How to back up your Mac to QNAP NAS using Time Machine

Requirements:

• QNAP NAS with QTS 4.3.0 (or later).

There are two ways to back up your Mac to a QNAP NAS: using QTS or HBS 3.

QTS: Go to “Perform Time Machine Backup to your QNAP NAS”.
HBS 3: Go to “Back up Mac with the shared Time Machine account in HBS 3”

• Perform Time Machine Backup to your QNAP NAS
  • (Optional) Create a designated Time Machine backup user and shared folder
  • Configure Time Machine to use QNAP NAS for backups
• Back up Mac with the shared Time Machine account in HBS 3
  • Set up shared Time Machine account
  • Configure Time Machine to use QNAP NAS for backups

Perform Time Machine Backup to your QNAP NAS

• (Optional) Create a designated Time Machine backup user and shared folder
  1. Create a Time Machine backup user.
     Tip: A dedicated Time Machine user account can be created to provide additional security and the ability to set storage quotas for each Mac.
     • Open Control Panel.
     • Go to Privilege > Users.
     • Click Create.
     • Select Create a User.
       
     • 
     • Click Create.
       
  2. Create a Time Machine backup shared folder.
     • Open Control Panel.
     • Go to Privilege > Shared Folders.
     • Click Create.
     • Select Shared Folder.
       
     • Enter a Folder Name.
     • Click Next.
       
     • Give the Time Machine backup user RW access privileges.
     • Click Next.
       
     • Check Set this folder as the Time Machine backup folder (macOS).
     • Click Finish.
       
  3. Configure QTS to use SMB 3
     1. Open Control Panel.
     2. Go to Network & File Services > Win/Mac/NFS > Microsoft Networking.
     3. Click Advanced Options.
        
     4. Under Highest SMB version select SMB 3.
        
     5. Click Apply.

• Configure Time Machine to use QNAP NAS for backups
  1. Connect the NAS to your Mac
     • Open Finder on your Mac.
     • Open the Go menu.
       
     • Click Connect to Server.
     • Enter smb://<NAS name.local or IP address>.
       
     • Enter the username and password of the backup user account.
       
       Note:
       If your NAS is a member of a domain then you should log in using the domain name and user account. For example, if your NAS is named qnapnas and you want to connect using local NAS user account nasuser1, then your username is qnapnas\nasuser1.
       
     • This can be your NAS account or the dedicated Time Machine user account.
     • Select the NAS shared backup folder.
       
  2. Open Time Machine.
  3. Click Select Backup Disk.
     
  4. Select the NAS shared backup folder.
  5. Click Use Disk.
     
  6. Enter the username and password of the backup user account.
     Tip: This can be your NAS account or a dedicated Time Machine user account.
     
  7. Click Connect.
     Result: You can now use Time Machine to back up this Mac to your NAS.
     

Back up Mac with a shared Time Machine account in HBS 3

• Set up the shared Time Machine account
  1. Open HBS 3.
  2. Go to Services > Time Machine.
  3. Check Use shared Time Machine account.
  4. Enter a password for the Time Machine account.
  5. (Optional) Set a storage quota.
  6. Select Maximum
  7. Enter the total capacity in GB.
     Important: If the backup data size is greater than the quota, the Time Machine backup will fail.
     
  8. Click Apply.
• Configure Time Machine to use QNAP NAS for backups
  1. Connect the NAS to your Mac
     • Open Finder on your Mac.
     • Open the Go menu.
       
     • Click Connect to Server.
     • Enter smb://<NAS name.local or IP address>/TMBackup.
     • Enter the username TimeMachine and the password you created earlier.
  2. Open Time Machine.
  3. Click Select Backup Disk.
  4. Select the NAS shared folder TMBackup.
  5. Click Use Disk.
     
  6. Enter the username TimeMachine and the password you created earlier.
     
     Note:
     If your NAS is a member of a domain then you should log in using the domain name and user account. For example, if your NAS is named qnapnas and you want to connect using local NAS user account nasuser1, then your username is qnapnas\nasuser1.
     
  7. Click Connect.
     Result: You can now use Time Machine to back up this Mac to your NAS.
     
     Tip: Backups can be located under the shared folder TMbackup.