Can I back up my networked PCs to this device, then back this up using a service like crashplan?
1404589
You can back up to amazon S3 or glacier, witch will be cheeper than crashplan.
1404590
Yes you can. There are numerous articles out there on setting up a headless crashplan client on the synology. Backup to the synology is simple using one of the standard backup packages.
1810608
If you are backing up to an external drive, you will be fine. You can program the software to make scheduled backup to any drive but I do not know if you can change were the data resides unless you do that at installation of the software.
1609634
You can do that but the drive rebuilding process takes a long time and this unit isn't hot-swappalbe so you would have to shut down and open the case. You can attach external drives and back up files to them.
2160445
Actually that depends. If you have a network router that provides the option for plugging in external hard-drives, and thus acting like a NAS (Network Attached Storage) device, then no - you do not need your computer to host this drive. Also, if you don't have something that will provide direct network access to the drive, you could just attach it to whatever computing device (as long as it has a USB 2.0 or greater port, I believe this is backward compatible to USB 2.0) that you would like to use it on at the time, i.e., a media server, laptop, desktop, even a tablet if it has the appropriate USB port (mini USB port might work if you have a conversion cable). Hope this helps. Actually that depends. If you have a network router that provides the option for plugging in external hard-drives, and thus acting like a NAS (Network Attached Storage) device, then no - you do not need your computer to host this drive. Also, if you don't have something that will provide direct network access to the drive, you could just attach it to whatever computing device (as long as it has a USB 2.0 or greater port, I believe this is backward compatible to USB 2.0) that you would like to use it on at the time, i.e., a media server, laptop, desktop, even a tablet if it has the... » Read More Actually that depends. If you have a network router that provides the option for plugging in external hard-drives, and thus acting like a NAS (Network Attached Storage) device, then no - you do not need your computer to host this drive. Also, if you don't have something that will provide direct network access to the drive, you could just attach it to whatever computing device (as long as it has a USB 2.0 or greater port, I believe this is backward compatible to USB 2.0) that you would like to use it on at the time, i.e., a media server, laptop, desktop, even a tablet if it has the appropriate USB port (mini USB port might work if you have a conversion cable). Hope this helps. « Show Less
1217295
Yes I believe so. It comes already partitioned with titles for Documents, Photos, Music, Movies, SharedMedia. Each with their own mapped drive letter. Very, very easy to setup. I use Acronis Backup software and for on-demand backups I use Microsoft SyncToy. The hard drive was easily detected by my home network and all of the PC's that are connected to that network.
2046249
Just plug it in - I backed up my entire hard drive. If you have issues - contact their 800 tech desk.
563141
Kristin,Carfam is right. Just to add: you can do it manually without the backup tool or even with the included backup tool (using the external for two or more systems).
984051
Yes it is. Synology has documented the process quite well, http://www.synology.com/en-global/support/tutorials/481. I backup several iMacs and a Mac Mini Server to our Synology. One of the iMacs is connected using wifi, but I haven't experienced any failures.
1722536
I just leave it connected to my computer and backup once a day using time machine. There's no charge that I'm aware of for the cloud back-up.
1037201
YES. Depends on the config, as long as the drive letter is the same you can create different sub-folder to store the backups. If your backups are on a schedule, be sure you have the drive connected to the correct device in the right day/night.
1632294
I'm not sure. Interesting application, so the whole network could access the drive, but I think you'd have to reach out to the manufacturer for that one.
432194
yes, i backed up my old desktop, my laptop and my new desktop. You do need to know what the file size for each item is and whether or not you have space to back them up as well as add in the future. I had a 2.0TB drive and my old files were 1.0 TB so i had space. when you plug in each device it should read which device is connected.
79879
Yes. I run it through an Airport Extreme as a Time Machine back-up via Wi-Fi. Works great.
1374986
You can program the unit with the supplied software or through the Gui via web browser.. I currently have 2 servers backing up to this unit. You can have it setup to backup 2 computers on there own hard drive. Or do what I did and let them backup on the same hard drive but using there own folders. then you can create a internal backup to the unit where it will archive all backups onto the other hard drive. Otherwise setup the raid in the Gui and the hard drives will always back each other up. there's so many different options you can do with this unit. Its well worth it.
542380
Yes it can. You can set up various users so each user is backed up, each computer, many computers, various levels of access, etc. Pw or no pws - your choice. Additionally, internet access via WDCloud. All can be locked down or out. I like it and it's LIGHTNING fast compared to my books, etc.
940810
It will work just fine as an extra drive. It can be accessed just as you do any internal drive. What you cannot do with the Dashboard software is to do automatic backups if the drive is connected to your router. It should be able to do automatic backups but only if the drive is connected directly to a USB port on your computer.
314092
You can also plug a USB HDD in and do a content drag and drop from explorer, or use something like the free versions of EASUS, Paragon, Free sync etc., set up a back up and let it run overnight, but you have to be willing to become an active participant in your data backup routine, at least once. The plus is that you can back up what's important to you and not the fluff that might accumulate like TV shows you aren't going to watch again.