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Back Up Time Machine to Synology and Backblaze B2
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    Back Up Time Machine to Synology and Backblaze B2

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      Article Summary

      This guide shows you how to store your Time Machine backup on your Synology network-attached storage (NAS) device and have that backup automatically sync to Backblaze B2 Cloud Storage.  

      For more information about restoring Time Machine, see the Restore a Time Machine Backup from Backblaze B2 guide.

      This guide makes the following assumptions:

      • You use a computer with MacOS 10.9 and above.
      • You have a Synology NAS device with at least DSM 6.0 installed.
      • You have a user account on the Synology NAS device that has the ability to download, install, and configure the Cloud Sync package.
      • You have working knowledge of the Time Machine backup service on your Mac.

      You should follow the steps in order and leave yourself enough time to complete them. If you need to stop in the middle, complete the procedures through Configure Time Machine on your Mac and then proceed with the remaining procedures at a later time.

      Enable a Backblaze B2 Account

      Before you begin: You must have a Backblaze B2 Cloud Storage account. You can sign up here. If you already have a Backblaze account and the left navigation menu contains a B2 Cloud Storage section, your account is already enabled for Backblaze B2.

      1. Sign in to your Backblaze account.
      2. In the left navigation menu under Account, click My Settings.
      3. Under Enabled Products, select the checkbox to enable B2 Cloud Storage.
      4. Review the Terms and Conditions, and click OK to accept them. 

      Create a Bucket

      1. Sign in to your Backblaze account.
      2. In the left navigation menu under B2 Cloud Storage, click Buckets.
      3. Click Create a Bucket.
      4. Enter a name for your bucket.
        Bucket names must be at least six characters and globally unique. A message is displayed if your bucket name is already in use.
      5. Select a privacy setting: Private or Public.
        Files that are in a private bucket require authentication to perform an action, for example, downloading. Public buckets do not require authentication so you can easily share files. You can change a bucket's privacy settings at any time.
      6. If applicable, enable a Backblaze B2 server-side encryption key.
      7. Enable Object Lock to restrict a file from being modified or deleted for a specified period of time.
      8. Click Create a Bucket, and copy the value that is in the Endpoint field; you may need this value for other processes.
      9. Click Lifecycle Settings to control how long to keep the files in your new bucket.

      Create an Application Key

      Application keys control access to your Backblaze B2 Cloud Storage account and the buckets that are contained in your account.

      1. Sign in to your Backblaze account.
      2. In the left navigation menu under Account, click Application Keys.
      3. Click Add a New Application Key, and enter an app key name.
            You cannot search an app key by this name; therefore, app key names are not required to be globally unique.
      4. Select All or a specific bucket in the Allow Access to Bucket(s) dropdown menu.
      5. Optionally, select your access type (Read and Write, Read Only, or Write Only).
      6. Optionally, select the Allow List All Bucket Names checkbox (required for the B2 Native API b2_list_buckets and the S3-Compatible API S3 List Buckets operations).
      7. Optionally, enter a file name prefix to restrict application key access only to files with that prefix. Depending on what you selected in step #4, this limits application key access to files with the specified prefix for all buckets or just the selected bucket.
      8. Optionally, enter a positive integer to limit the time, in seconds, before the application key expires. The value must be less than 1000 days (in seconds).
      9. Click Create New Key, and note the resulting keyID and applicationKey values.
      Note
      When you create a new app key, the response contains the actual key string, for example N2Zug0evLcHDlh_L0Z0AJhiGGdY. You can always find the keyID on this page, but for security, the applicationKey appears only once. Make sure you copy and securely save this value elsewhere.

      Create a Time Machine Backup Share on your Synology NAS

      1. Open the Synology Control Panel, and click Shared Folder.
      2. Enter the Name, Description, and Location of your Time Machine Backup Share.

      Set Share Quota

      Note
      This step is optional, but if you want to restore a Time Machine backup using the Backblaze B2 USB Snapshot feature, the Time Machine backup can not be greater than 3.5 TBs. Setting a quota ensures that Time Machine deletes older versions when the backup share is close to being full.
      1. Click the Advanced tab, and select Enable shared folder quota.
      2. Enter 3500, and select GB.
      3. Click OK.

      Enable Mac File Service

      1. In the left menu, click File Services, and select Enable the Mac File Service.
      2. Click the Time Machine drop-down menu, and select the name of your Time Machine Backup Share.

      Configure Time Machine on your Mac

      1. Open Time Machine, and click Select Backup Disk.
      2. Select your Time Machine backup shared folder on your Synology NAS.
        If you do not see your Synology backup share listed, you may have a network or configuration issue on your Mac and the Synology NAS device. Consult your device's documentation or online help to resolve the issue.
      3. Select Registered User, enter your Synology NAS username and password, and click Connect.
        Your backup share is displayed as the Time Machine backup drive.
      4. Sign in to your Synology NAS device, and select File Station. 
      5. Open the Time Machine Backup Share, and verify that the .sparsebundle file is present and has content.

      Configure Synology Cloud Sync and Backblaze B2

      1. Open the Synology Cloud Sync package on the Synology NAS.
        DSM version 6.0 or higher is required.
      2. Select Backblaze B2 under Cloud Sync Providers, and click Next.
      3. Enter the following information, and click Next.
        • Backblaze B2 Account ID
        • App key
        • Bucket Name
      4. Under Task Settings, enter the following configurations, and click Next.
        • Create and enter a connection name.
        • Enter the share folder name under Local Path.
          Add the leading "/" to the path name.
        • Set the Sync Direction to Upload local changes only.
      5. Review your settings. If there are any errors, click Back to correct them.
      6. Click Apply when you are ready to start the sync operation.
        The Time Machine backup syncs to Backblaze B2. The size of the backup determines how long the sync will take.
      7. Close your Synology NAS device.

      Retain the Most Recent Backup

      Note
      Your Time Machine backup file is one file containing all of the Time Machine versions of the data on your Mac computer. The default setting for all buckets is to keep all versions of a file, so you must set Backblaze B2 to keep only the most recent version of the Time Machine backup file. Keeping multiple versions of this file can increase your Backblaze B2 Cloud Storage costs.
      1. Sign in to your Backblaze account.
      2. Select the bucket containing the Time Machine backup from your Synology NAS.
      3. Click Lifecycle Settings.
      4. Select Keep only the last version of the file.
      5. Click Update Bucket.
        As you update files on your Mac, they are backed up to your Time Machine backup on your Synology NAS, and synced to Backblaze B2. Backblaze recommends that you check your Synology NAS and Backblaze B2 account to make sure that things are working properly after a few days.
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