Help me streamline my storage..

Hi guys I wondered if any could recommend something that would allow me to do the following via my mac / nas..

i use a qnap nas and would like to somehow attach an external drive to either the nas or my mac.

On this drive I would like to store a particular client directory and have it so I can leave the house with the external drive and my laptop and have the current files. Make amends to docs whilst out on the road and return home plug the drive back in and any new or modified files are copied to the nas drive.

obviously this would be repeated any time I leave the office and return.

ive tried the nas cloud but it's caught me out a few times when I haven't had reception or wifi.

im hoping this is pretty easy to do and would be a game changer if poss.

many thanks,

Devs.

never used a qnap nas so cant give specifics but I know alot of NAS boxes will allow you to plug in a USB device, press a button and it will automatically back up the contents on to the NAS, no idea if it will do version control or just a dump of the data (most likely)
can you give me the model of your NAS so i can take a look

Hello mate and many thanks for the help. Greatly appreciated!

The nas is a qnap TS-453mini

Cheers, Devs.

No worries, the feature is called one-touch-copy

just looked it up and yours should support it#

http://docs.qnap.com/nas/4.1/Home/en...nal_backup.htm

USB One Touch Copy

Enable the USB one touch copy button to back up data from the front USB drive to the NAS or vice versa. This feature is not supported by TS-809U-RP, TS-879U-RP, TS-EC879U-RP, TS-1279U-RP, TS-EC1279U-RP.

Smart Import (Beta)
When users connect an external device, such as a camera, to the front USB port, all photos and videos on the device will be imported to the NAS automatically without pressing the "Copy" button. Imported files will be stored in "SmartImport," a newly created folder, under the default backup directory. During each import, only new photos and videos will be imported to a new folder.

USB One Touch Copy
For customized backup configuration, please select "USB One Touch Copy."

•	Backup direction: From the front USB drive to the NAS or vice versa.

•	Backup method:

o

Create directory: A new directory will be created on the destination and the source data will be copied to this directory. The new directory will be named as the backup date (YYYYMMDD). If there are two or more backups on the same day, the directory will be named with YYYYMMDD-1, YYYYMMDD-2... and so on.

o	Copy: Back up data to the destination share. If the same file exists, the destination file will be overwritten.

o	Synchronize: Back up data to the destination share and clear the redundant files. If the same file exists, the destination file will be overwritten.

•	Handle sparse files efficiently: A sparse file is a type of computer file that contains large blocks of zero-byte data. Turn on this option may reduce the time required for backup.

•	Source and destination folders: Specify the folder pairs for backup and click "Add". Maximum 9 folder pairs can be added.

•	Options: Click "Options" to set up notification of the backup jobs by email, SMS, or instant messaging (IM).

•	Unmount the front USB drive manually: When enabled, users can press the Copy button for about 8–10 seconds until the USB LED light turns off and remove the front USB drive from the NAS.

•	Enable the alarm buzzer:

o	One short beep: Backup has started.

o	Two short beeps: The front USB drive is being unmounted.

Note: If there are multiple partitions on the source storage device, a new folder will be created for each partition on the destination as the backup folder. The backup folder will be named with the backup date and the partition number, YYYYMMDD-1 for partition 1, YYYYMMDD-2 for partition 2... and so on. If the source storage device contains only one partition, the backup folder will be named as YYYYMMDD only.

Data copy using front USB port
The NAS supports instant data copy backup from the external USB device to the NAS or the other way round by the front one touch copy button. To use this function, follow the steps below:

1.	Make sure a hard drive is installed and formatted on the NAS. The default shared folder Qusb/Usb has been created.

2.	Turn on the NAS.

3.	Configure the behavior of the Copy button on "Backup Station" > "USB One Touch Copy" page.

4.	Connect the USB device, for example, digital camera or flash, to the front USB port of the NAS.

5.	Press the Copy button once. The data will be copied according to your settings on the NAS.

Note: Incremental backup is used for this feature. After the first time data backup, the NAS only copies the changed files since the last backup.

Caution:Files are copied from the source to the destination. Extra files on the destination will be deleted; files of the same names will be overwritten by the source. Source data will remain unchanged.

As an external storage drive
When an external device is connected to the front USB port, it will be identified as an external storage drive connected to the port.

Brilliant news mate well done! I'll take a look now and get this sorted.

Many thanks for the help bud, appreciated! :)

Alternatively, have you thought about Dropbox? Pretty cheap for a Pro account with 1TB space. I am in the process of migrating my files to that now and it has two-factor authentication too, I pay for the extended versioning and history to protect my files. Some NAS devices have apps that can sync Dropbox so your Mac will sync to the NAS continuously. Obviously if your filesizes are large this may not be suitable.

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Originally Posted by devs

Brilliant news mate well done! I'll take a look now and get this sorted.

Many thanks for the help bud, appreciated! :)

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no worries mate, hope it works for ya!