Synology softwares vs syncthing ?

[jfbourdeau (Jean-Francois Bourdeau)]

Been using syncthing for years

Just bought some synology back up drive as an off-site backup

For those who went through the process, should I use synology softwares or syncthing on the synology drive ?

I installed syncthing but was wondering which would be better.

Pros/Cons ?

[martinleben]

I recommend that you think about what you want to achieve. You wrote that you want “off-site backup” and this is a Syncthing forum.

As you already know, Syncthing is a file synchronization tool which will synchronize one or more folders on two or more devices. So in the event of accidental or malicious deletes/edits on one device, your synchronized copies on other devices will also be updated. This is why the synchronized copies can not be regarded as backups.

Admittedly, Syncthing has a versioning feature which can be seen as a “poor man’s backup”, but for it to be effective you must enable it on a device which is never used in your day-to-day activities.

Conclusion: I think you should use a dedicated backup program instead. Maybe restic.

[jfbourdeau (Jean-Francois Bourdeau)]

Tks

I intend to have regular snapshot of my backup. So if something happen, I can revert to some older snapshot… Go back in time

I just need now to decide if for that off-site backup, if I will make all my device sync through syncthing to the SYNOLOGY device or simply use the SYNOLOGY app on each of my device

And continue using syncthing between my 3 pcs, mobile phone etc

[martinleben]

In the restic forum I recently wrote about this. 3-2-1 strategy for laptops and desktops? - #2 by martinleben - Getting Help - restic forum

I do NOT backup my laptop, my phone or my desktop. Instead I do this:

I use Syncthing to keep the files I care about synched between my devices and my NAS.
I run Restic on my NAS for backup.

The benefits I see are these:

The files are available where I need them regardless of which device I am using at the moment.
I don’t have to use VPN between my “portable” devices and the NAS.
I need to backup only ONE device: The NAS.

I do not use Synology, but hopefully you will find it useful anyway. If not, then someone with Synology experience will hopefully be able to offer more specific advice.

[jfbourdeau (Jean-Francois Bourdeau)]

tks ! much appreciated

for now I was syncthing everything (almost) between several PCs and my phone

Could access everything from any device.

If my house burn with all the devices, I would be in trouble LOL

To keep it simple, I will probably continue using Syncthing between devices and add to each device a new sync config to the SYNOLOGY drive

Would end up with everything is everywhere, using syncthing, and also on the synology, using syncthing

JF or I could simply sync one of the device with the SYNOLOGY drive, using the SYNOLOGY product LOL (app ) …Will see

[martinleben]

As long as you are aware about the difference between “backup” and “synchronized copy” and implement accordingly, you should be fine. Good luck!