Dedicated PC to run backups / sync's ?

[David M]

I have both QNAP and Synology NAS's ; I use one to backup to the other in a separate building on my property. On top of that I also have the usual PC's and cloud accounts on my network that are part of my backup routine. I did manage to figure out how to backup the QNAP directly to the Synology. The PC backup software that I use (Free File Sync) is run on my desktop PC but that is turned off each night. I don't mind digging into the various ways to run backups with the NAS apps but am not technically proficient enough nor am inclined to get as deep as many people here. I have also read here and on QNAP forums about backup issues that were difficult to resolve.

So, this is a plan that I am considering. I have a decent but older unused Windows 10 PC. I am going to plug this into my home network and will be left on 24/7 and have no other role but to run the Free File Sync (FFS) software according to my schedule. FFS can be triggered to run by Windows Task Scheduler. I do that now on my desktop and it works flawlessly. This may not be the best, the fastest, nor the most optimized way to run backups / syncs to and from the various network devices, but it sure cleans up things and the troubleshooting should be nearly non-existent.

 

[kiriak]

I cannot see a reason to do this.
It is better to keep things simple and straightforward.

It is quite easy to backup Synology to QNAP via rsync or HyperBackup and maybe there are more ways to do so.
I thing the other direction (QNAP to Synology) would be easy also.

I am a noob but could manage to make rsync work from my Synology to my test FreeNAS machine in a few minutes, with a little referencing in internet. Quite easy was the opposite also. Just using the built in menus in both machines, no CLI and such.

In case your Synology has BTRFS you could use another Synology instead of QNAP and use snaphot replication to take advantage of the simplicity, cheap older version of files keeping and bitrot protection.