Rclone for Beginners: How to Sync Your NAS to Any Cloud Provider

Rclone solves one of the most common NAS backup problems: getting your data to a cloud provider that your NAS software doesn't natively support. While Synology Hyper Backup and QNAP HBS3 cover the major cloud destinations, Rclone supports over 70 cloud providers and gives you precise control over what gets synced, when, and how. It runs directly on most NAS hardware and can be automated via the NAS task scheduler without any additional software. The learning curve is real but manageable, and the result is a flexible backup pipeline that can outlast any commercial backup application.

What Rclone Does That NAS Backup Apps Don't

Native NAS backup applications like Synology Hyper Backup and QNAP HBS3 cover the most popular cloud destinations: Amazon S3, Backblaze B2, Azure Blob, Google Cloud Storage, and Synology/QNAP's own cloud services. For most users, these are sufficient. Rclone becomes useful when:

• You want to use a cloud provider not supported by native apps (pCloud, Mega, Storj, Cloudflare R2, dozens of others)
• You need to sync files as-is rather than in a proprietary backup format
• You want readable files in the cloud, not Hyper Backup's chunked archive format
• You need fine-grained include/exclude filtering based on file patterns
• You want to sync between two cloud providers (cloud-to-cloud copy)
• You want to use S3-compatible providers with a non-standard endpoint

The key difference from Hyper Backup is file format. Hyper Backup stores data in a proprietary chunked format that requires Hyper Backup to restore. Rclone syncs actual files to the cloud, so they are readable directly through the cloud provider's web interface or any S3 client. This matters if you ever need to access a specific file quickly without restoring a full backup set.

Installing Rclone on a Synology NAS

Rclone is not in Synology's Package Center. Installation requires SSH access and downloading the binary directly. Synology NAS devices run on x86_64 or aarch64 architecture depending on the model. Current generation models including the DS225+, DS425+, DS925+, and DS1525+ are x86_64.

Enable SSH on your Synology: Control Panel → Terminal and SNMP → Enable SSH service. Connect with ssh [your-admin-username]@[your-nas-ip] and enter your admin password.

Once connected, install rclone with the official one-line installer:

Installing Rclone on a QNAP NAS

QNAP installation follows the same process. Enable SSH through QNAP's control panel: Control Panel → Network and File Services → Telnet/SSH → Allow SSH connection. Connect and run the same installer command. QNAP NAS hardware is also primarily x86_64 (current TS-233, TS-433, TS-464 and similar models).

On QNAP, the rclone binary installs to /usr/local/bin/rclone. Verify with rclone version after installation.

Configuring Your First Remote

A 'remote' in rclone terminology is a configured cloud destination. Run rclone config to start the interactive configuration wizard. The wizard prompts you through:

1. Choose 'n' to create a new remote
2. Enter a name for the remote (e.g., 'b2backup' or 'wasabi-nas')
3. Choose the provider type from the numbered list
4. Enter your credentials (access key, secret key, bucket name)

Configuration for Backblaze B2:

• Provider: Select Backblaze B2
• Account: Your Backblaze application key ID
• Key: Your Backblaze application key (not your master key)
• Bucket: Your B2 bucket name

Configuration for Wasabi:

• Provider: Select S3-compatible providers, then Wasabi
• Access Key ID: Your Wasabi access key
• Secret Access Key: Your Wasabi secret key
• Region: Your bucket's region (e.g., ap-southeast-2 for Sydney)
• Endpoint: s3.ap-southeast-2.wasabisys.com

After configuration, test the remote with rclone lsd remotename: to list buckets. If your credentials are correct, you should see your bucket listed.

Running Your First Sync

Rclone has two main commands for moving files: sync and copy.

• rclone sync makes the destination match the source exactly. Files deleted from the source will be deleted from the destination. Use for backup mirrors where you want the cloud to always match the NAS.
• rclone copy copies files from source to destination without deleting anything at the destination. Use when you want to keep deleted files in the cloud as a safety net.

For a first test, use copy to be safe. Example - copy your Documents folder to a B2 bucket:

Useful rclone flags for NAS backup:

• --progress: Show real-time transfer progress
• --transfers 4: Run 4 parallel transfers (increase for fast connections, decrease for slow)
• --bwlimit 10M: Limit bandwidth to 10MB/s (use to throttle during business hours)
• --exclude '*.tmp': Exclude temporary files
• --log-file /volume1/logs/rclone.log: Save log to a file for review
• --log-level INFO: Log level (ERROR, INFO, or DEBUG)

Automating Rclone on Synology with Task Scheduler

Synology DSM's Task Scheduler can run rclone on a schedule without any additional tools. Control Panel → Task Scheduler → Create → Scheduled Task → User-defined script.

A sample script for a nightly sync at 2am, with bandwidth throttling during business hours:

Automating Rclone on QNAP with Task Scheduler

QNAP's Task Scheduler is accessible through the Control Panel. Create a new task as the admin user with the rclone command as the script. The path to rclone on QNAP is /usr/local/bin/rclone, so specify the full path in the script: /usr/local/bin/rclone sync /share/Backup remotename:bucket-name ...

QNAP's task scheduler does not always inherit the PATH environment variable correctly, so always use the full path to the rclone binary rather than relying on rclone alone resolving correctly.

Common Rclone Problems and Fixes

Issues commonly encountered during first-time setup and how to resolve them:

• Permission denied on NAS shares: Ensure rclone is run as a user with read access to the source directory. On Synology, run the task as an admin user rather than a system user.
• Connection timeout to cloud provider: Check your NAS can reach the internet. Some NAS firewall settings block outbound HTTPS on non-standard ports used by some cloud providers. Test with curl https://api.backblazeb2.com/b2api/v2/b2_authorize_account from SSH.
• Rclone not found in task scheduler: Use the full path (/usr/bin/rclone on Synology, /usr/local/bin/rclone on QNAP) in scripts rather than relying on PATH resolution.
• Log file growing too large: Add --log-level ERROR to only log failures, or add a log rotation step to your script.

Related reading: our NAS buyer's guide and our NAS vs cloud storage comparison.

Use our free Cloud vs NAS Cost Calculator to compare cloud storage against owning a NAS.

Is rclone safe to use on a production NAS?

Yes, rclone is a mature, widely-used tool with a long track record. The main risks are user error rather than software issues. Always run --dry-run first when trying a new command. Be careful with rclone sync in particular - it deletes destination files that are not present at the source, which can cause data loss if you get source and destination reversed. rclone copy is safer for first-time use as it never deletes files at the destination.

Does rclone work with Backblaze B2 Object Lock for immutable backups?

Yes. Rclone supports S3 Object Lock when used with Backblaze B2 via the S3-compatible API. Configure the B2 remote using the S3 provider type (not the native B2 type) and specify the B2 S3-compatible endpoint. Object Lock parameters can then be passed as rclone headers. This is more complex than using Hyper Backup with Object Lock enabled in the task settings, but achieves the same protection.

Will rclone sync update files that have changed or only upload new files?

Rclone checks for file changes using size and modification time by default. If a file has changed (different size or newer modification time), rclone re-uploads it. Files that are identical at source and destination are skipped. This makes incremental syncs fast - only changed and new files are transferred. You can also use --checksum for more accurate comparison at the cost of slower scan times, which computes a hash of each file rather than relying on metadata.

Can rclone run on older Synology NAS hardware?

Rclone is available for multiple architectures including older ARM-based Synology models. The install script detects your architecture automatically. Models like the older DS213j and similar ARM devices are supported. Very old models running DSM 6.x or earlier may have issues with the installer script - check the rclone documentation for manual binary installation on older DSM versions.

How does rclone compare to Synology Hyper Backup for cloud backup?

Hyper Backup is simpler to set up, supports versioning natively with a GUI, and integrates tightly with DSM. It stores data in a proprietary format that requires Hyper Backup to restore. Rclone is more flexible, supports more cloud providers, and stores files as-is (directly readable in the cloud), but requires command-line comfort and manual scheduling setup. For most Synology users, Hyper Backup is the better starting point. Rclone becomes the better choice when you need a provider not supported by Hyper Backup, or when you need files to be directly readable in the cloud without restoration.