Backups to Synology and cloud alternatives

intermediate · Last updated 16 July 2026

A USB SSD on the Mac is solid for 95% of all restore cases. For “Mac AND USB SSD both dead” scenarios (e.g. power surge, fire), you need an off-Mac backup. Here are the options.

Off-Mac backup strategies

Three main options:

Time Machine to a Synology in our rack (available from us as an add-on)
Arq + Backblaze B2 (cloud backup, commercial)
restic / rsync to your own server (self-hosted)

Time Machine to Synology — our add-on

We run Synologys in our rack at our Düsseldorf location — on request, we configure one as a Time Machine target for your Mac.

Prices

Three sizes: 500 GB, 1 TB and 2 TB. Current prices are on the product page at /en/apple-nas/mac-mini. Order via mein.xaweho.de or open a ticket.

We use Synology’s Time Machine service (SMB with Apple extensions). The Mac sees it as a normal Time Machine volume.

Setup

Order via a ticket with us. We set up:

A Synology account on our Synology
A Time Machine sparseimage with a defined size
An SMB share to the Mac

Then on the Mac via AnyDesk:

System Settings → General → Time Machine → + add backup volume
Add other server → enter the SMB URL (we give it to you)
Log in with the Synology account credentials (from us)
Encrypt volume: yes, set a backup password
Start the backups

Time Machine backs up over the network to the Synology. Bandwidth between the Mac and the Synology in our rack: 1 GBit/s — fast.

Backup mirroring to a second location

The mirroring is included in the Synology TM add-on, no extra charge: the Synology is synced daily to Nuremberg or Falkenstein. That covers you against a complete outage in Düsseldorf.

Pros of this option

Native Time Machine workflow (same UX as a USB SSD)
Off-Mac storage location
We take care of the Synology hardware
Mirrored to a second location — included in the add-on

Cons

Somewhat more expensive per GB than a USB SSD
The initial backup over the network takes a while (vs. local)
With very fast iteration work on the Mac: network backup slightly slower than USB

Arq + Backblaze B2 — commercial cloud backup

Arq Backup (~~€50 one-time) plus Backblaze B2 (~~€5–6/TB/month).

Pros

A real cloud backup strategy
Encrypted with your own key
Multiple versions, configurable
Block-level incremental (only changes get uploaded)
Off-Mac AND off-xaweho

Setup on the Mac

Install Arq (arqbackup.com/download)
Create a Backblaze B2 account, create a bucket
In Arq: new backup plan → Backblaze B2 → enter the bucket credentials
Choose source folders (everything, or selectively)
Set an encryption password
Schedule (typically every 1–3 hours)

Arq runs in the background and uploads changed data to B2.

Restore

Arq → Restore browser → source/date → restore.

After total Mac loss: new Mac, install Arq, same Backblaze account, backup password → the data comes back.

Cost example

200 GB backup on B2: ~€1.20/month
1 TB backup: ~€6/month
2 TB backup: ~€12/month

Plus the Arq license (one-time ~€50).

Pitfalls

Losing the encryption password = backup unusable
The initial backup over the internet takes a long time (50–100 GB per day at 100 Mbit/s upload)
With very large files (>10 GB per file): occasional timeout problems

restic / rsync to your own server

For tech-savvy users with their own backup server at home or with another provider.

restic

Open-source backup tool, similar to Arq but CLI:

brew install restic

# initial setup
export RESTIC_REPOSITORY="sftp:user@your-server:/path/to/backup"
export RESTIC_PASSWORD="..."
restic init

# backup
restic backup ~/

# restore
restic restore latest --target /tmp/restore

Run an hourly backup via cron / launchd.

Pros: open source, encryption, deduplication, fast. Cons: CLI-only, manual setup.

rsync

The classic:

rsync -avz --delete ~/ user@your-server:/path/to/backup/

Simple, but no version history — just a 1:1 mirror.

With snapshots on the server side (e.g. ZFS / Btrfs on the backup server), you get version history.

If you have a Synology at home

Mac mini → Synology at home via the Hyper Backup protocol family (rsync, Cloud Sync).

Synology has a Mac backup app that works Time-Machine-style. Setup on the Synology:

Enable the Time Machine service
Create a backup volume with a quota
Connect the Mac via the public IP of the Synology at home

Classic 3-2-1 setup: Mac → USB SSD (local) → Synology at home (off-site).

Which strategy for which requirement

”A backup for 95% of cases”

→ A USB SSD alone. More in Time Machine on a USB SSD.

”Business office data, security matters”

→ USB SSD + Synology TM backup with us. Both run in parallel.

”Compliance / archiving”

→ USB SSD + Synology TM backup (including mirroring to a second location).

”Privacy-conscious, no US cloud”

→ USB SSD + a Synology with us (Germany) or a self-hosted backup at home.

”Power user, everything under control”

→ USB SSD + a restic script to your own server + Backblaze B2 as an additional cloud backup. Three-way strategy.

Backup frequency

Time Machine: every 1–3 hours (default).

Cloud backups (Arq, restic): typically every 1–6 hours.

With very active code work: more frequent makes sense. With static data: daily is enough.

Run restore tests

Important: a backup without a successful restore test is barely a backup.

At least once per quarter:

Restore a random file from the backup
Make sure the content is correct
With encrypted backups: does the password work?

With the Synology backup: on the Mac, check in System Settings → Time Machine that the last backup succeeded. We handle the snapshot checks on the Synology.

Typical pitfalls

Time Machine to Synology aborts

Common cause: a network glitch, SMB disconnect.

Solution: Time Machine handles this robustly and continues next time. If it keeps happening: check the network path to the Synology.

Multiple backup tools — a performance hit on the Mac

Time Machine + Arq + restic in parallel: can become noticeable on a small Mac (8 GB RAM).

Solution: stagger the backup times (Time Machine hourly, Arq every 4 hours, restic at night).

Cloud backup costs explode

If the Mac holds many large files (video, big datasets), B2 quickly reaches €20–50/month.

Solution: back up selectively — only genuinely important data to the cloud, exclude large caches.

The encryption password becomes a single point of failure

If you use just one backup password for all backups and it gets lost: all backups unusable.

Solution: password manager + recovery codes on paper in a safe.

Frequently asked questions

Time Machine to Synology — how reliable? Very. Apple officially supports SMB-based Time Machine. Synology has done this reliably for years.

Arq vs. restic vs. Borg — which is better? Arq: Mac-native UI, commercial — recommended for the less tech-savvy. restic: CLI, open source, very flexible. Borg: similar to restic, older.

Backblaze B2 vs. Storj vs. Wasabi — which one? B2: well established, Mac apps available. Storj: decentralized, newer, cheaper. Wasabi: cheaper than AWS S3.

Encrypted vs. unencrypted — which one? Always encrypted. No matter whether local or cloud.

What if the Synology in our rack fails? We run SHR-RAID (RAID-5-like). With one dead disk, everything keeps running. On a complete failure: replacement + data recovery from the server snapshot.

Backing up several Macs to one Synology — possible? Yes. One Time Machine volume per Mac on the Synology. Handy for multi-Mac setups.

Backup size exploding — what to do?

Exclude caches (~/Library/Caches, ~/.cache)
Exclude build caches
Exclude the Downloads folder
Book a larger Synology quota

The initial backup over the internet — how long? 100 Mbit/s upload, 200 GB of data: ~5 hours. On 16 Mbit/s ADSL: ~30 hours. The Synology in our rack is connected via 1 GBit — fast.