Can Time Machine backup NAS (LAN attached) data

Question

Level 1

9 points

Can Time Machine backup NAS (LAN attached) data

Simple setup: A macOS PC (Tahoe 26.2, wired to LAN) with a NAS (Synology) also wired into the same LAN that has the data.

Time Machine seems set to

(a) only be able to define *where* a backup gets put

(b) only backup locally attached storage devices

My hope is that I can have TM do backups of the NAS (RAID5) held data to another NAS spindle (not RAID, just bog standard HDD that is plugged in to the Synology DS via USB).

Finder can see everything.

Disk Utility cannot because it can only see locally attached storage. Expected behaviour

Am I on a hiding to nothing or is there some cunning way to have TM backup the NAS data to the USB HDD.?

Many thanks in advance.

Posted on Dec 18, 2025 12:10 PM

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Answer 1

BobHarris

Level 9

56,819 points

Dec 18, 2025 3:41 PM in response to head4heights

I use a 2nd Synology NAS as a backup for my 1st Synology NAS. Synology provides the software to do this. The 2nd NAS does not need to be on your local LAN. It can be in a different location.

Synology can also backup to a cloud storage vendor, but since I have tried this, I do not have any details on that.

This happens independent of my Mac(s).

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Answer 2

iamshivam

Level 2

176 points

Dec 18, 2025 8:47 PM in response to head4heights

Yes, you’re basically on a hiding to nothing with Time Machine here.

TM is intentionally scoped to back up a Mac’s local filesystems only. Even if a NAS share is mounted in Finder, macOS treats it as a network volume and TM will skip it by design.

There’s no supported or reliable “cunning” workaround to make TM back up NAS data.

The correct approach is to let the NAS handle its own backups, on Synology, use Hyper Backup to push the RAID data to the USB HDD directly, or to another NAS or cloud. Then use Time Machine only for what it’s good at, backing up your Mac to the NAS, not the other way around.

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Answer 3

Dec 18, 2025 3:20 PM in response to head4heights

No, AFAIK you cannot backup a network drive with TM (only to a network drive). Only locally-connected drives can be backed up.

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