You need a backup plan for your Synology NAS DS713+ if you want to secure your data. You probably will start to create content and use your NAS as a master for your files, so how you decide to back up your files will be critical when you need to recover them.

Why is a backup plan important and how many copies do I need?

Let me tell you a short story to exemplify the need for a good back up plan.

I was recently working on my wordpress site and I managed to make changes that I could not take back. I didn’t lose the content as I could still access the wordpress admin pages, but I couldn’t get it back online.

I had two choices, start from the beginning or to restore the files from my backup.

Unfortunately it took me so long time to understand that I would not be able to solve the problem that my daily backup kicked in and I suddenly lost my backup copy. Fortunately my secondary backup, an external USB drive, was not connected so I still had those files to clean up the mess.

It is really important to have several backup copies using different devices and technologies

How does a backup plan look like?

Here is a diagram of a possible backup strategy for your NAS DS713+. The diagram has been provided by Magnus Hallberg. (Thanks!)

Off-site backup alternatives

In case of fire, robbery, and other home disasters, it is always good to have an off-site backup of your files.

There are a lot of services available either packages from the synology: HiDrive or Glaciar or even external services like Jotta or CrashPlan that can be manually integrated. 

Backup Frequency

You should have one daily backup to have a recent copy available and if possible schedule it for late in the night, at this way, you have secured your content during the day. I actually had my backup schedule to 2 in the morning, but I was still trying to figure out the problem at that hour, so make it 5 or 6 in the morning to be on the safe side.

If your computer would get infected by a virus and you have a daily backup, all your files could be infected all at once leaving you with several copies of unusable data. It might take in some cases, more than a week to discover the virus and therefore I would recommend to have a monthly backup schedule to your cloud. Worst case scenario, you “only” loose one month worth of data.

Think carefully about the different schedules for your backup units to ensure recovery of your files