The summary of ‘Top Synology Feature – Backup Any Windows PC to a Synology NAS with Active Backup for Business’

This summary of the video was created by an AI. It might contain some inaccuracies.

00:00:0000:14:16

The video comprehensively discusses Synology's Active Backup for Business, a robust backup solution primarily designed for Windows PCs. It emphasizes the tool's capacity for detailed backups, including bare metal restores, and highlights its user-friendly interface that allows access to multiple file versions through an intuitive portal. The setup process is detailed, noting that it requires a Btrfs volume, which might not be available on models like the 'j' series. Steps include downloading and activating the software, installing it on each Windows PC, and configuring server settings with attention to SSL certificates for encryption.

The speaker elaborates on backup tasks, recommending daily backups and sensible retention policies to manage data storage efficiently. Advanced features like monthly snapshots and daily version retention are explained, alongside compression benefits for space saving. A demonstration of backup and restoration highlights the program's capability for incremental backups and efficient space usage through deduplication. The functionality extends to browsing and restoring specific file versions and even backing up virtual machines, showcasing data recovery and version control benefits.

Additionally, the tutorial briefly touches on DSM 7's beta feature to back up Linux machines and stresses the importance of setting up notifications to monitor backup statuses and periodically testing restores to ensure efficacy. The video concludes by inviting viewer suggestions for future tutorials, underscoring the interactive and dynamic nature of the presentation.

00:00:00

In this part of the video, the speaker introduces Synology’s Active Backup for Business, highlighting it as one of Synology’s most impressive features, primarily for Windows PCs. They explain the capability of the system to perform detailed backups and restorations, including bare metal restores, which allow for complete system recovery even if the original hard drive is replaced. The tool is praised for its ease of use and efficiency in managing backups, as well as its ability to access multiple versions of files through an intuitive portal. The speaker mentions that this feature is free and superior to Mac’s Time Machine, expressing a hope for a future Mac version. The remainder of the segment focuses on the initial steps to set up Active Backup for Business on a Synology NAS, starting with logging into DSM, installing the package through the Package Center, and the necessity of signing into Synology.

00:03:00

In this segment, the speaker discusses the setup process for Synology’s active backup for business. Key points include downloading and activating the software, which requires a Btrfs volume not available on certain Synology models like the ‘j’ series. The user interface is straightforward, especially for backing up PCs. It involves installing software on each Windows PC, then adding the device by providing the server address and admin credentials. Potential issues with SSL certificates are addressed, indicating that even if the certificate isn’t officially signed, it provides full SSL encryption. Once the setup is complete, the new device will appear in the DSM interface.

00:06:00

In this part of the video, the focus is on setting up backup tasks using various options such as specific drives, volumes, and scheduling. The speaker recommends daily backups for convenience and details the importance of retention policies, which define how long to keep data after it’s deleted from your computer. They suggest starting with a longer retention period and adjusting based on storage needs. Advanced retention policies are explained, including keeping a snapshot every month for the last year and ensuring daily versions are retained for a week. The speaker also highlights the benefits of using compression to save space, and demonstrates initiating a backup, which shows impressive performance. They test a file change to illustrate how backups with snapshots can efficiently save space while maintaining multiple file versions.

00:09:00

In this part of the video, the presenter demonstrates the features of Synology’s applications, specifically focusing on file backups and restoration using Active Backup for Business. They create a test file, perform a backup, modify the file, and then back it up again to show incremental backups. The presenter then highlights how to use the Active Backup for Business portal to restore files from different backup points, illustrating the ease of reverting to older versions of files or retaining multiple versions for merging changes. The process ensures data recovery and version control, showcasing the software’s powerful backup and restoration capabilities on both file and hard drive levels.

00:12:00

In this part of the video, the speaker highlights the powerful capabilities of Active Backup for Business, particularly for Windows. It can browse files, perform deduplication to save space by compressing similar program and installation files, and back up virtual machines. Although only one computer was backed up in the demonstration, it saved nine gigs due to deduplication. The speaker also mentions DSM 7’s beta feature for backing up Linux machines. Notifications should be set up to monitor backup statuses, ensuring backups remain effective by periodically testing restores. The tutorial concludes with an invitation for viewers to suggest future tutorials.

Scroll to Top