How to Backup MacOS to Synology NAS via Time Machine

Time Machine is a built-in backup feature that enables Macbook users to automatically back up their entire system. This includes apps, system files, accounts, preferences, music, photos, documents, and more. In this article, we shall discuss How to Backup MacOS to Synology NAS via Time Machine. Please see “Step-by-step guide on how to set up the Synology DS923+ NAS“, DSM Security: How to Protect Synology DS923+ NAS, and how to configure Windows LAPS

Time Machine helps users restore their MacOS to a previous state or recover specific files that might have been deleted accidentally or lost due to a malware attack etc.

Note: You must not use a Synology NAS. If you have a USB drive or any other external storage device, you can use Time Machine to automatically back up your files etc as well.

Also, see how to Backup Mac with Veeam Agent for Mac to Synology DS923+ NAS, how to Setup iSCSI Target and Storage LUN on Synology DS923+ for VBR, and how to Achieve 3-2-1 rule with SOBR on Synology or OOTBI and Wasabi.

Time Machine Features:

Below are some key capabilities of the Time Machine.

Time Machine automatically backs up your Mac every hour, every day, and every week. It keeps hourly backups for the past 24 hours. Also, daily backups for the past month, and weekly backups for all previous months until your backup disk is full. You can also change the backup frequency and when the backup disk is full, the older backups are deleted.
Instead of backing up the entire system each time. With Time Machine only backs up files that have changed since the last backup. This makes the backup process efficient and reduces the amount of space required on the backup drive.
With Easy File Restoration, Time Machine allows you to browse through previous versions of your files. This enables the restoration of individual files or entire folders. You can access the backup interface, which displays a timeline of your backups. Thereby making it easy to navigate through different points in time.
In the event of a catastrophic system failure. We can use Time Machine can be used to recover your entire Mac to a previous state. This can be done by booting into macOS Recovery and selecting the “Restore from Time Machine Backup” option.
Time Machine is compatibility with External Drives, network-attached storage (NAS) as being used in this article.
Time Machine keeps multiple versions of files. So you can go back and recover previous versions of documents or projects that might have been accidentally overwritten or changed.

Please see how to fix “IP Address blocked on Synology NAS due to forgotten Password“, and “how to Manage User Permission on Synology with Active Directory [Part 1]“.

Create a Shared Folder

Before proceeding with these steps, we have to create a shared folder. This will be used as the location for the Time Machine Backup.

Sign in to DSM using an administrator account, and select Control Panel on the Desktop or from the Main icon. Click on Shared Folder and click “Create”

Enter a name for the shared folder as you wish and click next.

Note: Synology do not recommend enabling the recycle bin feature

Click on Skip.

Note: Synology do not recommend enabling encryption on shared folders as your Time Machine destination. We will do this directly from the Time Machine.

I will click Next on the window below “Configure Advanced Settings”.

Confirm Settings by clicking on Next.

At this time, I do not care about the User Permissions. I will click on Apply to continue.

We have successfully created the “Shared Folder”.

Enable SMB Service

I already have this service enabled. I would recommend you to double check as well to ensure the “Enable SMB Service” is checked and do not forget to click on Apply.

Next, navigate to the Advanced tab and select Enable Bonjour Time Machine broadcast via SMB.

Click On OK

Then, click on the Set Time Machine Folders button. Choose the shared folder that you just created from the Time Machine menu and save your settings.