DSM 7.1 Backing up PC (and iPhones) to NAS

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DSM 7.1 Backing up PC (and iPhones) to NAS

13
4
NAS
DS920+
Operating system
  1. Windows
Mobile operating system
  1. iOS
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Looking for recommendations for a good backup software. I have a Windows PC (approx 16TB of data) and couple iPhones and iPads (approx 3TB data) in the family. Ideally, I'm looking to backup all these on my DS920+. Which software would you recommend?

My preferences:
  1. I don't have a problem paying a premium for an upfront one-time purchase but I hate subscriptions. I don't need/want cloud backup.
  2. The main thing worth backing up on my PC are some data partitions.
  3. Backing up the system image (OS/settings/applications) would be a nice to have but not a must. The system image shouldn't be coupled with my data partitions - i.e. I should be able to just read/restore the data partitions without the system image.
  4. Although I'd love to retain past 2-3 versions of my backup, I can probably live with just a 1-way sync/mirroring (no versioning).
  5. I would prefer a way to simply browse the latest version of the files from my last backup on the network drive mapped in Windows Explorer without having to jump through hoops through the backup software's UI.
  6. I'm imagining something that runs on my PC periodically and backs up to my NAS overnight.
  7. For iOS devices I imagine I'll periodically connect them to my PC and take a full backup with iTunes on my computer. The underlying files saved by iTunes on my PC will automatically get backed up to my NAS when the next backup runs.

Looking online I see Arconis, Ashampoo, Paragon and EaseUS to be the popular choices. Can't makeup my mind from one of these though and can't understand the pros/cons. Besides, I just bought my DS920+ but I don't know if it is already bundled with software for this purpose. AFAIK, the packages I saw on the NAS (Hyper Backup and Hyper Backup Vault) are more geared toward backing up the NAS itself instead of backing up to the NAS.

Would appreciate any help, thanks!!
 
Just a thought: what if you installed Windows 10, for example, as a virtual machine on your NAS? Then you could run iMazing or something similar inside 10. I assume that you may not be able to install Mac iOS as a virtual machine, but this may be incorrect. A quick search on Google shows that the Virtual Machine for Win 10 installation is possible, although I have never tried it.

Just spun up a Win 10 VM on the NAS, my RAM usage is at 80% on the NAS; that's with 2gb dedicated to that VM. I don't think this is the way to go for something like this, especially since every once in a while I'll use a VDSM to test new major images of DSM; that VM is currently powered off but if I were to turn that on I'd be at max or exceeded. The next option is to just use a physical tower at home that is always on. Possibly just making it a VM host to have some more options.
 
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I don't put any faith in iCloud anymore, my wifes iphone 13 pro max stopped booting one day, just stuck on the apple logo.. I figured the same thing - its all in icloud, reset and restore it no big deal. Well, turns out for whatever the reason the icloud backup would not restore. It was there, showed it was there, but would not or could not restore back to the phone. Got apple tech support on the phone (voice), which has the ability to screen share in with your device and step you through exactly where to press, what to enter, etc... its really cool seeing a big red arrow controlled by the persons voice on the phone your talking to controlling the iphone your holding (I am easily impressed I suppose).. He couldn't explain it either, said he can see there is xx amount of data stored but it simply failed to restore back to her iphone, so everything was just lost (except pictures). Texts, notes, etc, all gone. Phone book restored (possibly from gmail? cant remember) and pictures were on google photos and nas, but nothing else came from icloud. I am sure that was a rare case, but it happened to us in March 2022 I think.

So ours was just a bad example of not having control of your own data. iCloud had it, but would not restore it... and the battle was over.
Yours isnt the only story, I've had bad luck with icloud backups/restores too, its def. buggy and also fairly clunky.
 
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Just spun up a Win 10 VM on the NAS, my RAM usage is at 80% on the NAS; that's with 2gb dedicated to that VM. I don't think this is the way to go for something like this, especially since every once in a while I'll use a VDSM to test new major images of DSM; that VM is currently powered off but if I were to turn that on I'd be at max or exceeded. The next option is to just use a physical tower at home that is always on. Possibly just making it a VM host to have some more options.
More thoughts, in light of the VM results above, for the OP:
1) use a simple dedicated Windows 10 laptop or
2) VM Windows 10 onto a dedicated Raspberry Pi. (This seems to be possible, but obviously I have never tried it.)
 
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As a very long time Mac user, I've never relied on Apple's own backup/restore solutions, they just seemed much slower and hope 'n' pray than other options. That means I fully clone Macs so I can rebuild vs relying on Time Machine (which I use but wouldn’t cry if it was removed), and use combinations of cloud/NAS for most data. I never used iCloud for iOS backup as I felt more comfortable have the backup stored locally.

Another vote for iMazing, following a recommendation on these forums. It has worked more reliably than iTunes/macOS Finder replacement did. The wireless backup I've scheduled to happen every day and then there's main reason I switched to iMazing... the ability to keep app install files on Mac/PC that was removed from iTunes. I've restored phones from backups using iMazing and that worked just like iTunes. I know it's a good solution when the family uses it, and they do.

[I'm a Mac user; PC under duress] PC backup is using ABB, but I haven't had to restore yet: for me it's as important to have access to the files as is a restore. In the past my son's failing PC was replaced with a new one with a default build, I had got him to use Synology Drive backup task to copy his old PC. While I was trying to work out how best to restore, he went and copied the backed up contents of his user folder to his new PC. Amazingly this worked and re-logging in he had all his files and setup. I guess it worked!

Definitely listen to the PC users for their superior advice on PC backup :)
 
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I am not a big fan of ABB for PCs. The problem for me was that I want my backup to be encrypted at rest on the NAS. ABB used up too much storage space because apparently when the volume is encrypted, it won't share space. ABB backs up the entire drive including the OS.

I like using Synology Drive Client. It only backs up my user files and not the OS, so it uses much less space.

I am not sure about iphones. I do not backup my iphones to my NAS.
 
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dslamguy >I am not a big fan of ABB for PCs. The problem for me was that I want my backup to be encrypted at rest on the NAS.

Can I suggest that you have a look at Macrium reflect? You can encrypt the backups and it is very easy to use. The basic (free) version is very usable.
 
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dslamguy >I am not a big fan of ABB for PCs. The problem for me was that I want my backup to be encrypted at rest on the NAS.

Can I suggest that you have a look at Macrium reflect? You can encrypt the backups and it is very easy to use. The basic (free) version is very usable.
I'm also not an ABB fan for this and other reasons. In addition to Macrium Reflect Free, the free Veeam Agent for Windows another choice. Where Macrium Reflect Free enables full/differential backups, Veeam Agent for Windows enables full/incremental backups (also, "incrementals forever"). Unlike ABB, these two programs are well-established, fully supported, and have a huge user base (and they are not prone to the bugginess inherent across Synology packages).
 
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