What Is the Best Way to Backup NAS Devices of All Kinds?

Should you backup NAS?

NAS is a storage device with great popularity now. Different from other devices, NAS allows you to share data by accessing its IP address. It is very useful for business and home users. If one person stores data on a NAS device, all the other individual users in the same LAN can use the data by accessing the IP address on their own computer, which can save a lot of time.

However, data on the NAS drive also faces the problem: data loss. There are many situations that can lead to data loss, such as virus attack, hard drive damage, unexpected deletion, etc. You know that the data shared should be important to the whole company or home. Once it is lost, you will get into big trouble. Thus, you should backup your data even when it is stored on the NAS device. Then, what is the best way to backup NAS?

Where can you backup NAS?

There are many places you can choose to backup NAS to. You can:

• Backup NAS to a USB disk. NAS devices usually have one or multiple USB ports to attach USB storage devices. You can connect an external hard drive to store the backup data.
• Backup NAS to another NAS. If you mount a shared folder from a remote NAS on a local NAS device, then one NAS device becomes a backup for the other.
• Backup NAS to cloud. Cloud vendors provide easily scalable storage, which is convenient to backup the rapidly growing NAS data.
• ...

3 solutions to backup NAS in Windows 11, 10, 8, 7

To backup NAS drive, there are three ways to go:

1. Direct Copy

After you connect an external hard drive to your NAS, you can copy the files you want to protect using the web interface provided by the NAS vendor.

🙁 Drawbacks: the process is not automated; it will not copy opened or modified files.

2. Windows backup tool

Windows provides a backup tool named Backup and Restore. It allows users to backup data automatically. However, it does not support selecting a network path as the source path. To do it, you should map your NAS drive on your computer first.

🙁 Drawbacks: additional operations; you need to be a member of administrators; if you do not know much about Windows, you may get into big trouble.

3. Third party application

Here I’d like to recommend AOMEI Backupper Standard. It is a powerful tool with a concise interface. You can use it alone even if you are a non-technician.

✭ It is compatible with all branded NAS devices, including Synology NAS, Buffalo NAS, QNAP NAS, and WD My Cloud, etc.
✭ You can backup NAS drive to a variety of backup devices, such as local/external hard drive, USB flash drive, cloud storage or another NAS.
✭ You can enable Schedule Backup to run daily/weekly/monthly backup as necessary.

As you see, the best way to backup NAS drive is to use free AOMEI Backupper.

How to backup NAS using AOMEI Backupper

Using the best way to backup NAS drive can free you from worries. Here are the specific steps for backing up your NAS.

Tip: Before you do, you need to decide where you would like to backup your NAS. If you want to backup NAS to an external hard drive, you need to prepare one that is large enough to store the data and connect it to your computer.

Step 1. Download the best NAS backup software, install and launch it. Click Backup, and select File Backup.

Step 2. It will move to the File Backup window. Click Add File/Add Folder, and then click Share/NAS to reach the NAS device.

Step 3. You will get into the Select Share/NAS Device window, click Add Share or NAS Devices, and type the name of your NAS drive or its IP address (recommended).

Step 4. When you connect to the NAS, click it and the folders on it will be listed on the right box. Select the one you want to backup, and click OK to continue.

Note: To backup files with a certain file extension automatically, you may upgrade to higher editions and make use of "Filter settings".

Step 5. After selecting the folder on the NAS drive, you need to select a place to store the backup. Here we choose the external hard drive we prepared before as the destination place, because backing up to an external hard drive has many advantages.

Note: Before starting the backup, you can set up more for your backup by opening Options. You can also set up an automatic backup using Schedule Backup.

Step 6. After all the settings, click Start Backup to launch the progress.

See, it is so simple to backup your NAS. What is worth mentioning is that AOMEI Backupper Standard is totally free for home use. You can backup NAS in Windows XP/Vista/7/8/10/11 without paying. It is indeed the best way to backup NAS. Besides, AOMEI Backupper provides you with more utilities, such as backup system, clone hard drive, sync two external hard drives and more.