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+--- Thread: use 1817 as back up (/showthread.php?tid=12555)
use 1817 as back up - Enquiries - 12-11-2025
Hello Sir,
I have a 1821+ and want a simple local back up for it. I was thinking about an external 8 bay enclosure. Simple and not expensive. Now a friend has an old 1817. Is this a better option in my case or does not add more? Also I read to 1817 does not have btrfs. I read on the synology website that this is important for a back up. Does it matter for me?
So is it better to use the old 1817 with no btrfs as a local back up plan or is a cheap external enclosure enough and more simple?
Thank you for your advice!
Jonas
RE: use 1817 as back up - ed - 12-11-2025
Thanks for the message. In your situation the DS1817 can work as a local backup target, but there is one thing to keep in mind. Some of the Synology native backup tools expect the destination to support Btrfs in order to give you full versioning and snapshots. Since the DS1817 does not have Btrfs, a few of those features will not run in their preferred mode.
That said, you can still back up to it without trouble by using rsync or other file level methods. Those do not rely on the file system on the destination, so the lack of Btrfs is not a blocker. For a simple off device copy of your data, the DS1817 is still a step up from a basic external enclosure because you get network access, scheduling, alerts, and more visibility into the health of the backup target.
If you want the most Synology style experience with snapshot replication and full point in time restore, then a Btrfs based unit would be ideal. If you only need a clean second copy of your files, rsync to the DS1817 will work reliably.