The time required to set up a Windows PC backup to a Synology NAS varies with the backup method, NAS configuration, account setup, and recovery-media preparation and protects your files, system state, or entire drive image, depending on which backup method you choose. DSM provides Active Backup for Business on supported Synology models and Hyper Backup for protecting NAS-hosted data. Windows Backup and File History are Windows features, not DSM tools. Each solves a different problem. This guide tells you which to use, then walks through the setup step by step.
In short: Use Active Backup for Business for full PC images, bare-metal restore capability, and centralised management of multiple computers. Use Hyper Backup for backing up specific folders already stored on the NAS, including NAS-to-cloud, NAS-to-external-drive and NAS-to-NAS jobs. Use Windows Backup or File History if you want a simple folder backup without installing software on the NAS. Most home users should start with Active Backup for Business - it is free, included in DSM, and handles both file recovery and full PC restore.
Before You Start: What You Need
You need a Synology NAS running DSM 7.0 or later, connected to the same local network as your Windows PC. The NAS needs a shared folder set up to receive backup data, and a user account with write access to that folder. If you plan to use Active Backup for Business, the NAS also needs sufficient storage - the required storage depends on the selected volumes and the amount of data in use.
Check your network connection. If your NAS is connected via Wi-Fi, large initial backups can take many hours. A wired Ethernet connection between the NAS and your router - and ideally between your PC and the router - significantly speeds up both the initial backup and subsequent incremental backups. Many Synology and QNAP models now include 2.5GbE ports, which offer faster transfers than standard Gigabit Ethernet.
Local backup is not the same as off-site backup. A NAS in your home backs up your PC, but if your house burns down or is burgled, both are lost together. A complete backup strategy follows the 3-2-1 rule: 3 copies, on 2 different media types, with 1 copy off-site or in the cloud. Your NAS handles the local copy. Pair it with Synology's Hyper Backup to a cloud service like Backblaze B2 or Synology C2 for the off-site copy.
Step 1: Create a Shared Folder on the NAS
A shared folder is a folder on the NAS that network devices can access over SMB (the network file-sharing protocol Windows uses). File History and legacy Windows imaging use an SMB shared-folder destination. Active Backup for Business uses a shared folder on a Btrfs volume, while Hyper Backup can read NAS shared folders and write to external, cloud or remote destinations., so setting one up correctly first saves troubleshooting later.
Log in to DSM in your browser using the NAS's IP address (typically 192.168.x.x or find it in Synology Assistant). Open Control Panel, then Shared Folder, then Create. Name the folder something descriptive like PC-Backups. For Active Backup for Business, use an unencrypted shared folder on a Btrfs volume because encrypted shared-folder destinations are unsupported. For SMB-based backups, decide whether to use at-rest encryption based on the physical-theft risk and key-management requirements. Tick Enable Recycle Bin to allow file recovery within the folder if you accidentally delete something from within a backup set.
Step 2: Create a Dedicated Backup User
Create a user specifically for backup jobs rather than using your main DSM admin account. Go to Control Panel, then User and Group, then Create. Name it something like backup-agent and set a strong password. On the Permissions step, give this user Read/Write access to the shared folder you created in Step 1. Leave unrelated permissions off. If this account will register the Active Backup for Business agent, also allow it access to the Active Backup for Business application.
Using a dedicated user limits the blast radius if backup credentials are ever compromised. A backup account that can only write to the PC-Backups folder cannot access your personal files, delete other folders, or make DSM configuration changes. This is a basic security practice that takes 2 minutes to implement.
Method 1: Active Backup for Business (Recommended for Most Users)
Active Backup for Business (ABB) is Synology's free backup agent for Windows PCs and servers. It installs a lightweight agent on your Windows machine, which the NAS then manages centrally. ABB supports full PC image backups, incremental backups (only changed blocks since the last backup), and bare-metal restore - meaning you can restore an entire PC to a new drive if the original fails. For home users and small businesses, this is the most capable free backup tool available for Synology.
Start on the NAS. Open Package Center in DSM and install Active Backup for Business if it is not already installed. Once installed, open it from the application menu. The first run wizard will prompt you to create a storage folder - point it to your PC-Backups shared folder.
On your Windows PC, download the Active Backup for Business Agent from Synology's download centre. Run the installer. When prompted, enter your NAS's IP address, the backup account username and password you created in Step 2, and confirm the connection. The agent will appear in the ABB portal on your NAS as a registered device.
Back in the ABB portal on the NAS, select your Windows PC and create a backup task. Configure the following: Backup source - choose Entire device for a full image, System volume for Windows system volumes, or Customized volume to select particular volumes. ABB does not provide folder-only source selection for PC image tasks. Destination - your shared folder. Schedule - set the frequency (daily at a specific time works well for most people). Retention policy - how many backup versions to keep before old ones are deleted.
First backup tip: The initial backup copies everything and can take several hours for a PC with 200GB+ of data. Schedule it overnight. Subsequent backups transfer changed blocks, but completion time depends on how much data changed and on PC, network and NAS performance.
Method 2: Windows Backup to a Network Location
If you prefer not to install software on the NAS, File History can back up files to a network location. The current Windows Backup app uses OneDrive, while the separate legacy Backup and Restore (Windows 7) component can create system images but is deprecated.
To use either, first map the NAS shared folder as a network drive. Open File Explorer, click This PC, then Map network drive. Choose a drive letter (e.g. Z:) and enter the path to your shared folder in UNC format: \\NAS-IP\PC-Backups where NAS-IP is your NAS's IP address. Check Connect using different credentials and enter your backup account username and password. Tick Reconnect at sign-in so the mapping survives reboots.
For File History, open Control Panel, select System and Security, then File History. Use Select drive to choose or add the NAS network location. File History backs up your Documents, Pictures, Music, Videos, and Desktop folders on a schedule. It does not create a full system image.
For a full system image backup using Windows tools: open Control Panel (not Settings), then Backup and Restore (Windows 7) - Backup and Restore (Windows 7) may still be present on Windows 10 and 11, but Microsoft has deprecated System Image Backup and recommends a third-party product for full-disk backup.
Method 3: Hyper Backup (For Folder-Level Backup Jobs)
Hyper Backup is Synology's tool for backing up NAS data - not PC data directly. However, if you use your NAS as a file server where PCs already store their documents (using the NAS as a network drive), then Hyper Backup becomes relevant: it backs up those NAS-hosted files to another destination such as a second NAS, an external drive, or a cloud service.
If your workflow is: PC documents stored on NAS shared folder, and you want a second copy of those NAS files elsewhere - that is Hyper Backup's job. Install it from Package Center, create a backup task pointing to your shared folders, and configure a destination. Hyper Backup supports incremental backups, versioning, and encryption. This is the correct tool for NAS-to-cloud or NAS-to-NAS backup of files already living on the NAS.
Troubleshooting Common Issues
Cannot connect to NAS from Windows: Check that SMB (file sharing) is enabled in DSM. Go to Control Panel, then File Services, then SMB, and ensure SMB service is enabled. Confirm that the PC can route to the NAS and that their subnet masks, gateways and firewall rules permit the required traffic. Merely sharing a 192.168 prefix does not prove that devices are on the same subnet. Windows Firewall can sometimes block SMB traffic - temporarily disabling it to test confirms whether it is the cause.
Active Backup agent cannot register with NAS: Confirm that TCP port 5510 on the Synology NAS is reachable from the PC. This is the required port for ABB Windows PC and physical-server agent connections.
Backup runs slowly: Check whether the NAS and PC are connected over Gigabit Ethernet rather than Wi-Fi. Wi-Fi throughput can be substantially lower and less consistent than wired Ethernet, but the difference depends on the Wi-Fi standard, signal conditions, Ethernet link speed and storage performance. For initial backups of hundreds of gigabytes, a wired connection is worth the temporary inconvenience.
Shared folder permission errors: Verify the backup user has Read/Write permission on the shared folder in DSM's Control Panel, and that no folder-level permissions deny access. DSM has both shared folder permissions and individual folder permissions within a share - check both.
Related reading: our Synology brand guide and our 3-2-1 backup guide.
Use our free Backup Storage Calculator to size your backup storage correctly.
See also: our complete Synology NAS Australia guide.
See also: our full Backup and Disaster Recovery guide.
Does Active Backup for Business cost anything?
Active Backup for Business is license-free but is available only on Synology models listed as compatible with the package; the NAS must use an x64 architecture and Btrfs. There is no per-seat licence, no subscription, and no limit on the number of devices you can back up. This makes it unusually competitive compared to third-party backup software. ABB requires a compatible x64 Synology NAS, a Btrfs backup destination and package activation; supported ABB versions can run on DSM 6.2 or later.
How much NAS storage do I need for PC backups?
Storage requirements depend on the initial used data, subsequent change rate, retention period and ABB deduplication. Do not multiply the full used capacity by the number of versions as though every version were a separate full copy. (incremental backups after the first are much smaller). Whether a 4TB NAS drive can accommodate backups for 2-3 PCs with daily versioning for several weeks depends on each PC's used space, the daily change rate, retention settings, deduplication and other NAS usage.
Can I restore individual files or do I have to restore the whole backup?
Both options are available with Active Backup for Business. The ABB agent on Windows allows you to browse backup versions and restore individual files, folders, or the entire PC image. For single-file recovery, select the file in the ABB Recovery Portal and click Restore. For full system recovery from a failed drive, ABB includes a bootable recovery environment you can run from a USB drive.
Does the NAS need to be on for backups to run?
Yes. The NAS must be powered on and connected to the network at the scheduled backup time. Most NAS devices support Wake-on-LAN so they can be scheduled to power on before backups and shut down afterward, reducing power consumption. Synology's built-in power scheduler handles this - configure it in Control Panel under Hardware and Power, then Power Schedule.
Will my NAS backup survive a ransomware attack?
It depends on your configuration. If ransomware encrypts your PC and your NAS is mounted as a network drive, the ransomware can often reach the NAS and encrypt your backup as well. Active Backup for Business is more resilient because backups are written to an ABB-managed repository that Windows applications cannot directly access or modify. On a supported model running DSM 7.2 or later, Snapshot Replication can create immutable snapshots of the ABB destination. Those snapshots cannot be modified or deleted during their configured protection period.
Can I use this with a Windows Server instead of a desktop PC?
Yes. Active Backup for Business supports Windows Server as well as Windows 10 and 11 desktops and laptops. The setup process is identical. For Windows Server environments, ABB also supports application-consistent backups for Microsoft SQL Server, Exchange, and SharePoint through VSS integration - ensuring backups of active databases are captured in a consistent state that can be restored cleanly.
Australian Buyers: What You Need to Know
Synology NAS devices are well stocked in Australia through BlueChip IT and Multimedia Technology, with Mwave, Scorptec, PLE, and Umart as common retail channels. Consumer models including the DS223, DS423+, and DS925+ are generally available from stock. Australian Consumer Law consumer guarantees are separate from manufacturer warranties and may continue after a warranty expires; the applicable duration and remedy depend on the circumstances.
General Australian support is available through technical-support requests and LiveChat. Eligible Synology On-Site Service customers can also use the program's Australian phone support line. For technical setup questions, Synology's documentation is thorough and the Synology community forums are active. Most common backup configuration issues are documented in Synology's Knowledge Centre at kb.synology.com.
Not sure which Synology NAS to buy for your backup setup? The buying guide covers the current range with AU pricing from Mwave, Scorptec, and PLE.