backup against ransomware

[jeremyclark]

Glad you’re loving the YouTube channel and your TS-410E—great choice! A video on securing data against ransomware is a solid idea; I’ll pass that along. For now, let’s tackle your backup setup.
Your plan—2 volumes on one 2TB SSD for you and your wife’s Time Machine backups, then a deduplicated backup on the other 2TB SSD—has potential but needs tweaking to really protect against ransomware. Here’s my take:

• Ransomware Risk: If ransomware hits your Mac and encrypts or deletes the Time Machine volumes, it could also wipe the dedupe backup if it’s online and accessible. Having both drives in the same NAS might not be enough separation.
  
• Better Setup: Use one 2TB SSD (Volume 1) for Time Machine backups (split it into two 1TB volumes for you and your wife). Then, configure the second 2TB SSD (Volume 2) as a snapshot reserve or offline backup. Enable block-based snapshots on Volume 1—the TS-410E supports this—and replicate them to Volume 2 with QNAP’s Snapshot Replica. Snapshots are ransomware-resistant since they’re read-only and separate from the file system.
  
• Deduplication: You can enable inline deduplication on Volume 2 via QuTS hero (switch from QTS if you’re on it—needs 8GB RAM, which the TS-410E has). This saves space but isn’t critical for safety.
  
• Encryption: Turn on AES-256 volume encryption for both volumes in QTS/QuTS hero. It’s hardware-accelerated on the TS-410E, so no performance hit, and it keeps data safe if the NAS is physically stolen.
  
• Volume Sizes: 1TB each for Time Machine should work if your Macs don’t exceed that. Check your current backup sizes in Time Machine prefs to confirm. Volume 2 can stay 2TB for snapshots and dedupe storage.
  
• Extra Layer: For max protection, back up snapshots to an external USB drive (via USB 3.2 ports) and disconnect it when done. Ransomware can’t touch offline storage.
  

This setup ensures that even if Time Machine files get trashed, you’ve got snapshots and an offline copy to recover from. No PayPal needed—happy to help a fellow NAS fan! If you’ve got more questions (encryption setup, etc.), just holler.