced folders tab and click the wrench icon next to the shared folder you wish to apply shared folder privilege settings to.
- Go to the Permission Settings tab and under the File sync mode section, select the mode for syncing your local shared folder.
- Click OK and Save to save your settings.
Note:
- The account used for signing in to the remote NAS must belong to the administrators group.
- If the privilege settings on the remote NAS and local NAS are not compatible, such as the syncing shared folder on one NAS is in Windows ACL mode whereas the syncing shared folder on the other NAS is not in Windows ACL mode, the privilege settings cannot be synced. Please go to Control Panel > Shared Folder on both remote and local NAS, select the shared folder, click on the Action drop-down menu, and click Convert to Windows ACL to adjust the privilege settings for the remote and local shared folders to Windows ACL.
- If your local and remote NAS are in different domain groups, shared folder privileges cannot be synced, even if this option is enabled.
To set sync direction:
- Go to the Synced folders tab and click the wrench icon next to the shared folder to which you wish to set sync direction.
- Go to the Permission Settings tab and under the Sync direction section, select a sync direction for your local shared folder.
- Click OK and Save to save your settings.
Note:
- The synchronization will be download-only if the account used to sign in to the remote NAS only has read-only permission to the remote shared folder. Changes you make to the shared folder or files on the local NAS will not be synced to the remote NAS. If you have set up a mount point on the local NAS, files and folders under the mount point will not be synced either.
To perform advanced consistency check:
Synology Drive ShareSync compares additional criteria such as hash, execute bit, and file permissions in different scenarios where merging is required to ensure the ultimate accuracy of synchronization. This may take additional time and resources to complete synchronization tasks.
- Click on the Synced folders tab and click the wrench icon next to the shared folder you wish to enable advanced consistency check. In the Permission Settings tab, tick Enable advanced consistency check.
To delete the database:
You may delete the sync task database on a shared folder on the local NAS.
- Click on the Synced folders tab and click the red X icon (Delete the synced database on this local NAS) to delete the connection history and settings of the previously configured sync task of a shared folder.
Note:
- Delete the synced database on this local NAS option is only available when you create a task and then disable it.
- After you delete the sync database, data in the local shared folder will remain on the local NAS.
Add a New Connection
You may connect a local NAS to multiple remote NAS for syncing folders.
To add a new connection:
- Click the + icon at the upper-left corner. The setup wizard will appear. Follow the instructions to add a new remote NAS for syncing.
Sync Log
Synology Drive ShareSync keeps a sync log, allowing you to keep track of the files you synced and the events which took place.
To view the Sync log:
- Click the Sync log icon at the upper-left corner to view the log. You may filter the events by local shared folder from the drop-down menu at the upper-left corner.
Settings
To modify database location:
- Click the Settings icon at the upper-left corner.
- Choose a volume from the Database location drop-down menu.
- Click OK and Save to change your syncing repository.
To set up default action for resumed sync tasks:
- Click the Settings icon at the upper-left corner.
- Select your desired default action when the application restarts or the sync tasks are resumed.
- Click OK and Save to save your settings.
To edit file conflict resolution settings:
- Click the Settings icon at the upper-left corner.
- Select your desired file conflict resolution method.
- Click OK and Save to save your settings.
Note:
- As a remote NAS may also be connected to multiple local NAS, conflicts may take place when the same file is being modified simultaneously. To solve this issue, you may set a conflict resolution rule.
- Tick Rename to keep the discarded version to ensure that in the event of a file conflict, Synology Drive ShareSync will rename the file by the following rule:
[file name]_[local NAS name]_[time stamp]_Conflict.[file extension]
. For example,document1.txt
will be renamed asdocument1_local NAS name_20210101_Conflict.txt
.
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