A NAS, or network-attached storage device, is a box that connects to your home router and gives every computer, phone, and TV in your house access to the same files and backups. Initial setup time varies by NAS model, drives, network speed, and the storage configuration you choose. Skip steps or do them out of sequence and you end up redoing things. This guide covers the first seven things every new NAS owner should do, regardless of which brand they bought.
In short: Install drives, run the setup wizard, create a storage volume, add shared folders, configure backup (to the NAS and from the NAS to a second location), enable remote access via QuickConnect, or configure Synology DDNS together with the required router and service-access settings, then install any apps you need. Do these steps in order; total setup time varies by model, drives, network speed, and the storage configuration chosen. Skip backup and you have an expensive single point of failure.
Step 1: Install Your Drives
Many Synology and QNAP enclosures are sold diskless, but some NAS products ship with drives pre-installed. Open the drive bays (usually tool-free on consumer models - press the release button and slide the tray out), slide each drive into the carrier, and lock it in. The drives click or screw into the trays depending on the model. Synology's consumer NAS trays are mostly tool-free for 3.5-inch drives. QNAP drive-tray installation varies by model and may use regular or tool-less trays. Check your model's quick installation guide for the exact process.
If you are buying drives now, NAS-rated hard drives are worth the premium over desktop drives. Desktop drives are not designed to run 24/7 in a vibration-prone multi-drive enclosure. Seagate IronWolf and Western Digital Red Plus are CMR drive families designed for always-on NAS use. Both are CMR (Conventional Magnetic Recording) drives engineered specifically for always-on NAS use.
Do not confuse RAID for a backup. RAID (a method of spreading data across multiple drives so the system survives a drive failure without data loss) protects you from a drive dying. It does not protect you from accidental deletion, ransomware, or your NAS being stolen or flooded. A NAS with RAID is not a backed-up NAS. Step 4 covers the backup piece separately.
Step 2: Connect and Run the Setup Wizard
Connect the NAS to your router with an Ethernet cable. Do not connect it via Wi-Fi - a wired connection is faster, more reliable, and easier to troubleshoot. Power it on. The NAS will take 2-5 minutes to boot on first run.
On a computer on the same network, find the NAS. Synology provides Synology Assistant (a desktop app) and find.synology.com in your browser. QNAP provides Qfinder Pro and start.qnap.com. Either method will detect the NAS on your local network and give you a button to open the setup interface in your browser.
The setup wizard installs the operating system onto the NAS (DSM for Synology, QTS or QuTS Hero for QNAP). The wizard can normally download the operating system, but offline or manual installation options and the required files vary by vendor and model; setup time also varies. Once installed, you create an admin account with a strong password. Write this password down somewhere secure - Password-recovery behavior varies by vendor and reset mode; use the documented password-reset procedure for your model before considering a factory reset.
Step 3: Create a Storage Volume
Before you can store anything, the NAS needs to organise your drives into a storage pool and volume. The setup wizard handles this on most consumer models, but it is worth understanding what you are choosing. For a 2-drive NAS, RAID 1 mirrors your data across both drives - if one fails, the other has a complete copy. For a 4-drive NAS, RAID 5 uses one drive's worth of space for parity, allowing any single drive to fail without data loss. SHR (Synology Hybrid RAID, a drive-protection method) is Synology's equivalent that handles mixed drive sizes more flexibly.
For most home users, accept the wizard's recommended configuration. If you are setting up a 4-drive NAS for a business, consider RAID 6 or SHR-2 which tolerates two simultaneous drive failures - more protection at the cost of two drives' worth of usable space. Volume creation time varies with drive capacity and speed, RAID type, settings, and system load; initialization or synchronization may continue in the background.
Step 4: Create Shared Folders
A shared folder is a folder on the NAS that network devices can access over the local network. Think of it as a folder on a hard drive that everyone in the house can read from or write to, depending on the permissions you set. DSM and QTS both handle this through a Shared Folder section in the control panel.
Create at least two shared folders to start: one for personal files (call it Personal or your name) and one for shared files the whole household can access (call it Shared or Media). You can add more later. For the personal folder, set permissions so only your account can access it. For the shared folder, give read/write access to the accounts of other people in the house.
To access the shared folders from Windows, map them as network drives. In File Explorer, click This PC, then Map network drive, and enter the NAS path. Before mapping the folder, make sure Synology's SMB service is enabled in Control Panel > File Services > SMB. On a Mac, use Finder then Go, Connect to Server, and enter smb://NAS-IP.
Step 5: Set Up Backup - Both Directions
Backup runs in two directions: computers backing up to the NAS, and the NAS backing up to a second location. Both matter. Setting up only one direction leaves a gap in your data protection.
PC to NAS backup: On supported Synology models with a suitable Btrfs destination, the license-free Active Backup for Business package installs an agent on compatible Windows PCs and manages backups centrally from the NAS. It supports full PC image backup, incremental backups, and bare-metal restore. QNAP's comparable full-system Windows PC backup option is HDP PC Agent; Qsync handles file-level backup and synchronization. Both are free and take a variable amount of time to configure depending on the devices and backup policy.
NAS to cloud backup: Your NAS is a single point of failure. If it is stolen, damaged in a flood, or destroyed in a fire, your data is gone. Synology's Hyper Backup connects to cloud services including Synology C2, Backblaze B2, and S3-compatible storage. QNAP's Hybrid Backup Sync supports Backblaze B2 and S3-compatible storage among other cloud destinations. Set up an automated daily backup from the NAS to a cloud destination - even a basic plan at a few dollars per month is cheap insurance for data you cannot replace.
Step 6: Enable Remote Access
Remote access lets you reach your NAS files when you are away from home - from work, while travelling, or from your phone. There are two main approaches: the NAS vendor's relay service, or a VPN you control.
The easiest option is Synology QuickConnect (for Synology) or myQNAPcloud (for QNAP). QuickConnect and myQNAPcloud Link can provide remote access without manual router port forwarding; QuickConnect tries direct and hole-punched connections before using its relay as a fallback. Enable QuickConnect in the Synology Control Panel and choose a QuickConnect ID. You can then access your NAS from anywhere by visiting quickconnect.to/your-id or through the official mobile app.
The more secure alternative is a VPN. Synology's VPN Server package supports OpenVPN, L2TP/IPsec, and PPTP; it does not natively provide WireGuard. Rather than exposing the NAS directly to the internet, you connect your phone or laptop to the home VPN and then access the NAS over the local network connection the VPN creates. This requires port forwarding on your router. An important caveat: if your internet provider uses CGNAT (Carrier-Grade NAT, a cost-saving measure some ISPs use that blocks direct remote access to your home network), port forwarding will not work and you will need to use the vendor relay service, a VPN provider with dedicated IP support, or Tailscale.
Step 7: Install the Apps You Actually Need
Both DSM and QTS have an app store with free and paid packages. Install only what you plan to use - more apps mean more attack surface and more maintenance. Common useful additions for home users: Plex or Emby for media serving to TVs and phones, Synology Photos or QNAP QuMagie for photo management, and Note Station or Synology Office for document management if you want to replace cloud office tools.
Container support is available on selected NAS models and depends on the model, CPU architecture, memory, and software version; Immich, Home Assistant, and Nextcloud also have their own compatibility and resource requirements. Do not start there if you are new to NAS - get the core setup working first. Add Docker apps once you are comfortable with the basics.
Common First-Time Mistakes
Skipping the cloud backup: A common mistake is treating the NAS as the backup destination without creating a second offsite copy. Your NAS is at risk from the same physical events as your computers. A two-drive NAS in RAID 1 protects you from a drive failure. It does not protect you from a house fire or theft. Cloud backup adds the offsite copy that RAID cannot provide.
Using admin for everything: The default admin account should be used only for configuration. Create a standard user account for day-to-day file access. If a compromised device connects to the NAS with a standard user account, the damage is limited. If admin credentials are exposed, the entire NAS is at risk. Disable the default admin account after creating a new administrator account with a different name.
Exposing the NAS management interface to the internet: Do not open the NAS's web management port to the internet. The QuickConnect relay and VPN methods both provide remote access without requiring the management interface to be directly reachable. A NAS with management ports exposed receives constant automated attack attempts - enabling two-factor authentication and using QuickConnect or a VPN are the safer alternatives.
Related reading: our NAS buyer's guide.
Related reading: our NAS explainer.
See also: our complete Synology NAS Australia guide.
See also: our complete QNAP NAS Australia guide.
See also: our full Home and Family Storage guide.
Do I need to leave the NAS on all the time?
Not necessarily. A NAS that is only used occasionally can be configured to sleep or power off when idle and wake via network activity or a schedule. Synology and QNAP both include power scheduling in the control panel - you can set specific hours for the NAS to run. If you want backups to run automatically while you sleep, schedule the NAS to power on an hour before the backup window. For always-on use cases like Plex servers or security cameras, continuous operation makes more sense.
What is the difference between a shared folder and a volume?
A storage pool is created from one or more drives; a volume is storage space allocated from a storage pool or RAID group. A shared folder is a folder inside that volume that is accessible over the network. Think of the volume as a hard drive and the shared folder as a folder on that drive with network access enabled. You can have many shared folders inside a single volume. Most home users need only one volume but will create multiple shared folders to organise different types of content or control who can access what.
How long does RAID synchronisation take on first setup?
RAID synchronization time varies widely with drive capacity and speed, RAID operation, resync settings, system workload, and drive condition. This happens in the background - the NAS is usable during this time, just with reduced performance. Do not power off the NAS during the initial sync.
Can I add more drives later after initial setup?
Yes. Expansion support and procedure depend on the model, RAID type, current drive configuration, and drive requirements; adding a drive may add redundancy without increasing capacity, and a shutdown may be required on models without hot-swap support. The expansion process rebuilds the RAID and can take many hours. SHR can use mixed drive sizes, but expansion behavior and new-drive requirements depend on the pool's current configuration. Check the online expansion documentation for your specific model before buying additional drives.
What apps do most people install on a home NAS?
Common additions include Plex or Emby for media serving to TVs, a photo backup app (Synology Photos or QNAP QuMagie), and the vendor's own mobile app for file access from phones. Beyond that, popular self-hosted apps like Immich for photo management, Home Assistant for smart home, and Nextcloud for file sync are available as containers on compatible NAS hardware, subject to each app's architecture and resource requirements. Start with the basics - the core NAS functions are valuable without any additional apps.
My internet provider uses CGNAT. Can I still access my NAS remotely?
Yes, but not via standard port forwarding. CGNAT (Carrier-Grade NAT) blocks incoming connections to your home network at the ISP level. Use QuickConnect (Synology) or myQNAPcloud (QNAP) instead - these relay services route your connection through the vendor's servers and bypass the CGNAT restriction. Tailscale is another option that works through CGNAT using its relay network. Some NBN providers in Australia apply CGNAT by default - check with your ISP if direct port forwarding is not working.
Where to Go From Here
Once the seven steps above are done, your NAS is working and protected. From there, the direction depends on what you want to do with it. Setting up a family NAS with multiple user accounts and shared folders is a natural next step for households. Running self-hosted apps via Docker is the path for users who want to replace cloud services with local alternatives. Plex Media Server is a common first app for users with large movie or music collections.
For deeper guidance on any of these areas, the guides below cover the most common next steps for new NAS owners.
Before you commit to a disk layout, our RAID usable capacity calculator shows what each option actually leaves you to use.
Ready to set up multiple users and shared folders for the whole family? The family NAS setup guide covers user accounts, folder permissions, and shared media access.