You NEED a UPS for your Synology NAS!

A UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply) helps protect your data by safely powering down your Synology NAS. Sudden loss of power is one of the biggest reasons why a crashed volume can occur and is entirely avoidable. Check out links below to devices that will automatically power down your Synology NAS.
The links below are Amazon affiliate links which means that I earn a percentage of each sale at no cost to you. Thank you for your support.
📌 APC 1500VA: geni.us/wt-apc1500
📌 APC 1100VA: [OUT OF STOCK]
📌 APC 600VA: geni.us/wt-apc600
📌 APC: 425VA (NO LONGER HAS A DATA PORT!): geni.us/wt-apc425
📌 Reddit Network UPS Server Instructions: / use_synology_nas_as_up...
✅ Written Instructions: www.wundertech.net/best-synol...
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0:00 Intro
0:30 Why a UPS is Important
2:09 Best UPS to Buy
2:42 Synology UPS Configuration
3:36 Network UPS Server (Shut Down Devices)
6:09 Conclusion
DISCLAIMER: The information in this video has been self-taught through years of technical tinkering. While we do our best to provide accurate, useful information, we make no guarantee that our viewers will achieve the same level of success. WunderTech does not assume liability nor responsibility to any person or entity with respect to damage caused directly or indirectly from its content or associated media. Use at your own risk.
WunderTech is a trade name of WunderTech, LLC.

[@undermygarage]

Thank you so much for making this video - cheers and Happy New Year!!

[@mathrocks7591]

Thank you. Great info

[@TechMeOut5]

Wowza what a great video! I learned so much...these were the most effective 6 minutes i spent this year so far :-)

[@WunderTechTutorials]

Thank you so much for watching!

[@darrenoshaughnessy3921]

You are DA MAN, Frank! Santa brought me a UPS this year, and I was struggling to figure out how to configure my server to shutdown my NAS in the event of a power failure. Just a quick watch of your video - aided by the Reddit post referenced in your blog post - and I was able to setup my NAS to shutdown my server instead. As always, great content and clear instructions - Thanks!

[@WunderTechTutorials]

Thank you and glad that it helped!

[@QuikTechSolutions]

Great video Frank! Very well explained. Have a great day!

[@WunderTechTutorials]

Thanks so much, Tony! I appreciate you watching - same to you!

[@bardatello]

Super helpful, thank you!

[@Bari_Khan_CEng_CMarEng]

Great videos as usual

[@superpoon16]

Thank you for nice video tutorial.

[@hellhole7422]

Thanks again for the video, I have a 2nd hand APC 1500 Pro i got for free and have a new battery for it on back order. I have the Ethernet/USB cable i ordered just need to set it all up.

[@kevinhughes9801]

Brill stuff wise words i use ups for my nas thanks

[@musiccreation1198]

Thank you !!!

[@rajahdoha]

👍 Helpfull, Thanks

[@superbaggio87]

Thank you so much for the video, i really appreciate it, very useful info. I think it's time for me to buy a ups too

[@WunderTechTutorials]

Glad that it helped!

[@mikepapahotel]

You must be psychic - I'm currently awaiting delivery of a CyberPower Systems CP1300EPFCLCD Sinewave and for the last 2 days I've been researching how to configure it to handle 2 x NAS plus 1 x Windows PC. Thank you! 😊

[@WunderTechTutorials]

Glad to hear it helped, thanks for watching!

[@ProjectileGrommet]

I googled this last week Interesting 👀👀👀

[@JBehrMusic]

Awesome video. One thing that may be confusing for some consumers, is whether to choose Pure Sine Wave vs Simulated Sine Wave. For NAS devices, I don't think Pure Sine Wave makes much since, considering the extra cost. But I'm curious what your thoughts are regarding the Sine Wave choices within different UPS types.

[@WunderTechTutorials]

Thank you! The short answer (and only my opinion) is that pure sine wave is superior, but I'm not sure it's worth it, mainly due to the difference in price. If it was an enterprise environment - definitely. It's just hard to suggest a device like that to a home user who might have only spent a few hundred bucks on their NAS.

[@sitte24]

Me and everybody I talked to haven't had good experience with APC devices, all went to Eaton without issues so far

[@WunderTechTutorials]

That's interesting - I've used a bunch of others and APC has always been the best. Appreciate the feedback! I'm sure it will be helpful to others.

[@gfriedman99]

Thanks for the tip. I settled on a line-interactive Eaton 5S550 for about $20 more than the apc BE600M. I had a bad experience with APC unexpectedly dropping the line load once the battery gets weak and their docs are a mess. The battery on the low-end Cyberpower units is not replaceable so it was a no brainer.

[@CBoneDeluxe]

Great video as always! However, I have to mention that I've had poor success when using cheaper UPS models like the ones you’ve mentioned. Those particular APC models do not output a "pure" sine wave while on battery power. The cheaper models usually output a "simulated" sine wave or sometimes called "stepped" or "squared" sine wave. Devices with Active PFC power supplies usually do not like kind of output. I learned that the hard way when I had a cheaper UPS hooked up to my DS1512+ and then the power went out. I guess that’s a reminder to always test out your equipment on battery power to make 100% sure it’s going to work during a power outage. :)

[@DavidM2002]

I'd be really interested to know what you are currently using, and why.

[@CBoneDeluxe]

@@DavidM2002 Well, I started out using a cheaper CyberPower CP600LCD with my Synology DS1512+ and when the power went out, it didn't keep the power to the NAS. At first I thought it was maybe a load issue or a faulty power outlet, so I did some testing with other devices and they seemed to work just fine. I contacted CyberPower about this, and they educated me on different types of sine waves and strongly recommended buying a model with a pure sine wave. So, I picked up a CyberPower PR750LCD and the NAS worked perfectly while on battery power. Do some googling and you'll see that CyberPower is right about the compatibility of using a simulated wave output with certain devices (like with active PFC PSUs). You might be able to get away with using a simulated sine wave, but don't make the same mistake I did and not test it out first.

[@DavidM2002]

@@CBoneDeluxe Many thanks for the detailed reply. I'll just go for the better quality UPS and avoid the issues.

[@WunderTechTutorials]

Great information! I agree that if you're willing to spend the money, there are better devices out there. I just tackled this from a "home users" perspective, meaning that most people wouldn't be willing to spend the money needed for a "great" UPS device to protect a cheaper NAS device. Regardless, great information and it's much appreciated!

[@rajahdoha]

Helpfull, Tks, 👍

[@ChrisDePasqualeNJ]

Nice video - keep up the good work. Do you know how to setup Duplicati? I have it running on my Pi4 and want to back up to DropBox. Currently I don't have it exposed to outside and am wondering if I have to do that in order to use DropBox or other external destinations. Thanks.

[@WunderTechTutorials]

I have heard of it, but don't have any hands-on experience with it. I will take a look at it for a future video!

[@RedBeardOps]

Could using the snapshot feature "repair" any faults made to your raid during a power outage?

[@WunderTechTutorials]

If a power outage causes a serious issue, the entire storage pool would be shot so snapshots wouldn't be accessible.

[@cyberwasp461]

Great video. I have an APC 1500 sinewave ups as I live in the lightning capital of the us. I've always wondered if this could be done. Too bad it can't be done from the PC side.

[@WunderTechTutorials]

Thanks! When you say from the PC side, do you mean automatically turning off a Windows PC?

[@cyberwasp461]

@@WunderTechTutorialsInstead of 5the NAS controlling it, let the PC shut it down. Right now The apc parachute program is set up to shut down the pc automatically at 10% battery. If there was a program on the pc that would first shut the nas down, then the PC it would be les involved. That all.

[@WunderTechTutorials]

@@cyberwasp461 From what I am able to tell, the Synology doesn't play well with other NUT servers. In a perfect world, I'd like a Raspberry Pi to shut down all of my devices, but it seems like the NAS can't accept shut down commands from other devices, so I think you'll run into the same issue with a PC.

[@dbpike]

Awesome video… as usual! My question is indirectly related to using a UPS. My DS220+ and DS220j only have 2 USB ports each. I can only guess there are only 2 to keep manufacturing costs down. So 1 USB is for my UPS and the other is for my external hard drive that I use as part of my backup scheme. This doesn’t leave a free port for sporadic backup/uploads to/from things like USB Flash drives/sticks/etc. It also prevents setting up network printers on your NAS ( I think you can do this, yes?). I haven’t tried connecting a USB hub yet but was wondering if this was possible. Anyone have thoughts or advice on this?

[@WunderTechTutorials]

Thanks! The short answer is that it used to work in DSM 6, but I think there were changes to "unsupported" USB devices in DSM 7. I wish I could point you to a specific one that would work, but since I don't use one, I'm not positive of one that would work. With that said, you should be able to find one that does work and accomplish exactly what you're looking for.

[@johnfleming2275]

I enjoy this and all your Synology Nas videos! I still very confused about your recommendations for a UPS for a Synology NAS?? I only want the UPS to power the NAS so I bought the one BE425M, only to find out it doesn't have a data port! So now I'm looking at the BE600M1 you also recommended. It has a data port so am I to assume it will work with my DS920+ NAS (as when buying a NAS on Amazon, there are no returns!...). I checked the Synology website and it s not on their compatible list. Thoughts???

[@WunderTechTutorials]

First, I sincerely apologize. I updated the written instructions to say that the new 425va devices no longer have a data port, but I forgot to update the description. I just did, so once again, my apologies. I just bought a BE600M1 in December and can confirm it has a data port. That should be all you need!

[@johnfleming2275]

Thank you for your reply and comments, much appreciated! And, thank you once again for making such clear and informative videos. All of them have helped me obtain a better understanding of this topic.

[@nettele1997]

Very good videos! I have a question, I have a UPS but the UPS does not have a usb interface. How to solve the problem so that the ups can be read by the NAS?

[@WunderTechTutorials]

Thanks! Unfortunately if it doesn't support monitoring, there isn't a way to get around it outside of buying a new UPS 😞

[@DavidM2002]

It looks like you can only connect a single USB cable to the unit shown. I have both a Synology and a QNAP and would like to be able to connect both. To more advanced model typically allow more USB devices to connect ?

[@WunderTechTutorials]

Unfortunately, not that I know of. Towards the end of the video, I have the "Network UPS" portion which lets you shut down other devices. With that said, I'm not sure how QNAP devices work, but I'm sure that you can get to QNAP to shut down the Synology or the Synology to shut down the QNAP.

[@nijian99]

I have the same question. Have you tried to use a USB hub to duplicate the UPS usb ports and connect both or more NAS? Another option is use one NAS as Synology UPS server, which can receives UPS information and relays it to the client Synology NAS. Though I have not tried this option myself.

[@WunderTechTutorials]

@@nijian99 You hit the nail on the head - using the Synology UPS server is the only way that I know how to get this to work.

[@edmundzed9870]

Well I bought a APC device that came without a power cord, no decent manual and no features mentioned and no info about what this this can do or what it does. Since I never used such a device and I am no mind reader, I asked the company who sold it. The man who -should know- something about it was not there, I had to wait a couple of days. In the mean time I tried a few things and settings, like : keep my "computer" (I want it for my NAS ) running for as long as possible. OK that works, it drains the battery so that the very first next power outage, will crash my NAS because it cannot support enough power anymore...Useless setting. The only other option is save battery power and let the "computer" ( NAS ) shutdown after 1-5 minutes. I tried 1 minute , on my laptop not risking to damage the NAS data. After 2 minutes the UPS shuts down and doesn't supply power to the computer ( NAS ) anymore. Small problem, my NAS takes 7 minutes to shutdown! So another useless setting! The is NO other selection in the provided software that can change this and no info about it to be found anywhere. Going back to the APC website , they asking for a company name... so they probably don't answer is I don't have a company. Checking the website where I bought it, I can ask for help by other customers. This thing is going back to where it came from. Hope I can find a UPS company that supply a manual with there products.

[@michaelgambrell3467]

I had a UPS go out on me - just the battery/surge side - and come to find out it had something to do with the GFI I had plugged it in to. I thought I was being redundant, but come to find out, the GFI and UPS were working against each other in that configuration. Long story short, I am looking at the APC UPS's and am seeing that the lower end (425V and 650V) devices do not have any type of data port. Are these newer generation ones, and APC has done away with this feature? I just want to point this out to all of your subs who are doing their own research - unless I am missing something.

[@WunderTechTutorials]

The APC documentation/specifications definitely need to be improved. The 425/600VA devices that I purchased have all had a data port. With that said, things change, and it would be more comforting if APC added that info. Thanks for pointing it out though!

[@helenk8750]

Forgive the silly question but would a USB charger port work for connection to the Synology NAS box? Some are described as a USB port and others as a USB charger. OR if I just used the right cable would either work? Thanks for great video

[@WunderTechTutorials]

No such thing as a silly question! A USB charger is generally designed to be nothing more than a charger, so it wouldn't work. You're really looking for a data port, which is used for communication between the NAS and UPS.

[@TheLeviatanMan]

Considering this I can’t seem to find that on the two smaller options you have mentioned on your website and in this video. How do you manage the safe power down on those models?

[@WunderTechTutorials]

@@TheLeviatanMan The process should be the same - did you get a UPS with a USB data port?

[@cvdrumbum]

Is it possible the APC 425VA (BE425M) no longer supports usb communication? I purchased the APC 650VA (BVN650M1) and it has a USB port but when I connect the UPS and the NAS (DS420+) via a USB to USB cable and select "USB UPS" under "enable UPS support", my UPS is not detected.

[@WunderTechTutorials]

As far as I know, no. When you say you used a USB to USB cable, did your NAS come with a data cable? It will look like a phone jack (or cat 5 cable) to a USB. That's the cable you need to use.

[@michaelgambrell3467]

I cannot find any information on the web where Synology has been paired with Minuteman UPS devices (I have two). Have you seen or do you have any resources on this? Simply plugging in via USB does nothing to detect the UPS on the NAS.

[@WunderTechTutorials]

I unfortunately don't have a UPS like that, so I can't comment. However, if you are having trouble getting the Synology to work, you might be better off trying to set up your own NUT Server with a Raspberry Pi (or something similar). With that said, it's a lot more complicated. Another option (if the NAS doesn't support the Minuteman UPS ) is to spend $50-60 (for sanity sake) and get an APC 425VA to ensure it will shut down properly. This is definitely just throwing money at the problem, but you also don't want to risk losing your data in a power outage due to the UPS not communicating with the NAS. In summary, a Raspberry Pi NUT server might have better luck with your UPS, or purchasing a cheap UPS for your NAS only is an option as well.

[@notreallyme425]

I literally set this up on my NAS, a Linux Box, and on my Win10 daily driver last weekend. I’ve got my Synology NAS set to shutdown after 5 mins on battery. Do you know if the NAS (Nut Server) will send a shutdown command when it shuts down? I’m using “WinNut” as the windows client and it doesn’t have an option to shutdown when it loses contact with the nut-server.

[@WunderTechTutorials]

I think that you'll need to keep the Synology up for as long as the other devices are online. If they are set to shut down immediately, then I would think that 5 minutes is fine. If they're not (and you have enough battery power), you might want to extend it a little further.

[@notreallyme425]

@@WunderTechTutorials so I set the Linux box to shut down if it loses contact with the NAS (nut server) for 60 seconds or more by setting “deadtime” in the client config file. I didn’t see that option in WinNut so I set it to shutdown at 85% battery, which gave it time to shutdown before the NAS did.

[@mistakek]

This is battle I try and conquer every few months. I have a CyberPower BR1000ELCD. I can get windows to work with it, but that's the system I care least about. My Synology is the master, and works fine, but I can't get my TrueNas scale, Proxmox, or pfsense to work with it as a clients. I saw that reddit post about a year ago, which helped me get the windows server and client working, never could get linux servers working. I've since moved the windows server to another room so I need another UPS for it, and the windows pc has become a Proxmox server. So I'm back to the drawing board with this. I tried doing what you did in your video, which Is what I've done before, but no dice, both truenas and Proxmox, just shutdown immediately. It was a race to ssh into them on boot to disable nut, as they would both just immediately shutdown upon boot.

[@WunderTechTutorials]

The short answer is that mine does too, but kind of by design. I have the shutdown command wait 5 minutes and then shut down: SHUTDOWNCMD "/sbin/shutdown -h +5" There are FAR more customizations that can be made to this, and TechnoTim has a great video explaining some of them. It sounds like you want to monitor the battery and if it gets to a certain level, shut down. Certainly possible (and I intend on setting that up on my Proxmox server soon), but for now, I just have it wait 5 minutes and shut down. I then just turn it back on when power is restored using wake-on-LAN.

[@WunderTechTutorials]

Got it - I will be setting this up on my new Proxmox server (hopefully this weekend) and will let you know if I come across anything different than my regular Ubuntu setup.

[@WunderTechTutorials]

I ran into the same problem with Proxmox rebooting immediately. In summary, I was only installing the nut-client on Proxmox initially and it needs the entire nut package. Run the command "apt-get install nut", configure Proxmox as the client, then it should be able to communicate with the NAS. From what I can tell, it shuts down immediately because it can't communicate with the Synology NAS so it thinks the battery is dead. The above fixed the issue for me. Hope this helps.

[@mistakek]

​@@WunderTechTutorials I had the same problem. Upon further reading of that reddit post, it seems I have the issue described in the 3rd reply by "youroldnemisis". My Synology just forces shutdown to all clients. Looks like I have to find another device to be the nut server. I'll have to think which device will be best to be the nut server, though I might finally have a job my Raspberry PI. EDIT: Just setup my pi as the nut-server, and everything works as I wanted now. Wished the Synology worked as expected, but at least now I got it working for all my devices. Just need to cleanup my wiring.

[@WunderTechTutorials]

@@mistakek Got it - were you able to get the Synology to work with the Raspberry Pi? If so, how did you set it up?

[@congtuan1203]

dsm this version no longer has the function to automatically turn off nas when entering safe mode, so nas will be turned off suddenly ?

[@WunderTechTutorials]

It should automatically enter standby mode from the UPS which will protect the drives.

[@schlicht.]

A bit of a stupid question: If I want to use UPS-Server for a second Synology. Do I need to plug in my router to the ups or is it enough to just plug in the network switch, in which the two synologys are plugged in?

[@WunderTechTutorials]

There are tons of different UPS devices, but the ones I normally use are managed through USB. Does the one you have support that? If so, you just plug that USB cable into the NAS and then set up the NAS.

[@schlicht.]

@@WunderTechTutorials Hey, thanks for the fast reply again. I have one UPS device with one USB-Port which is plugged in to my 1. Synology NAS. My 2. Synology NAS and my LAN Splitter are also powered/connected with the UPS device. Now I want to setup UPS-Server on my 1. Synology NAS to „control“ the 2. Synology NAS. But I havenˋt quite understood of itˋs enough if only the LAN Splitter is connected to the UPS device or if I also need to connect my router to the UPS device so that the 1. Synology NAS can forward the information to the 2. Synology NAS.

[@WunderTechTutorials]

@@schlicht. I see what you'r'e saying - yes, as long as the switch will stay online during a power outage (as it needs to connect to the other Synology), it will work. You just need to set up the Synology UPS server and have the other NAS connected to the first UPS server.

[@schlicht.]

@@WunderTechTutorials Thank you, this is great news! Also great that you understood what I meant. Since English is not my native language, it is sometimes difficult for me to express myself. 😅

[@WunderTechTutorials]

@@schlicht. You did great!

[@QuadraQuack]

I can't find any information anywhere to confirm or deny that the APS BE600M1 recommended has a USB port for communication with the NAS (it has a charging port but that's different!). Frustrating because otherwise it seems perfect.

[@WunderTechTutorials]

It appears like the BE600M1 does. Under communication on this site, you can see USB listed: www.apc.com/shop/us/en/products/APC-Back-UPS-600VA-120V-1-USB-charging-port-7-NEMA-outlets-2-surge-/P-BE600M1

[@QuadraQuack]

@@WunderTechTutorials I took the chance on it and yes it does have a communication USB port next to the power plug and seems to be working fine.

[@andrewwalker1377]

configuring in windows? Is it possible?

[@WunderTechTutorials]

Not as a UPS server, but as a client, yes.

[@gfriedman99]

I do not understand how you are recommending the low-end APC 425 or 600 models. The 425 does not have any USB port and the USB port on the 600 is a charging port - not data port (it even says so much on the ad page you copied into the video for the 600.) Additionally, neither Synology or APC have these models listed in their recommendations for this application. SMH

[@WunderTechTutorials]

The 425VA was a mistake and was rectified in the written tutorial as soon as I was made aware. To be clear, the 425VA always came with a data port and APC removed it. I have one from two years ago on my off-site NAS and it has a data port, so my apologies for making the assumption. The 600VA has a data port as well - I bought one last week. None of these are "great" UPS devices but they're perfect for 95% of people. If you want a great UPS device, get a pure sine wave model., but it's going to cost most people a lot more than they're willing to spend.

[@necro1234yahoo]

The APC BE600M1 linked on this video is listed on Synology's compatibly page for my DS920+