Many of you have invested in a Synology DiskStation DS920+. It’s a robust, quad-core, network-attached storage (NAS) solution that utilizes the DiskStation Manager (DSM) operating system to provide an easy-to-use, high-performance product for storing and backing up data. The DS920+ has four drive bays allowing for extensive storage capacity. But, the power of Synology NAS extends beyond local storage. Today, let’s explore how to configure your Synology DS920+ for automated backups to multiple cloud services.
Understanding the Importance of Backing Up Your Data
Before we delve into the configuration process, it’s essential to grasp why backing up your data with Synology is a wise move. Data is the lifeblood of modern life. Whether it’s crucial business files, precious family photographs, or your extensive media collection, losing access to these files could be catastrophic. Backing up your data ensures a safety net against data loss due to hardware failure, accidental deletion, or cyber attacks.
Your Synology DS920+ comes equipped with a suite of backup tools, one of the most powerful being the Cloud Sync service. Cloud Sync enables you to link your NAS with multiple cloud services, including Google Drive, Dropbox, and Amazon S3. By configuring automated backups, your NAS will periodically upload a copy of your data to these cloud platforms. This additional measure safeguards your information and ensures you can access it remotely if necessary.
Configuring Automated Backups Using DSM
The heart of your Synology DiskStation is its DSM operating system. This intuitive platform is what empowers you to control and customize your device. With DSM, setting up automated backups to your chosen cloud platforms is a straightforward task.
Start by opening DSM and navigate to the ‘Package Centre’. Here, you can download and install the Cloud Sync application. Once installed, you can link your cloud accounts to your DiskStation. Simply open Cloud Sync, select ‘Create’ and then choose your cloud provider from the list. After logging into your cloud account, you can set the folders you wish to back up from your NAS, select the sync direction, and even schedule the backup frequency.
Optimizing Your Storage Space
While the DS920+ boasts ample storage space with its four drive bays, you may still need to manage your storage wisely, particularly if you’re working with substantial amounts of data. With the right configuration, you can ensure efficient use of your storage space.
The ‘Smart Recycle’ feature in Hyper Backup, another Synology backup tool, can be a boon here. It intelligently manages versioning to prevent excessive storage use while ensuring data integrity. You can also set quotas on shared folders to prevent excessive use of space by certain users or processes.
The Btrfs file system, supported by Synology, is another ally in efficient storage management. It facilitates features like snapshot and clone, allowing you to create point-in-time copies of your data with minimal space requirements.
Ensuring Network Security
In the era of cyber threats, the security of your data is paramount. Synology has incorporated numerous security features into its products to ensure the protection of your data.
The Security Advisor, an application within DSM, performs regular scans of your system and recommends adjustments to enhance security. It checks for weak passwords, outdated DSM versions, and suspicious network connections, among other things.
Synology also supports two-factor authentication (2FA) to safeguard your DSM account. With 2FA enabled, you’ll need a one-time code from your mobile device, along with your password, to access your account.
Leveraging Additional Synology Features
Beyond backing up data to cloud services, your DS920+ can do so much more. Its rich set of features can enhance your data management practices and even transform your NAS into a home media server.
With the Synology Drive application, you can turn your NAS into a powerful, private cloud service. It allows you to access, sync, and share your data across devices, just like Google Drive or Dropbox.
You can also use the Video Station or Audio Station applications to organize and stream your media files. You can even access your media remotely through these apps, turning your DiskStation into a personal Netflix or Spotify.
By taking the time to explore the full capabilities of your DS920+, you’ll discover it’s much more than a storage device. It’s a versatile, powerful tool that can transform how you store, access, and enjoy your data.
Expanding Your Synology NAS with Virtual Machines
One of the most outstanding features of the Synology DiskStation DS920+ is its ability to run and manage virtual machines. This functionality can significantly expand the use cases for your network-attached storage (NAS) solution. Whether you want to run a separate operating system, host a web server, or set up a home lab for software testing, the DS920+ has got you covered.
The virtual machine manager (VMM) is built right into the DiskStation Manager (DSM), Synology’s user-friendly operating system. You can access the VMM from the ‘Package Centre’ just like you did with the Cloud Sync application. After installing the VMM, you can use it to create, configure, and run virtual machines right from your Synology NAS.
Running virtual machines requires disk space and processing power. However, the DS920+ is more than capable of handling this task due to its quad-core processor and NVMe SSD cache support. This feature boosts its performance, thereby enabling it to run multiple virtual machines smoothly.
You can allocate resources such as storage capacity, CPU cores, and RAM to each virtual machine as per your needs. Moreover, the VMM allows you to take snapshots of your virtual machines, making it easy to back up and restore them as needed.
The Synology DS920+ is indeed a versatile network-attached storage solution. Whether you’re a small business looking for a reliable and secure data storage and backup solution or a home user wanting to centralize and access files across multiple devices, the DS920+ could be just the tool you need.
Synology offers powerful and user-friendly features such as Cloud Sync and Hyper Backup for automated backups to various cloud services, ensuring your data is safe and accessible. Its security features, including two-factor authentication and the Security Advisor, offer added protection against data breaches. Beyond functioning as a file server, the DS920+ can also serve as a private cloud service with Synology Drive or a media server with applications like Video Station and Audio Station.
Moreover, with the ability to run virtual machines, the DS920+ goes beyond being just a data storage device. It can transform your data management practices and even serve as a testing environment or host for web services.
In conclusion, investing in a Synology DS920+ is investing in a robust, scalable, and versatile data management solution. By fully leveraging its capabilities, it becomes more than merely a hard drive attached to your network. It becomes an integral part of how you store, manage, and access your data.
