When building or expanding a homelab, setting up a Synology NAS is one of several strong options for managing local storage, backups, and remote access. It’s a flexible platform that offers many features typically found in enterprise storage solutions, but in a form factor and price point that’s accessible to home users.

If you’re considering moving more of your important files, services, or backups off of third-party cloud providers and into a system you control, a NAS can be a great fit. (You can read more about why I personally chose Synology here).

In this guide, I’ll walk you through a step-by-step setup of a Synology NAS in a homelab environment—covering disks, power, security, backups, snapshots, remote access, and family sharing configurations.

Step 1: Configure Your Disks

Start by opening Storage Manager, the core tool for setting up your drives and volumes.

Here’s what to do:

• Create a Storage Pool: Choose a RAID type. I recommend RAID 5 or Synology Hybrid RAID (SHR) for a balance of redundancy and efficient storage use.
• Perform a Drive Check: Run a long S.M.A.R.T. test on each drive. It may take hours, but it’s essential for detecting early failures.
• Create a Volume: Format it with the Btrfs filesystem to take advantage of features like snapshots and integrity checking.
• Enable Encryption (if needed): If you encrypt your data, be sure to safely store the encryption key off-device (e.g., Google Drive, a secure vault).
• Schedule Regular Data Scrubbing:
  • Scrubbing finds and repairs silent corruption.
  • Set it to run every 3 months, ideally overnight.
• Enable Scheduled S.M.A.R.T. Tests:
  • Quick test monthly.
  • Extended test every 6 months.

Step 2: Optimize Power Settings

Go to Control Panel → Hardware & Power → General. To protect your NAS during outages and optimize drive usage:

• Restart Automatically After Power Failures
• Set HDD Hibernation: Configure drives to hibernate after 3 hours of inactivity. Disable Advanced Hibernation, which can cause issues with some drive models.

Step 3: Lock Down Security

Even for home networks, a NAS needs proper hardening:

• Enable Adaptive Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) for admin accounts.
• Turn on Account Protection to lock accounts after multiple failed logins.
• Activate Auto Block and DDoS Protection.
• Create a new administrative user and disable the built-in admin and guest accounts.
• Tighten File Services:
  • Minimum SMB version: SMB 2.
  • Disable NTLMv1 authentication.
  • Disable AFP, NFS, and FTP (unless needed). Prefer SFTP if you need file transfer functionality.
• Turn off UPnP: Avoid automatic port forwarding for security reasons.

Step 4: Set Up a Solid Backup Strategy

A Synology NAS gives you great flexibility for backups, but it’s crucial to plan carefully.

Stick to the 3-2-1 Backup Strategy:

• 3 copies of your data
• 2 different types of media
• 1 off-site backup

Backup planning depends on your data size:

Setting Up Local Backups

1. Install Hyper Backup and exFAT Access.
2. Format external drives via Control Panel → External Devices.
3. Set up Hyper Backup tasks:
   • Use multi-version backup to keep historical versions.
   • Include all shared folders and application settings.
   • Schedule daily backups.

Step 5: Configure Snapshots for Protection

Snapshots allow you to roll back to previous versions of files almost instantly.

Setup steps:

• Install the Snapshot Replication package.
• Schedule Snapshots:
  • Take snapshots every 2 hours.
  • Enable immutable snapshots to protect against ransomware attacks.
• Set a Retention Policy:
  • Keep hourly snapshots for 7 days.
  • Keep weekly snapshots for 30 days.

Step 6: Enable Remote Access (with Caution)

QuickConnect provides a simple remote access solution without complex router setups.

Setup:

• Enable QuickConnect via Control Panel → External Access.
• Create strong user passwords.
• Enable MFA for all users with admin access.
• Keep the default admin account disabled.

Step 7: Configure Family Sharing

Once your NAS is ready, it can also act as a private family cloud!

Applications:

• Synology Drive for files and documents.
• Synology Photos for organizing and sharing pictures.

Configuration steps:

1. Create a Family Group:

   1. Users & Groups → Create Group → Family

2. Enable Home Folders:

   1. Users & Groups → Advanced → Enable User Home Service
   2. Hide the homes folder to keep things tidy.

3. Create Shared Folders:

   1. Create a Family shared folder with appropriate permissions.

4. Set Up Synology Photos:

   1. Enable Shared Space.
   2. Give full access to the Family group.

5. Set Up Synology Drive:

   1. Enable Family and Photos as team folders.
   2. Install Synology Drive clients on each device.

6. Protect Data:

   1. Enable snapshotting for shared folders just like your own data.

7. Remote Access for Family:

   1. Enable QuickConnect for Synology Drive and Photos apps, limiting full admin exposure.

Quick Setup Checklist

Use this checklist to quickly walk through your Synology NAS setup without missing critical steps.

Disk Configuration:

• Create a Storage Pool (RAID 5 or SHR).
• Perform full S.M.A.R.T. drive check.
• Create Btrfs-formatted volume.
• Enable encryption (store keys securely).
• Schedule data scrubbing every 3 months.
• Schedule monthly quick and bi-annual extended S.M.A.R.T. tests.
• Set up task to auto-empty Recycle Bins after 3 days.

Power Settings:

• Enable automatic restart after power failure.
• Set HDD hibernation to 3 hours (disable advanced hibernation).

Security Hardening:

• Create new admin user and disable default admin and guest.
• Enable MFA, Account Protection, and Auto Block.
• Set SMB minimum version to SMB2 and disable NTLMv1.
• Disable unused services (AFP, NFS, FTP unless SFTP needed).
• Turn off UPnP on router.

Backup Strategy:

• Plan 3-2-1 backup setup (local + external + cloud for critical data).
• Install Hyper Backup and configure daily backups.

Snapshots:

• Install Snapshot Replication.
• Enable 2-hour snapshot schedule.
• Configure retention: 7 days hourly, 30 days weekly.

Remote Access:

• Set up QuickConnect (only for apps, not admin panel).
• Enforce strong passwords and MFA for remote accounts.

Family Configuration:

• Create Family group and users.
• Set up Drive and Photos with shared folders.
• Protect shared folders with snapshots.

Best Practices for Managing Your Synology NAS

1. Treat Your NAS Like a Critical Server Secure it properly, back it up, and monitor it regularly—even if it’s just for personal use.

2. Backup Your Backups Snapshots aren’t backups. RAID isn’t backup. Always have separate, independent backups.

3. Monitor Regularly Review health checks monthly—SMART status, backup logs, disk temperatures, and system updates.

4. Minimize Remote Exposure Only expose what’s absolutely necessary to the internet. Prefer VPN access when possible.

5. Document Everything Keep a log of your configuration details, encryption keys, and backup schedules for future troubleshooting.

Final Thoughts

A properly configured NAS can be a powerful part of your homelab, providing resilient, private storage and cloud services for both personal and professional use. While it’s not the only option out there, Synology offers a flexible, reliable platform that’s easy to grow with over time.

Taking the time to get the basics right—disks, security, backups, snapshots, and remote access—ensures your NAS serves you well for years to come.

Happy engineering!