New to NAS

[Jack]

I am brand new to the world of NAS. I just bought and installed a 220j with two 6TB Seagate Iron Wolf 5700 rpm drives. My primary purpose was to replace an Apple Airport Time Capsule for backup of a household of MACOS and IOS devices although I realize that a NAS has a lot more potential than just that. My first decision is whether it is better to use Apple Time Machine (as I have been doing for years) for backups or to use Synology Drive in some manner for this purpose.

 

[Robbie]

Time Machine. Setup correctly there is nothing better,

That may change in the future but for now it remains the best for macOS.

More importantly - welcome to the forum!

 

[Jack]

Time Machine. Setup correctly there is nothing better,

That may change in the future but for now it remains the best for macOS.

More importantly - welcome to the forum!

Thanks for the reply. That would certainly be the easiest way to go since I already know Time Machine. I can always change as I learn more about NAS.

 

[fredbert]

Synology Drive client on Mac/PC has two main functions: backup task; Dropbox-style folder sync (can be two or one-way sync). Both can be configured, or one or the other.

I've not used the backup function for a whole disk backup, only Documents etc. As such, I've not checked it supports a full rebuild resulting in a bootable drive. My personal preference is to have two bootable clones*, using CCC, of each Mac and these are updated on a schedule. Then changes since the clone can be recovered from other backups (Drive, TM, etc).

*one will use a fast interface (USB3, preferably to SSD) and other may re-use slower enclosures.

 

[Jack]

I have to admit my ignorance and ask what CCC is? I took the plunge last night and started a Time Machine backup. After watching a dozen video tutorials, I discovered that the 220j doesn't support BTRFS files. If I had known that, I might have bought the 220+. I did have one occasion when I had to restore my iMac from a Time Machine backup. The iMac crashed when I first installed Big Sur.

 

[fredbert]

Carbon Copy Cloner (ccc mac at DuckDuckGo / Mac Backup Software | Carbon Copy Cloner | Bombich Software). I had used SuperDuper! and then changed to CCC as it runs scheduled tasks without the user being logged on.

Using clones has saved me a number of times plus, in the time that Mac could swap internal drives, it was so easy to swap over a drive: new drive in external caddy and clone to it; test Mac boots from clone; swap out old internal drive with the clone drive; boot Mac. Still now it's reassuring to have a clone to boot back to should an upgrade go off track.

 

[EAZ1964]

Life is much easier if you move all data from the macs to the NAS and stop storing data on pc or mac devices. Centralised storage is the business grade way to solve storage.
Just map the nas folder on the mac's and you do not need software that moves/copies/syncs the data to the nas.
A lot of money is saved on disks in the macs (yes, we know the cost of a mac upgrade to 1TB)
On the other hand, you then need to take care for real backups of the 220j, many people use a web based storage like idrive, hidrive or the likes or backup to a second syno in friends or relatives location.

 

[Jack]

I wish that I had joined this forum sooner; I am learning a lot that I didn't anticipate. My main machine is a 2017 27 in. iMac with 1 TB storage. It currently has a crack in the screen that is advancing, so I will probably replace it as soon as Apple releases a 27 in. with the M1 chip. It will cost $400 to upgrade from 256 GB to 1 TB. How do I map the NAS folder on the Mac?

 

[fredbert]

Life is much easier if you move all data from the macs to the NAS and stop storing data on pc or mac devices. Centralised storage is the business grade way to solve storage

The [my] home grade way to accrue applications and settings over years means a pain if rebuilding from scratch. Also, having data on the NAS not laptop is great up to the point where you can’t access it.

If I managed to reconcile to fresh build and being organised I probably would have less on internal disk but until then …

 

[EAZ1964]

I wish that I had joined this forum sooner; I am learning a lot that I didn't anticipate. My main machine is a 2017 27 in. iMac with 1 TB storage. It currently has a crack in the screen that is advancing, so I will probably replace it as soon as Apple releases a 27 in. with the M1 chip. It will cost $400 to upgrade from 256 GB to 1 TB. How do I map the NAS folder on the Mac?

There are several howtos for mapping folders, some use synology assistant do do it. Most would go to finder and connect server e.g. SMB NasIP/public
to get it displayed into finder left bar, you need to drag an open window from top bar into the favorites.

 

[Robbie]

If I may correct a few errors above, to avoid possible confusion.

All SMB devices broadcasting any Bonjour / mDNS parameter will be automatically displayed under 'Network' - the networked device does not even have to be a file server, or previously connected to, to appear here. No utilities or apps needed. In the screenshot below the Window's PC icon is actually a Bonjour capable HP printer, but as it is broadcasting a Bonjour flag (printer and scanner in this case) it will be shown here. The only exception to this is the local device, my MBP in this case, which is not shown under 'Network' but is shown in the 'Locations' sidebar:

If you select a file server (eg the first server shown in the list - 'Dragon' a Synology RackStation) that you have not connected to previously you will be asked for your credentials. Some light icon humour here: Apple-friendly file servers are shown as the old Apple xServe, PCs/Windows are shown as an old and yellowing CRT display with the blue-screen-of-death and Apple devices are shown with their respective icons.

Once you have done so the handy connection icon should automatically appear in the left sidebar whenever it is broadcasting the Bonjour SMB flag [_smb._tcp.]:

If you select this server from 'Locations' (with the normal / default SMB settings) it should connect using your previously stored credentials:

...and display the SMB file structure you have made available on the Synology NAS (in this case I only have 2 folders visible to this user):

All of the above is being done without the Server / NAS / whatever being actually mounted (ie no 'eject' caret being displayed on the sidebar). Once the credentials are completed for the first time all of it is automatic, no dragging of anything or trying to find a server that isn't on the Locations list. It is either under 'Network' alone (when not previously accessed) or in the Locations sidebar. As servers or Macs become available / not available they will appear or disappear automatically from the sidebar.

If you access a top level network share folder (Spare Shared Folder 1 in this case) then macOS will automatically 'mount' this folder and display the eject / un-mount caret:

Some macOS applications will mount and unmount network shares as needed. Other may presume that the share is always mounted and may fail when they try to access a folder.

There are some simple ways to always mount a given location - I use the Users and Groups>Login Items to always mount a volume used (eg for Plex recordings). To avoid a situation where a network share has been accidentally unmounted I use an app called AutoMounter that, as the name suggests, automatically mounts a network share should it fail for whatever reason.

Of course, for regular human use you just click on the sidebar icon and everything to mount a drive is done for you - mapping, assigning drive letters by individual users is the incredibly dumb way Windows manages network shares. This is macOS, where things are simple.

Don't forget that macOS Finder and Synology Universal Search can cooperate (no such luck on Windows), so a Finder search can reveal a file on the NAS by its contents or indeed by any other granular method provided by Finder.


(I have deliberately avoided any reference to the depreciated AFP format because... it is depreciated.)

 

[ric0ric]

If I may correct a few errors above, to avoid possible confusion.

All SMB devices broadcasting any Bonjour / mDNS parameter will be automatically displayed under 'Network' - the networked device does not even have to be a file server, or previously connected to, to appear here. No utilities or apps needed. In the screenshot below the Window's PC icon is actually a Bonjour capable HP printer, but as it is broadcasting a Bonjour flag (printer and scanner in this case) it will be shown here. The only exception to this is the local device, my MBP in this case, which is not shown under 'Network' but is shown in the 'Locations' sidebar:

View attachment 3542

If you select a file server (eg the first server shown in the list - 'Dragon' a Synology RackStation) that you have not connected to previously you will be asked for your credentials. Some light icon humour here: Apple-friendly file servers are shown as the old Apple xServe, PCs/Windows are shown as an old and yellowing CRT display with the blue-screen-of-death and Apple devices are shown with their respective icons.

Once you have done so the handy connection icon should automatically appear in the left sidebar whenever it is broadcasting the Bonjour SMB flag [_smb._tcp.]:

View attachment 3543

If you select this server from 'Locations' (with the normal / default SMB settings) it should connect using your previously stored credentials:

View attachment 3544
...and display the SMB file structure you have made available on the Synology NAS (in this case I only have 2 folders visible to this user):

View attachment 3549

All of the above is being done without the Server / NAS / whatever being actually mounted (ie no 'eject' caret being displayed on the sidebar). Once the credentials are completed for the first time all of it is automatic, no dragging of anything or trying to find a server that isn't on the Locations list. It is either under 'Network' alone (when not previously accessed) or in the Locations sidebar. As servers or Macs become available / not available they will appear or disappear automatically from the sidebar.

If you access a top level network share folder (Spare Shared Folder 1 in this case) then macOS will automatically 'mount' this folder and display the eject / un-mount caret:

View attachment 3548

Some macOS applications will mount and unmount network shares as needed. Other may presume that the share is always mounted and may fail when they try to access a folder.

There are some simple ways to always mount a given location - I use the Users and Groups>Login Items to always mount a volume used (eg for Plex recordings). To avoid a situation where a network share has been accidentally unmounted I use an app called AutoMounter that, as the name suggests, automatically mounts a network share should it fail for whatever reason.

Of course, for regular human use you just click on the sidebar icon and everything to mount a drive is done for you - mapping, assigning drive letters by individual users is the incredibly dumb way Windows manages network shares. This is macOS, where things are simple.

Don't forget that macOS Finder and Synology Universal Search can cooperate (no such luck on Windows), so a Finder search can reveal a file on the NAS by its contents or indeed by any other granular method provided by Finder.


(I have deliberately avoided any reference to the depreciated AFP format because... it is depreciated.)

Hi, I just saw this thread and wanted to thank you. I'm a very new NAS user and your very detailed and complete explanations above have been so helpful. THANK YOU.

 

[Robbie]

Hi, I just saw this thread and wanted to thank you. I'm a very new NAS user and your very detailed and complete explanations above have been so helpful. THANK YOU.

My pleasure and thank you for the feedback - it does help!

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