2 Easiest Ways to Backup NAS to External Hard Drive
As you know, NAS may suffer the physical attack or virus attack, and that may lead to data loss which is annoying. So, backing up the files in NAS to external HDD will be a good choice to avoid the loss, and you can find the 2 easiest ways in this post to do the backup.
March 22, 2023 | 3 minutes read
Why Backup NAS to External Hard Drive?
The full name of NAS is network-attached storage, and it is a storage device. NAS is a combination of software and hardware which obeys the protocols like NFS and SMB. It is used to share files with other devices that join the computer network. NAS helps various users to access the files on it in a fast and secure way. But only storing files on NAS seems not inadequate, it may be better to backup NAS to external HDD. And 3 reasons are as follows:
- Avoid Data Loss: Because NAS combines hardware and software, if the hardware part is broken or the software part is attacked, the data on NAS may lose. This may have a bad effect on data use, even information security. Thus, backing up to an external hard drive can help you reduce the loss.
- Save NAS Storage: Although you can expand the storage of NAS by adding more NAS drives if it is not enough to use, there is still a limitation to the number of drives. So, if the storage can’t meet your need and you don’t want to add NAS drives, you can use an external hard drive. This external hard drive can be an alternative to store the files which you use seldom.
- Improve Work Efficiency: Since the performance of NAS depends on the network and many users share one device to access the files, it may be a little bit crowded sometimes which may reduce the work efficiency. If you have backed up the files on NAS to an external hard drive before, you can use the files more quickly. You can even use the files when there is no network connection.
You can know why some users backup NAS to a hard drive from the above 3 reasons. So, how to backup NAS to an external hard drive? The following 2 sections will tell you the steps.
Backup NAS to External Hard Drive via File Explorer
NAS brings a lot of conveniences for people to use, and one perspective of its conveniences is that it can be opened in File Explorer, instead of entering a website. Therefore, you can do the backup just by dragging and dropping the files.
Step 1: Plug your external hard drive into the NAS device to make a connection between them.
Step 2: Open File Explorer and NAS and select the files that you are willing to backup.
Step 3: Drag the files you selected before and drop them into the hard drive folder in File Explorer, then what you have to do is waiting for the task to be accomplished.
Backup NAS to External Hard Drive via AOMEI Backupper
AOMEI Backupper provides the service of Backup, Sync, Restore, and Clone to protect your data. It offers you multiple types of backup options, such as Full Backup, Differential Backup, and Incremental Backup. Therefore, you can use AOMEI Backupper to backup NAS to an external hard drive or other local folders. This method is also very easy to master with only 5 steps.
Step 1: Download AOMEI Backupper for free and open it. Also, plug your hard drive into the computer.
Step 2: Turn to the Backup function and click “File Backup”.
Step 3: Choose Add Folder or Add File according to your requirement, then open Share/NAS.
Step 4: Click “Add Share or NAS Device” at the lower left and put in the Display Name and Network Path, then click the button “OK”.
Step 5: Finally, click the second box and select your external hard drive as the destination, click “Start Backup”, and then NAS is backed up to your hard drive.
Bonus Tip: Backup NAS to Other Cloud Drives via MultCloud
MultCloud is a multiple clouds management service. It collaborates with 30+ cloud drives. If you want to backup NAS to other clouds instead of external HDD, you can try MultCloud Cloud Backup. Here this post will show you the steps of backing up NAS to Google Drive.
Step 1: Enter the MultCloud website and sign up for free.
Step 2: Add NAS and Google Drive to MultCloud by clicking their icons and logging in to your accounts.
Step 3: Click “Cloud Backup” in the left bar, and add NAS and Google Drive to the corresponding boxes. Then select the files that you’d like to backup and click “Backup Now” in the right corner. Finally, your operation is finished.
Tip: If you want to make the backup regular, you can tick “Schedule” in the lower place. After you open the Schedule interface, you can choose to back up monthly, weekly, or daily. Also, you can set an accurate time to backup automatically with MultCloud.
Conclusion
This post answers the question “why backup NAS to an external hard drive” by listing 3 reasons, such as avoiding data loss, saving NAS storage, and improving work efficiency. Besides, it shows 2 ways of how to backup NAS to external hard drive, which are backing up via File Explorer or AOMEI Backupper. You can choose one that you prefer more.
The bonus tip provides the steps for backing up NAS to Google Drive via MultCloud. If you want to backup one cloud to another cloud, you may give it a try with the same steps as the bonus tip lists. Other functions like Cloud Transfer and Cloud Sync also deserve trying. For example, you can easily perform transferring OneDrive files to Google Drive with a few clicks on MultCloud.
