Synology DS414j: An Ideal Backup NAS

DSM 5.0: Backup and Synchronization

Synology's sync and backup solution is comprised of three packages - Cloud Station, Cloud Station Client and Cloud Sync. In order to test out the capabilities / features, we decided to install the packages on two Synology NAS units - a DS214play and the DS414j unit under review.

In order to set up Cloud Station, the 'user home' service needs to be enabled first. After enabling Cloud Station, the mechanism becomes quite clear. The package allows syncing of files from computers (using a desktop program similar to Dropbox), mobile devices and other Synology NAS units. In order to enable a NAS unit to participate in the syncing process (i.e, contribute folders to), the Cloud Station Client package must be installed on it.

Users must also be explicitly enabled in the Cloud Station package in order to be able to set up the pre-existing folders for syncing (available under the Sharing option in Cloud Station). The package also allows users to see a list of clients connected to the NAS for syncing purposes. We also have versioning built into the package. The number of revisions to keep is configurable. From what I saw, the revisioning is not based on diff, but distinct copies are created for each version.

The Cloud Sync package allows users to back up / bidirectionally sync data with public cloud services such as Google Drive, Dropbox and Baidu Cloud. OneDrive and Google Photos are two important cloud services that are not yet part of the Cloud Sync package.

The Cloud Station Client package, as mentioned earlier, makes it easy to set up the local sync folder and the corresponding shared folder (that is configured on the other NAS).

Synology has great tutorials (for example, the one here) related to these packages on their site. Even though the packages and options may appear overwhelming at first, following the directions given in the tutorials makes it simple to set up a fully private cloud / syncing solution. Within a hour of setting up the packages, I had managed to make a copy of all the data that I had in the public cloud.

From Synology's perspective, potential areas of improvement include support for more cloud services in Cloud Sync, making available a wizard for configuring these packages and moving to a diff-based versioning system.