Best Steps to recover Synology NAS (apps, configs,data, etc.) from a Factory Reset?

Synology
1

I hope someone can help me out here.
My DS1621+ system drive has become full, resulting in unable to update to the latest verson of DSM… Synology support has request I perform a factory reset of my NAS.
Be sides backing up the data, can I back all the app configurations, etc. So I can minimize my down time
while rebuilding the NAS.
Is their a video out there showing how to do this?
Any help appreciated.

2

I’m facing a similar issue (upgrading disk to higher capacity in my case) and someone helpfully suggested using Hyper Backup.
I found these resources from Synology which might help in your case:

and

1 Like
3

I ran into the issue of [full system partiton] when working with USB devices. They seemed to write extensive log files and error reports due to incorrect power-offs or disconnects. And over the time these reports filled the system drive.

I did tons of system migraations with HB (ans some additronal preparation) and so far it always worked out nicely.

Once you are back in your comfort zone with all the different layers of backups you want to do a mode2 reset
How do I reset my Synology NAS? (For DSM 6.2.4 or above) - Synology Knowledge Center

As the mode2 reset does not effect the data partitions you can do the job with only a backup of the App & DSM settings. (But a backup of the full NAS is never a bad thing to have so if you have enough free space on an external media just do it nevertheless.)

But be aware that Hyperbackup does not save the app setting of all apps.

The list of not-included apps extends to (but is not limited to) these apps:

  • Surveillance Station
  • ActiveBackupForBusiness
  • ActiveBackupForOffice365
  • (I do not use ActiveBackupForGSuite but I assume the plattorm works like the above so I just list it here too)
  • I would also double check the photostation settings.

The recovery of the ActiveBackup Apps is trivial as you just need to reconnect the shared folder containing the AB files. The app then recovers all backup jobs. You can also export the ssl certificate of AB (DSM control center → security → certificate). If you import this certificate in the new NAS the AB clients do not need to reauthenticate due to certificate errors.

Within surveillance station you can export the settings too. This is a life saver as all the camera settings, including all the motion detection settings&zones, are included. Cam licenses can be migrated too but you need to know which sysnology account the cam licenses were allocated to. You also to be able to log into the old account. I think to recall that cam licesnses are either automatically revocered or easily recoverable if old and new NAS run on the same machine with the same name under the same Synology account. Of course this is only an issue if you had to buy additional licences in the first place.

Just to be on the sure side you might also run a manual export of the DSM settings - just in case
[control panel] → [update & restore] → [configuration backup] → [maual export] .

NB: Synology offers the automatic backup of the DSM settings but you only can access the latest version. If you want to have a backup chain you can run an automated script to periodically save the settings: GitHub - 007revad/Synology_Config_Backup: Backup and export your Synology DSM configuration.

Best of luck

4

Is there a way to rotate, backup & delete those log files?

Because I do plan on having two external USB drives connected at all times, one for DSM full backup (HyperBackup to HDD cold storage), and one external SSD as the destination for macOS Time Machine, which imho doesn’t need to be on the internal RAID storage.

PS (edit): whenever I have the ability to do so, I always backup configurations manually, no matter the device, so I can recommend that too.

5

I am very sure you can find some related information on stackoverflow/github etc.

But with 3-2-1 backups in place we feel confident to pull the plug on DSMs through Mode2 resets whenever a plattform seem to have issues (mostly malconfiguration caused by us tinkering with the systems)

Some sysadmin for windows VMs once told me that you need to treat VMs like cattle (kill when ill) instead of holy cows. The first time is the hardest but once you get some confidence in your system you know that you wont be naked when the real disaster strikes. So just consider it a trial run for disaster recovery and share the lessons learned.

6

Thanks for all the Info. It really helps.
I’ve manually exported the configurations, and have hyper backup of all data.
Is my assumption correct that after the re-install of DSM (after reset mode 2) the Pool and Volume config are still present and hopefully I can see the folders and data? (i.e. I don’t have to re-create the Pool and Volume

7

THanks for the info.
I’ve done the factory reset, and the Pool and Volume all good , all data present.

Another question.
I’ve attached the USB drive I used for the Hyper Backup, when I try to add it using the previous Directory
it says there is a current task using it. I don’t have any task that I know of.
Any way how do I connect he USB drive backup so it can continue with Hyper Backups where it left off?

Thanks