Syncing a PC Hard Drive to a Share Folder

[dxxkcxxn]

My goal is to open up a share folder and using it to sync one of the hard drive on my pc. That is I create a share folder named Drive_D and use it to sync hard drive D: in my windows pc.

I have tried Cloud Station Backup and Synology Drive but they can only sync to home folder. Or I have to use 3rd party software to achieve this.

 

[Shadow]

...and Synology Drive but they can only sync to home folder. Or I have to use 3rd party software to achieve this.

I'm able to select any target when opening Synology Drive on a (Windows) client. But maybe the difference between you and me is that I have homedirs disabled on my NAS infrastructure (I create homedirs on my own way).

 

[Telos]

Use Windows' File History.

 

[dxxkcxxn]

I'm able to select any target when opening Synology Drive on a (Windows) client. But maybe the difference between you and me is that I have homedirs disabled on my NAS infrastructure (I create homedirs on my own way).

Well, I'm a noob, I dare not to disable homedirs in order not to screw thing up.

 

[dxxkcxxn]

Use Windows' File History.

Thanks. Forgot to mention I am still on Win7.

 

[Shadow]

Just wild guess. If you go to your

DSM -> Drive Admin Console -> Team Folder

Do you have your shares enabled in your Drive console? If it's not enabled, you're not able to select them as a sync targert within Drive.

 

[dxxkcxxn]

Just wild guess. If you go to your

DSM -> Drive Admin Console -> Team Folder

Do you have your shares enabled in your Drive console? If it's not enabled, you're not able to select them as a sync targert within Drive.

Thanks. I tried your suggestion to stop Team Folder but at the end it required me to disable the homedirs service so I did not go further.

 

[fredbert]

In Drive Admin any shared folder can be added as a Team folder. These will be available to all Drive users, so be sure to set access privileges in Control Panel.

@dxxkcxxn you're right that Cloud Statin Backup uses the user's Drive home location, so you'd need some other application to backup to a Team folder: such as Win 10's File History, or SyncToy2 (free from MS). I've never used it (being Mac) but my Win 10 work laptop has Backup and Restore (Windows 7) so presumably that's something you can check out?

 

[dxxkcxxn]

... I've never used it (being Mac) but my Win 10 work laptop has Backup and Restore (Windows 7) so presumably that's something you can check out?

Thanks. I have configured the share folder 'Drive_D' as Team Folder and it did successfully sync with my hard drive D: . However, this method will limit to one Team Folder only and cannot configure more share folders in this way.
You are also right that this Team Folder will then be available to all Drive users. This will, to some extent, defeat the purpose of personal usage. So I will try other 3rd party software like SyncToy2 as suggested.

 

[jeyare]

So you can sync with the Drive any Shared folder with any your LAN device's folder. There is no limitation how many Shared folder you will use to sync within LAN (or WAN).
For a specific users you can use Properties of the Shared folder, then define proper User/Group Permissions (Allow, Disallow Read or Write, See or many of them).
I have lot of them shared across LAN/WAN with different policies.

 

[jeyare]

for the Backup purposes of Drive (or specific folders of the Drive) you can use Hyper Backup

 

[dxxkcxxn]

for the Backup purposes of Drive (or specific folders of the Drive) you can use Hyper Backup

Thanks. I'll try as suggested.

 

[jeyare]

But if you are looking just for the backup and not for a cloud data network availability, then you have to thing in different way. Many of them are available in Syno DSM. What is the primary purpose?

 

[dxxkcxxn]

My hard drive D: stores mainly the relocated user profile directories in which containing many important business data. Most of the data also link to the installed software. Knowing that keeping the relocated user profile directory on network drive is not stable because it may cause issue so I continue to keep the directory on internal drive of the pc. So drive D: is containing data of the system drive.
I need a backup of this drive on NAS with versioning because:
1) I sometimes need to access the data remotely;
2) In case drive D: is down and there is no spare hard drive around for restoring, I may temporary link the user profile directory on NAS back to the pc by means of mapped drive, though not recommended, to avoid disruption of business.
I understand that Cloud Station Backup and Synology Drive can serve the purpose, its only personal preference to explore ways to keep the data on a share folder instead of the home folder.
Thanks for your suggestion anyway.

 

[jeyare]

DSM iSCSI is perfect choice for your last described task :

• you can create LUN in your NAS
• use iSCSI initiator at Win side
• then from any place from your LAN is accessible as mapped disk
• you can use Snapshots, then backup and replication.

Advantages:
iSCSI is brutal from speed point of view in comparison with other solutions
Thin provisioning help you save space in NAS
Your data linked to installed SW will be available like in your PC.

Recommendations:

• Use LUN at RAID1 (support of the speed and availability & RAID rebuil time)
• same RAID you can use for other Volumes

But there is no versioning and, this is the my point:
do you need versioning as primary target? For what kind of files? How frequently?

 

[jeyare]

To be sure, this iSCSI solution for remote User profile directories is right for PC (desktop), not for a laptops (dedicated for traveling).

 

[dxxkcxxn]

Alright, iSCSI sounds good to my use case. I'll definite give it a try.

For versioning, I simply need it when there is careless deletion or modification of files. I think Snapshots can do it just fine.

Some side questions: When using iSCSI LUN if there is any compatibility problem when I upgrade my pc from Win7 to Win10. Any gotcha I may need to caution during upgrading. Thanks.

 

[jeyare]

Compatibility is ok

 

[jeyare]

You can use also Drive as versioning/availability:
Shared folder in NAS <-> LUN in PC (same as for internal directory structure)