A few years ago, I decided to go all-in with iCloud Photos. My library was just over 1TB at the time, so I’ve been paying for the 2TB plan ever since (I’ve been collecting photos in my library since 2001 and while it could definitely use a bit of trimming, I don’t think there’s much I want to get rid of).

Synology Drive Client App Mac
Synology Drive Mac Os

Apart from common file types, such as documents, images, videos and music, you can also open Synology Office document, spreadsheets and slides in the user-friendly viewer provided by Drive. In addition, the features of searching, sharing, moving and applying labels to files are all available on iOS device, which allows users to complete tasks efficiently anytime, anywhere. This is an Apple Mac, iPad or iPhone Video Tutorial from ScreenCastsOnline: There are a plethora of cloud-based services available, but most are expensive and hosted on corporate infrastructure. Synology has introduced Synology Drive, a potential replacement for many cloud-based services, all hosted on your personal Network Attached Storage (NAS) device.

It’s super convenient to have all my photos everywhere at all times (what’s the point in taking them if you can’t enjoy them?), but I did want to find a way to have a secondary backup solution that doesn’t rely on Photos or iCloud.

I already have a Synology NAS for other backups and as a general storage system, so I wanted to find a way for it to always have an up-to-date copy of my Library.

Why back up the cloud?

So since I’m already paying Apple, why would I want another backup?

Well it basically boils down to wanting an independent backup: what if I lose access to my iCloud account? Or Apple loses my data somehow? Both unlikely, but it can happen.

Outlook for Mac: If the user views the shared calendar on Outlook for Mac, they'll see the new sync experience if the calendar was added by accepting a sharing invitation or if the user added the shared calendar via File Open another user's folder. However, if the user added the account as a delegate account, they'll be on the old sync. In the Calendar subscription dialog box, paste the link that you copied in step 4. Also, enter a unique name for the calendar such as 'iCloud work Calendar', and click Save. You should see the iCloud calendar listed under Other calendars in Outlook on the web. When you have the same account added on Outlook for Mac, this subscribed calendar will also appear in Outlook for Mac calendar. Mac outlook calendar app. Expand your Outlook. We've developed a suite of premium Outlook features for people with advanced email and calendar needs. A Microsoft 365 subscription offers an ad-free interface, custom domains, enhanced security options, the full desktop version of Office, and 1 TB of cloud storage. In the Calendar app on your Mac, choose Calendar Preferences, then click Accounts. Select the account, click the Refresh Calendars pop-up menu, then choose an option. If you choose Push, the account is updated automatically when you make a change on any of your devices that use the same account, or when someone makes a change to a shared calendar in that account. Microsoft Outlook. Microsoft purchased the Sunrise calendar app in 2015 and shut down the further.

Options considered

Direct backup

First I looked into ways to get the Synology to pull my photos down directly. There are a few command line scripts that can talk directly to your iCloud account, but they all looked a bit fragile – I want a setup that is going to work reliably and doesn’t require maintenance.

Via Windows

So, I decided to include a shortlist of the VPNs you should avoid.PureVPN: I was able to download PureVPN on my MacBook, but I discovered that it uses weaker encryption and its no-logs policy is confusing. I found many VPNs that match this description, and I would never be comfortable recommending them to you. Best vpn for mac pro.

The next option I tested was using a cheap miniPC running Windows 10 and Apple’s iCloud software to copy the files onto the mounted Synology drive.

In hindsight, I’m not sure what I was expecting: the cheap miniPC was temperamental, Windows never stopped updating and Apple iCloud for Windows seemed… well not their main focus, lets put it that way.

It sort of worked, but quickly felt like more hassle than it was worth.

Synology Drive Client App Mac

Via a Mac

Ok so this is by far the easiest way of doing it, but it does require you have a desktop Mac or a MacBook that

a) has a full copy of your photos library

Synology Drive Mac Os

and

b) Is awake and connected to your network at regular intervals to run the backup

Since my MacBook is usually closed / not plugged in and doesn’t have a full copy of my photo library, I bought a used Mac Mini and hooked it up to an external 2 TB drive. Then I configured Photos.app to store a full local copy of my library.

(Note: Why isn’t this enough backup? My concern is that if my photos are wiped on one device accidentally, the Mac Mini’s library would also be wiped)

Finally I installed Synology’s Backup Mac client on the Mac Mini and told it to monitor the photos directory and mirror those files to the Synology. It’s configured to only add files, not delete them. That way, if my library is ever accidentally wiped, it won’t also delete the files from the Synology backup.

So now I have the following setup;

I take or import a picture on my iPhone
It gets uploaded to iCloud Photos
The Mac Mini downloads a copy to its Photos Library
The Synology app copies the photo into its backup

I’ve configured the Mac Mini and Synology to wake up for a few hours every day to do this and so far it’s working really well.

Stuff used

Synology Drive client app

Synology Drive Mac App