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I have Time Machine rotating four separate USB drives. I would like to have an easy way to rotate one a week to another location. Doesn’t have to be a NAS, but it would be convenient to have all four in one box while still being easy to swap out. Can an iMac that’s OLDER than APFS function as a NAS for Sequoia?
Or this Raspberry Pi suggestion?
https://magpi.raspberrypi.com/articles/build-a-raspberry-pi-nas
MacBook Pro 15″, macOS 15.1
FWIW, I have both a Synology NAS & a pair of Raspberry Pi 4Bs that run Open Media Vault (OMV). I don't currently use the latter for Time Machine (TM), but could do so easily. At present my four bay NAS is configured such that it is one of my TM backup destinations. Could I have, instead, configured it such that each drive could be used independently for TM ... sure. The reason I don't is that a good backup strategy is to use separate backup types and destinations. Having them all go to a single destination would present a "single point of failure."
On that older iMac, what exact model do you have, and what version of macOS is it running?
Although you could potentially swap out a drive from a NAS, it would neither be practical, nor an efficient means to satisfy your goals.
FWIW, I have my NAS configured with an external USB drive. The purpose of this drive is to create a "backup of a backup." Being portable, I can then store this drive at another location.
If you would like to go the NAS route, I believe you have two basic choices to consider:
To directly answer your question about how easy is it to add/remove drives from the Synology, it is simply a matter of pulling off the drive bay cover to access the drives. Each drive can then be added/removed individually without any tools.
I don't recall exactly about the iMac. Haven't turned it on in a long time. But since the latest version it is capable of does not include APFS, I suspect it can't provide drives for Time Machine.
I agree that "a good backup strategy is to use separate backup … destinations" which is why I want four independent drives. Although a four-drive RAID would accomplish the same thing—to be able to rotate one drive out to another physical location each week.
Thus, at all times three drives would be receiving backups and one would be safe but idle in another location. The reason for four is that if I pass on, each of my children get one of the backups. They don't need the O.S. but it's the easiest way for them to get access to my photos, travel records, audio files, videos, etc. Three of them; the Windows rebel has to find and install an APFS reader :-)
So, how easy is it to add/remove drives from Synology?
The Synology four-bay (thanks, tesserax) is quite attractive for potential future uses, but for my current need, the lowest cost item I've found is
https://www.amazon.com/ORICO-Docking-Station-Duplicator-Black/dp/B07G2WRB97
but ORICO reviews complain the drives get too hot. For only twenty dollars more, reviews of
https://www.amazon.com/Syba-SY-ENC50104-SATA-Non-RAID-Enclosure/dp/B076ZH262B
make a point of praising its cooling features. And swapping looks pretty easy.
Feel free to chime in if you know of a lower cost four-bay hot-swap item.
What would be really cool would be a button on each bay that flushes any buffers and dismounts the drive!
To be honest, I choose quality/capabilities over cost, or just wait until I can afford one.
In my experience with Synology, mine is a 2016 model and it has not failed me once. The decision to purchase a NAS is, of course, totally yours. I do know that Synology does support Time Machine and one of the many reasons I chose the model I have, the DS916+. The equivalent model today, would be the DS923+.
FWIW, I just used the Synology NAS selector, and they recommend two models for backups: DS423 (4-bay) & DS223j (2-bay). The key is to look at all the features that come with a particular NAS model to make sure it meets, or exceeds, your NAS requirements. Again, both of these are "mini" servers that have multiple capabilities; they are not just storage cabinets.
Personally, I would avoid using cost as the only factor when choosing a NAS.
NAS with four removable drives for Time Machine?
