Connecting Time Machine to the Synology DS1520+ NAS
Every time I lose power to my NAS, time machine stops backing up to it. This happens infrequently and yes I know I should have a UPS on the NAS. Because it happens so rarely I keep forgetting how to reconnect the stupid thing, so this article is just for me. There is an official Synology knowledge center article on this subject which is worth having a look at.
What doesn’t work…
The first thing I try is deleting and adding the NAS in time machine. This looks like it works but then never backs up. Stop doing this!
What does work!
Use Synology Assistant to find your NAS on the network (Figure 1), and connect to it. This will open up DiskStation Manager (DSM) in your default browser. At this point I usually update the firmware, which requires a restart of the NAS and takes about 5 minutes.
If you haven’t already created a shared folder on your NAS then in DSM go to Control Panel > Shared Folder and create one as per the instructions here.
Then go to Control Panel > File Services and for DSM 7.0+, go to the SMB tab and select Enable SMB service checkbox (Figure 2).
Go to the Advanced tab and select Enable Bonjour Time Machine broadcast via SMB. Then, click on the Set Time Machine Folders button and save (Figure 3).
You should then be able to add your shared folder to Time Machine. Choose the shared folder that you created (e.g., DS Time Machine Backup -DS1520_NAS.local”) and click Set up Disk.
Enter the synology username and password for this folder and click Connect. Time Machine will start backing up your data.
If you enjoyed this article and would like to help support my writing, then please show your appreciation by following me, clapping (up to 50 times), highlighting or commenting! Alternatively, you can buy me a coffee or subscribe, to get an email whenever I publish a new article.
