A Synology NAS is a great first line of defence for your data — but a NAS in the same building as your computers is still one fire, flood or burglary away from total loss. Synology's own Hyper Backup app can send versioned, encrypted backups of your NAS straight to Z1 Storage over the S3 API, completing your off-site leg of the 3-2-1 backup strategy.
Z1 Storage settings at a glance: Server address: s3.z1storage.com | Signature version: v4 | Access keys: from your client area
Prerequisites
- A Synology NAS running DSM with Hyper Backup installed from Package Center
- A Z1 Storage account with a bucket created for your NAS backups, plus your access key and secret key
Set up the backup task
- Open Hyper Backup and click + → Data backup task.
- Choose S3 Storage as the backup destination.
- Create the destination with these settings:
- S3 Server: select Custom Server URL
- Server address:
s3.z1storage.com - Signature Version:
v4 - Access Key and Secret Key: your Z1 Storage keys
- Bucket name: select the bucket you created
- Directory: a folder name for this NAS, e.g.
synology-office
- Select the shared folders and applications to back up.
- Configure the schedule — nightly backups outside office hours work well for most sites.
- Enable client-side encryption when prompted and choose a strong password. Keep the password (and the exported key file) somewhere safe: without it, an encrypted backup cannot be restored.
- On the rotation settings, enable Smart Recycle (or a custom scheme) so Hyper Backup keeps a sensible set of daily, weekly and monthly versions rather than an ever-growing archive.
- Apply, then run the first backup. The initial run uploads everything and can take a while — subsequent runs are incremental and only transfer changes.
Verify and restore
- Use Backup Explorer in Hyper Backup to browse versions and restore individual files or folders.
- Test a small restore after the first backup completes — a backup you have never restored from is a hope, not a plan.
- Hyper Backup's integrity check can be scheduled to detect silent corruption early.
Why Z1 Storage for your NAS?
Your backup data stays in South Africa (POPIA-friendly, low latency, full-line speeds), uploads are free, and you pay a flat R0.30/GB/month with API calls included — predictable costs that suit always-on NAS backup schedules. Sign up and test with your first 10GB free.