Early in 2016 I published a post on how I setup my Synology NAS to backup to CrashPlan from Code42. It certainly wasn't an out of the box process and involved a lot of behind the scenes hacking on both the Synology and my laptop in order to get it going. It did, however, work well.
For a time.
How to backup your Synology NAS using Backblaze B2 cloud backup service. By using our Services or clicking I agree, you agree to our use of cookies. If you’re interested, in an Ask Me Anything thread on Reddit, Backblaze answered a few questions about their servers and encryption process. They support plenty of other services for offsite backup using Hyper Backup, so I don't see them necessarily solely leaving out Backblaze as making much sense. Unless of course, all C2 is Synology reselling Backblaze B2 at a premium, which I wouldn't say is out of the realm of possibility. I guess we'll need to see what the pricing is like.
Synology Backup To Cloud Options
I started to notice a pattern in that, with every iteration of the DSM platform or Java update, the CrashPlan service would just stop. I'd get it going again, but each time, it was not as simple as clicking the Start button next to the Service window. No, it was always far more detailed than that and I started to grow weary. I even went weeks at times without backing up my NAS, and this was not a situation I could tolerate any more.
At the time, when researching backup solutions, I felt disappointed that Backblaze weren't offering any kind of solution for this. I had been using Backblaze for several years on my Mac devices and always found it to be a solid, reliable and unobtrusive piece of software. I've only needed to restore a few items in that time, yet each time the process was quick and easy. This is what I ideally wanted on my NAS.
Well, now I do.
Backblaze now offer a B2 Cloud Storage which links directly to my Synology NAS. Rather than paying a fixed monthly fee, B2 works in a very similar mould to it's cloud storage competitors in that you will pay per GB (currently $0.005 per GB), so working out your appromiate monthly bill is simple.
The best part about this solution is, without question, the ease of setup and subsequent lack of worry. You can 'set it and forget it', just like on your laptop or desktop machine. Backblaze provide an intuitive guide which lays out the steps in a logical, well explained manner.
I'd say more, but once the guide was followed, I haven't had to carry out any more maintenance. It's important to note that this is a Cloud Storage solution for your NAS as opposed to a fully fledged Backup solution. I use this solely for duplicating all of my NAS content to cloud storage. I can then download on any device with an internet connection.
So quick, so simple, so hassle-free.
That's enough of a selling point for me.
We have finally made it. We’ve made it to the last section of this project. Now that we’ve set up the main services on the NAS and moved our files to it. Let back it up just incase the whole thing implodes (*knocks on wood). There is a lot of options between CloudSync and Hyper Backup to create a backup of the NAS and now there is a lot of options for cheap cloud storage. All of them have their pros and cons, advantages and disadvantages, and different capabilities.
Before we go into configuring CloudSync lets break down Hyper Backup vs CloudSync first.
- Hyper Backup is mainly used to replicate a traditional backup software to a Cloud Storage location. You configure a standard backup retention schedule like daily, weekly, monthly etc.
- CloudSync is mainly used for taking what is on the NAS and dumping it somewhere else or used to keep 2 locations in sync. You and sync a folder on your NAS to a folder in your onedrive account. The connection can be a single direction or by directional.
For this process I choose to use Backblaze B2 Cloud Storage. More specifically I’m going to configure a one way sync to Backblaze and configure Backblaze to hold everything with version control. Lastly, in this configuration I will configuration not to download and changes from BackBlaze. This last step is a precaution just incase backblaze is comprised then what ever changes are made will not impact the NAS files. Then I can just delete the BackBlaze container and reupload everything.
I’m not going to go through the BackBlaze account setup because it’s pretty straight forward. You create an account, create a bucket, and some encryption keys. Then you’ll need put that information into CloudSync. It’s a similar set up to any other vendor out there. So let’s focus on the Synology part of it.
First, log into your Synology and open up Package Center.
Download and install the CloudSync Application.
Next open Cloud Sync and Click the + sign to add a vendor.
As you can see there is a ton of vendors to choose from. We are going to pick BackBlaze B2 and click Next to continue.
For BackBlack specifically they need the following items.
- Account ID /applicationKeyID
- Application Key
Once you put those 2 items in you’ll be able to select the bucket you created. If you have a bigger BackBlaze account with multiple buckets you can choose which bucket to use.
Click Next to continue.
On this page is where you start creating your synced folders. After you create the first folder you can add more folders. Since I’m using this for Backups and not synced cloud access I’ve selected “Upload local changes only” for sync direction. If you want to scope the schedule you can do so under “Schedule Settings”.
When you can enable Data Encryption you’ll have to create a password for the encryption. Don’t loose the password or else you’re backups will be useless.
Click Next to continue.
The process is complete. Click OK and you can go back to the Overview tab to see the status.
If you have more folders to sync click on Task List and you can add them there.
Synology Nas Cloud Backup
That is it. That is the process to easily sync your Synology NAS to Backblaze. I hope you’ve found this guide and the other ones in this series useful.
Synology Hyper Backup Backblaze
-Terry Sheridan