TOP 6 Synology MISTAKES New Users Make

[@QuestionMan]

In my experience, the largest barrier to NAS usage is that so much of it does hinge on "don't use it until you understand how it works" with a side of "you need to use this to really benefit from your NAS." It's getting better, but I really wish NAS makers could crack that nut of making feature concepts more accessible to the layman.

[@MrSunDevil23]

Long time Synology user. You helped me greatly with choosing my DS 418 and upgrading to DS 920+ and replicating them remotely. Good content as always-great that you help the newbies but don’t forget about the advanced people although that cuts into your consulting dollars….

[@DavidM2002]

I came oh so close to buying a 2 bay but, given the small additional cost, I bought a 4 bay. Now that I have a much better understanding of Raid and volumes, I would probably buy a 6 bay.

[@UK_Adventurer]

same. i wish I had the 6-bay

[@jbourgeois5092]

@SpaceRex, thanks for all the info. Been watching the your beginners videos and trying to figure out what I need for my first NAS (or if I even do). I've got so many files spread around different computers, flash drives, external HDDs, and on the cloud. I think I need to centralize and make them available remotely for when I'm traveling or at work. Not sure what capacity or setup I need, but these videos are helping narrow it down

[@blcjck8121]

If you are determined to learn about port forwarding, you might as well go learn about about reverse proxy as well. That way you can have as little as one port open. Combined with a properly setup firewall, should be as secure as needed, and still be practical for multiple users in day-to-day use.

[@dennisvanmierlo]

Even better, learn how VPN works and how to setup your own VPN with for example WireGuard. Much safer than exposing your NAS ports to the internet.

[@userperson5259]

I absolutely love your content. This is so valuable and informative. Thanks, and.. Cheers!

[@xellaz]

Great Synology NAS tips as always! I wish you would cover the new UGreen NAS too in the future though. I luv my Synology NAS'es but they can get too expensive once you get to the higher tiers. The UGreen NAS has great specs at reasonable prices albeit the software still needs improvement but you can install 3rd party OS on it too like TrueNAS or unRAID if you want.

[@Carl-kg7rm9zz8y]

Love your channel! Any tips on how to quickly sort up data that has been accumulated over the years! Also how to get rid off duplicate files quickly?

[@dungbeetle.]

Another good one, Will. Thank you.

[@Frankhe78]

A two bay unit works out perfect for me. I understand not everybody is able to make a descent estimation of the amount of data storage they will be needing in three or four years from now. With some good planning you are fine with a two bay NAS. After a good four years I swapped my two 4 TB drives for two 16 TB drives without any downtime. Keep it simple and all will be well.

[@gryzman]

looking at backups , cloud backups - these seem to cost more than a cost of new NAS with hard drives - and convincing one of my family to host it for me at their home. I'd love to be able to store 40TB of data somewhere , guaranteeing that most of it won't change often. Any tips ?

[@regwatson2017]

The idea of the BeeStation is a great one. Running a NAS without investing a lot of time having to watch videos like this to understand how to set things up is not something that appeals to the ordinary user. However the single drive NAS BeeStation is not much better than using an external hard drive if backup is what you want - just adds ease of external access but retains the danger of "all your eggs in one basket". And 4TB is not nearly big enough for all the files and photos and videos we want to store these days and you still have the issue of if it dies all your data dies too if that is all you have relied on (as most Beestation users will have).

[@starfoxBR77]

Looking forward to watch it after work!

[@skesinis]

My first mistake when I bought the 6 bay DS1618+ was that I used RAID5 on 6x 4TB drives. If I had used SHR instead, I wouldn’t have to buy the DS923+ with bigger hard drives. I did that to copy all my data to the DS923+, before I format the old one to SHR too, so I can make it expandable as well by start replacing some of the smaller drives with bigger ones, without having do that for all, before seeing that in actual free space. Also, another thing that I did back then, to backup some of my external HDDs, was that I plugged them in to the USB3 and I copied them from within the NAS’ terminal to get 5Gbps during the copy. However, this also copied the permissions of the files (some of them were root) and I needed to use sudo to copy them from one NAS to the other. This was giving me trouble with the script that I wrote to do so, because every time the copy or rsync would fail for some weird filename or whatever other reason, I had to type the sudo password again. Eventually I changed the ownership of all the files to the admin user I was logged in on the source NAS, and that fixed this issue.

[@Yothlan]

TBH I don't understand the point of RAID redundancy for home setups, though I keep hearing about it in my NAS research. As you very well highlighted, it's not a backup, so in my eyes the point of RAID (1 or 5) is just availability - it will ensure service continues before you fix the disk error. It is critical for an enterprise, but for my family photo I can wait to get my backup up and running rather than spend money on precious disk space.

[@TehMezdawg]

Love your videos man. Had a blast playing out with my Synology and various other NAS OS options but still need to practice my Linux skills. Have you ever thought of doing a more personal video on your background and that kind of thing? Thinking about taking a computer networking diploma because I find it interesting (like an internet plumber!) and was curious if you had any suggestions to get into that line of work. Thanks for the videos!

[@Frankhe78]

I backup the NAS home folders and therefore all Synology Drive data to an off-site location, in this case to Synology C2 Storage. I disagree about the claim not to backup files that came from a desktop or laptop to the NAS via Synology Drive, either through backup or synchronisation. Files on my computer are important and Synology Drive creates a copy on the NAS but this is only 'one' backup. "One backup is no backup". Bring the files off-site in a second backup. This is very important!

[@random_memory_dump]

The one with leaving free bays is good one :)' can you elaborate on home folder on nas?

[@TheGoodTroubleShow]

so helpful thank you

[@JohnWashburn-xb7yk]

i just bought a Synology 1522+ 6 bay it's my first Nas

[@UncleBuck327]

1522+ is a 5-bay, my good man. I just picked one up as well. :)

[@JohnWashburn-xb7yk]

@@UncleBuck327 my mistake

[@droneforfun5384]

Thanks Will/from Sweden

[@MarkWusinich]

I realize this would be time sensitive, but could you do a video on setting up a home NAS and the associated costs? I am worried about hidden costs, like any subscriptions I might need to keep active to keep things going. Love your videos!

[@lamp007]

I run a Synology and don’t have any subscriptions for anything; however the initial cost of the system, additional RAM, NVME SSDs as well as the Hard drives were very expensive up front cost. There’s also the cost later on of needing to replace failing/failed drives.

[@randomuser2468]

Loving the videos. Thanks!

[@SpaceRexWill]

Appreciate it!

[@AaronShumaker]

Thanks, these are some good insights. In what scenario though would you open up the management interface or backup ports to the internet? You can do all of that on the local network without opening these up to the internet, correct? I would think it should be able to make outgoing requests without opening an incoming port.

[@jaya3537]

Great video Will. With external backups to NAS USB Drive, is it possible via Hyperbackup without unencrypting the volume? Any alternatives? Thanks.

[@0MrScruff0]

I started with a 9 bay and filled it. Then I got 5 bay expansion and I've nearly filled it.

[@US_Joe]

Thanx Rex - good advice! 👍👍👍

[@ronwatkins5775]

Wtth snapshots, how does it work with a running database? Is there something which flushes all the open transactions and dirty pages? With the home folders, how do you get windows to mount the NAS share so no matter which PC you login to you are seeing the same folders?

[@Shaked662]

Raid is also considered one of the ways to make a backup for storage in a NAS? Or a crash of one drive can affect the other as well?

[@notmimul]

This is an interesting insight.. so I wanted to get NAS for my photos backup but you mentioned it's not a place for backup since the volume crashes there everything crash. How common is that issue tho?

[@manderla79]

Hey Will, thanks a lot for your great videos. Unlike many others, you manage to convey even complex content in an understandable and enjoyable way. That's why you are my first port of call for videos about synology nas. I would like to ask you for your opinion on the best way to transfer a bunch of photos from an old hard drive (partly Iphone but also digital camera shots and videos) to a brand new 1522+. Would you use synology photos to do the transfer (it takes a long time and not all files are transferred imho) or would you copy the files to the "photos" folder which results in synology photos not recognising all the pictures and displaying a "loading" sign or is there another way you would recommend? I look forward to a reply as I really appreciate your opinion and say "thank you" again for your great videos! keep up the good work!

[@SpaceRexWill]

I would copy via SMB all of the files to the photo folder. They will take a while to generate the thumbnails

[@manderla79]

@@SpaceRexWill That was quick and easy and is probably the most convenient solution. now i can even use the wd homecloud as a backup. awesome! thx a lot!

[@Robert-tv3pl]

Thank you so much for the videos you make! Has helped me out a lot! Is there an easy way to be able to tell what folder/back up is encrypted? Also, is there an easy way to re-download the encryption key?

[@belladonnaRoot]

IMO, no one should ever encrypt data storage unless it is specifically required. The biggest thing it does is prevent a person with the physical device from accessing the data stored on it, unless they have the encryption key. It doesn't protect the device itself in any way; it can still be wiped and used, sold as a whole or in parts. Encryption only stops the data from being retrieved. Which is a big problem if you are the one trying to retrieve your data and don't have the key. So for a wedding photographer with years worth of work on a NAS, it doesn't make sense to encrypt, as that data isn't worth anything to a potential thief. So unless you are a company or individual with HR data, protected consumer data, or other information on the NAS that's worth something to a thief, it shouldn't be encrypted. Brought to you by someone who's had to wipe a personal PC or two because it was encrypted for no reason other than Dell defaults to it.

[@MrGiedriusSt]

set 1.5x speed, thank me later. sorry, good content tho.

[@Hall]

Good tip. And applies to nearly every talking channel.

[@harrychufan]

I do 2X for everything but music

[@DigitalByteBard]

4x music

[@budgetjo]

I’m only issue with channels talking about Synology - get to the point. Lots of filler content.

[@georgpfeifer9837]

1,25x for foreigners 😅

[@sebastiansimon9737]

I have read that BTRFS is rather buggy. I have mine formatted ext4. How is your experience with BTRFS?

[@paulerickson3553]

Hi, I had a scare with a dead NAS awhile back, so now bought a second NAS and would like to set up hot backup. The current main volume is ext4, How best to transfer to the new device using btrfs? Then enable snapshots etc… Then wipe the original and set up as the hot standby?

[@DestinationTimeshare]

What about a UPS battery backup system to keep power to the NAS if there is a power failure? Any good recommendations on that or videos you may have on the topic?

[@wole04]

I have an apc smart ups. Works great

[@4toni729]

I would love a 2024 or Version 7 Synology tutorial playlist

[@MichaelTurrell]

Can you do a video showing use the proper way to remove Synology Photos? Synology Photos recently tweeked and all the dates all mixed up and photos are out of order now :( Thanks!

[@MrSandshadow]

9:50 I hope you do not open any port to the internet if you believe "ports are doing stuff"... but in general good tips and nice video.

[@Tremmert]

I'm looking into getting a NAS soon to store a lot of my data on, and later on - video surveillance. I wanted to go with a 2-bay NAS, but I'll go with a 4-bay DS423+ (will also store movies for Plex, so need the integrated GPU for HW acceleration) and a 22 TB Ironwolf Pro (already verified the identical model works with the NAS), but it will only be tons data for the first couple of months with the one drive. Down the line, I'll add video surveillance, but now I don't know whether to use BTRFS or ext4, as people keep saying that it's better to use ext4 for video surveillance. Can I still use BTRFS or should I split the 22TB into multiple partitions? I'll start with only one HDD, will get more drives for SHR in due time.

[@dduhnut]

I would love to use Windows Explorer but I just set up the NAS and File Station is the only thing that works. The drive client is OK for backing up My Documents or syncing but I wanted to set up shared folders. I have to log into the NAS every time I want to copy/update files.

[@PocketDrummer]

10:16 - I really could have used SOME description of what the home folder is supposed to be used for. Now I'm concerned I've done something wrong and don't know where to find the information to determine that.

[@FroL_Onn]

Great video! Thanks a lot!

[@_starfiend]

I've got both a synology NAS and a verbatim powerbay NAS. Neither has ever given me any problems until just recently when the powerbay suddenly just lost all its configuration. I don't suppose you know anything about These do you? Many thanks.

[@jeffreyrh]

I do use File Station when I'm moving data around between volumes or even within a volume.

[@SpaceRexWill]

that is absolutely the time to use it!

[@PatrickBijvoet]

I am a private user and there was one thing I did not agree upon. I fo use one Worm folder. I use it for for some documents which are do important for me, that I just want to feel extra safe. However most of my files fo not go there.

[@DavidM2002]

I don't use that feature but, you are absolutely right. As he was talking about it, what you just said came to mind. One more item for my To Do list.

[@PocketDrummer]

I slightly disagree with Mistake #6. I recently purchased a 2-Bay NAS with a 20TB drive just to get started so I had something I could back up to and also have redundancy. I also just wanted to get my feet wet with these concepts before stepping up to a more complicated system. After looking at prices, a lot of the larger NAS devices don't make much sense compared to just building a system for TrueNAS Scale or Unraid. For me, it makes sense to get something affordable now that will get the job done and then save up for a far more powerful system later.

[@thaitichi]

At the very end he says transferring files through DSM is a pain compared to SMB. I'm really curious as to why that is. What's different about the way the files get transferred? Wouldn't it all be done through the LAN?

[@X400DYL]

Snapshots, Perfect, LifeSaver :)

[@softbreeze941]

Okay so the safest way seems to jsut have 4 different HDD and then operate them as 4 HDD inside the synology instead of RAIDING them together? Then I can fit exaclt duplication of sngle HDD inside the synology onto 4 5tb ecternal harddrives and I can back up EVRYTHING onto separate HDD which is not possible in any other way?!?

[@jw1952]

What types of drives would you recommend if using the NAS as: security camera dvr, plex server, and file sharing?

[@peterwrulon-photography]

I have two sinology NAS systems at two locations. One has 5.7 tb and the other 7.2. Both are synced, have two version selected, empty recycle bin , two snapshots, drive properties shows the same number of files and files sizes on drives. No where can I find the extra resources on the one drive. Maybe an idea for video

[@thomashinna6370]

I did one of the mistakes when I bought my Synology DS1512+ 5 bay NAS some years ago. I filled up all bays with two 4 TB drives and three 3TB drives an now I'm out of space. I can't afford to replace all drives in one go, but maybe replace the three smallest drives first with 8TB or 12TB drives. Then I'm stuck with some drives that I cannot use anymore. What do you recommend?

[@tonyvalenti6614]

I have not opened any ports on my NAS other than what is default by Synology. My question would be the risk of opening the only port I have on my router is for Plex? Is that a great security risk?

[@sabinaueblacker3740]

Is it better to reformat a Synology to purge large amounts of data or delete the data ?

[@TaMmY0527]

What is the solution for unverified storage, i bought ds1823xs+ and Seagate 10tb x 8?

[@PNice972]

I am having an issue with my DSM and vDSM where I can access the vDSM files directly while remote/not connected to wifi but cannot connect to the DSM files directly. I can only access the DSM using QC so I cannot stream or view large files without lag. I hope this made sense as I am looking for advice.

[@chriskober1]

Do you know when Synology will release new models for 2024?

[@Emulives]

2fa is not sending e-mail to recover. I have to reset in mode 1 to recover because i lost my cell phone. Now I'm using the Google Authenticator... is there a better choice? And you can make a video about the RESET modes? What I lost when I do a Mode 1 reset?

[@misiektoolucky159]

What about port 443 and reverse proxy? Can i use it outside safety?

[@SpaceRexWill]

It depends on what you are using it outside. If its something like a Wordpress website, totally, if its some insecure website, then I would not

[@misiektoolucky159]

Ok. Thanks You . Then i stay with VPN .

[@pelleg59]

I myself have made that mistake, bought a Synology two bay nas and two 4 Tb disks. It didn't last as long as I thought

[@regurge]

Does anyone have any advice on how to backup my backup? I'm currently using Hyperback to copy everything from hard drive 1 to a second internal hard drive, which is also encrypted with a password. Snapshots etc. are of course also activated. The reason: I think it is very secure because the data cannot be changed. Otherwise, in the case of ransomware and Raid 1, everything on the second disk would also be encrypted. Of course I have a third backup in another building, but for the second internal backup I would like to know whether there is a better possible way. Because in the worst case scenario it would otherwise be a bit complicated to restore it.

[@Georgevideocliper]

when take snapshoot if you have 2 nas?

[@tomturton]

I need to set up backups. I bought an external SSD that I plug into the USB port at the front of the Synology. DSM detects it, but I don't see it in Hyper Backup or the file manager. Permissions seem fine. What's going on?!

[@dennisvanmierlo]

Don't use SSD for backup. HDD drives are cheaper and more reliable for backup.

[@pzboyz72]

In a not very old video, you said to to use SHR instead of BTRFS. Why?

[@dennisvanmierlo]

SHR is a Synology RAID configuration. BTRFS is a filesystem.

[@irokese4124]

I did the immutable snapshot mistake and ran out of space because a 2.4 TB snapshot. Now I deactivated this function and have to wait until all immutable snapshots are deleted by time. I wasn’t even allowed to do a complete reset and start from 0 on because of those immutable snapshots.

[@SpaceRexWill]

Yeah. It happens. I tell people to wait until they have figured everything out and are stable before enabling immutable snapshots

[@PunkrockNoir-je2vs]

container manager vs portainer ?

[@Ronniezim]

I bought both too small of a drive and only two bay…:/. It has lasted 18 months though..

[@kagenoyama501]

soooo... have you thought about making a video to undo the top 6 mistakes if someone got their first NAS about a year ago and made some or all of these (hypothetically *cough* *cough*)

[@wole04]

Eerr... Just backup and start again

[@CedroCron]

#7 not turning on their firewall because it's behind a router or another firewall. Most consumer grade routers are junk, full of CVE's that aren't patched or slow to be patched and that are built for cost not security. TURN IT ON AS A PRECAUTION.

[@SpaceRexWill]

Turning it on does not do anything. the firewall built into Synology is just UFW. It only does IP / Port blocking. It does not do any kind of scanning or anything like that

[@CedroCron]

@@SpaceRexWill It allows for blocking other countries access such as China, Russia, North Korea so it keeps it protected from bots from these countries, Furthermore it’s also restricts which ports can be accessed depending on the rules so if there is an unknown CVE it adds a layer of protection if they get through your router/firewall which might have its own CVEs and issues. More security is ALWAYS better especially with so many junk consumer routers/firewalls providing a joke of Security at best.

[@The_Dude_1]

What about ports for plex?

[@SpaceRexWill]

That should be safe to start with as well!

[@john_in_phoenix]

Plex is the only port I have open (and change it from default). Any other access I need, I use wireguard to access.

[@nikolaradovic1726]

Sorry, can someone help me ? I had setup my old laptop for Synology dsm nas server and they work great , but it only about testing environment.Now i have want to make real nas like pc : motherboard with 6 hdd and 2 nvme , ryzen 2600 ,…, and i dont know does it works (which of these nas synology sever they will be , now on my laptop is some 4021xs ), or i must buy orginaly nas server configuration like synology ds1621+ (but i didint like configuration , it is very weak) Thanks for reply

[@kennuimuffins2426]

Mine just died. Hopefully it's just the PSU and not the C2000 bug (my unit is supposed to be a replacement without the issue).

[@ShaneMcGrath.]

Number one biggest mistake should be not using a UPS, Should be the first thing you do when you set up NAS!

[@dennisvanmierlo]

Exactly. An unexpected power loss or drop can crash the volume in your NAS. Always, always buy an UPS for your NAS that's minimal big enough for a graceful shutdown. Make sure that it can communicate with your NAS via USB or network.

[@userwasneverfound]

What is a UPS? I'm looking into getting a NAS for storing video content and my games that I make, I'm a game developer. I only want to backup my games, but don't really care if I lose video content unless it's important. I don't plan on using any personal files with my Nas on video content and games. Thanks in advance!

[@dennisvanmierlo]

@@userwasneverfound A UPS is a unit with a battery that is a backup for the power supply for an electronic device, in this case your NAS. When the power drops, the UPS takes over the power for as long as the battery can provide it. I use the APC Back-UPS 700 for my DS1520+. I is good for 10-15 min of backup which is enough to gracefully power down my NAS in the case of an unexpected power drop. The UPS triggers the power down of my NAS via an USB cable. DSM 7 has all the configuration options for this in the UPS tab on the Hardware & Power section in the Control Panel.

[@userwasneverfound]

@@dennisvanmierlo Thank you very much for the info!

[@jarthur1369]

love your videos. however... i totally disagree with point 1. Turns out due to some crazy loophole, you are allowed to own more than one nas. let's say you get a 2 bay nas and put a 10tb in each bay, run raid 1... maybe some creative thing you are getting into made you say "hey maybe i should get a nas" ok so: 1. if you outgrow it in a year, yay. you will not feel sad you will feel happy. it really took off and "wow i already outgrew my nas" 2. if someone asks "so what are you going to do with the old nas?" you will say "mmmm i dunno" then 10 seconds later "you know what? i could take the new nas and ######, and i can take the old nas and ####" trust me.

[@Cemilaws]

Yesterday i moved all work files to drive file and accidentally deleted it, i was in panic all tickets were gone, thank god drive version explorer saved me , is there better backup or is this good? I need every minute backup for documents on my work shared folder, i looked at drive logs and find my deleted items in expoler so, how to inprove thata

[@SpaceRexWill]

Thats where you want snapshots. Snapshots are quick and easy to setup and you can keep them for as long as you want

[@Cemilaws]

​@@SpaceRexWilli enabled everything like on your videos but you always do every 2 hour, I move the files and deleted the drive file in less than 2 minutes, so this ddnt helped me :/ i needed to look at drive logs exact time to minutes and searched that time in explorer. Dies explorer backup every minute?

[@theglowcloud2215]

Don't open ports, use an SDN like Tailscale or Zerotier.

[@BartekEUTV]

Opening DSM to internet is in your opinion "ok"? That's should be rule 1 of what not to do.

[@sugarpuddin]

Synology: why Rj58 running only at 1 Gb?!

[@PetrKlapper]

#1* Buying Synology that still offer just gigabit ethernet when even a single HDD runs up to 2.5Gbe speed.

[@JimJohn5555]

Seems like NAS is REALLY high tech. Very difficult to understand for the amateur photographer like me.

[@jessicaalvis7063]

I love your videos about NAS - and you have kinda convinced me to get a nas for my 512gb mbp 2018. But I gotta say, you repeat yourself a lot. You could Cut off 30% of your videos length if you would stop repeating yourself 5 times.

[@comp20B]

Everything is digital now. How does the average person manage a NAS? We all now it is about backups. Understandle, far to complicated for the normies.

[@julianhall4052]

Fab

[@Shaked662]

Great video!! Thank you!!