NAS recovery

pp111 · 26 Aug 2020 at 10:32

I have a Synology NAS that I currently use as a backup for my PC network.

The files I want to keep safe are currently on several PC's and backed up to the NAS which uses JBOD. The system is quite safe because an entire PC can blow up, or the NAS, and there are still copies of the files on the devices that didn't blow up. It would take all of them blowing up at the same time for me to lose the files. That's safe enough for me. Truly critical files are backed up from the NAS on to FLASH.

Recent changes to the PC uses tend to indicate that the NAS would be better now used as a file server.

The obvious thing to do would be to change the raid type. I am no expert on raid but I am thinking that raid one would be fine because write speed is just not important. Shift all the files to the NAS. My worry comes in though that this means the files will be stored on a single device. In the past this has often proven to be a bad plan. My question is, how recoverable are the drives if the NAS itself fails? Are there any specific pointers/issues with a Synology NAS that I need to avoid? What about SHR?

Armageus · 26 Aug 2020 at 10:51

In theory you should be able to buy a new Synology, slot the drives in and reinstall DSM, and your data should then be accessible.

Alternatively, since Synology use standard Linux RAID types, you should be able to connect the drives to a Linux PC and recover your data that way:
https://www.synology.com/en-us/know...I_recover_data_from_my_DiskStation_using_a_PC

I've not tried either Personally. You are correct in your worry regarding storing files on just one device - always make sure you have at least 2 copies (ideally 3), on different systems/mediums/locations (e.g. cloud backup). This helps protect not just against failure of the storage device e.g. NAS, but other possibilities such as Cryptolocker attacks, viruses, or even physical issues such as fire or flood.

If you use the NAS as your main storage/file server, probably the easiest option is just a USB hard drive - connect to one of your PCs and then back up all of the NAS files periodically. (You can also take the USB drive offsite, further protecting your data)

#Chri5# · 26 Aug 2020 at 11:12

RAID isn't backup, so as mentioned you could configure the Synology to backup to a cloud provider such as Backblaze:

https://www.backblaze.com/blog/synology-cloud-backup-guide/

pp111 · 26 Aug 2020 at 11:27

Armageus said:
In theory you should be able to buy a new Synology, slot the drives in and reinstall DSM, and your data should then be accessible.

Alternatively, since Synology use standard Linux RAID types, you should be able to connect the drives to a Linux PC and recover your data that way:
https://www.synology.com/en-us/know...I_recover_data_from_my_DiskStation_using_a_PC

I've not tried either Personally. You are correct in your worry regarding storing files on just one device - always make sure you have at least 2 copies (ideally 3), on different systems/mediums/locations (e.g. cloud backup). This helps protect not just against failure of the storage device e.g. NAS, but other possibilities such as Cryptolocker attacks, viruses, or even physical issues such as fire or flood.

If you use the NAS as your main storage/file server, probably the easiest option is just a USB hard drive - connect to one of your PCs and then back up all of the NAS files periodically. (You can also take the USB drive offsite, further protecting your data)

Yep actually I think I may keep the existing setup but instead of replacing the drives in the NAS to increase capacity for raid 1 I will add some more drives to the PC's so that each PC has the files it needs ( no need for a server ) . In that way I have spent the same money, the NAS remains just a backup, and there are several copies of the data on different machines.

pp111 · 26 Aug 2020 at 11:29

#Chri5# said:
RAID isn't backup, so as mentioned you could configure the Synology to backup to a cloud provider such as Backblaze:

https://www.backblaze.com/blog/synology-cloud-backup-guide/

Yep, on consideration you are right. I am using the NAS as a backup and really I need to keep it that way. If I configure it as a server, I lose my backup which then presents a problem. It's actually better for me to keep it as a backup and just increase the drive capacity of one or two PC's so they have the files they need.