How to Back Up Your NAS to the Cloud — Australian Guide

Backing up your NAS to the cloud is the most reliable way to protect your data from fire, flood, theft, and ransomware. But Australian internet speeds, data sovereignty concerns, and cloud storage costs make it more nuanced than vendors suggest. This guide walks through the entire process: which backup software each NAS brand provides, which cloud targets make sense for Australians, how much it actually costs per TB per month, and how to deal with NBN upload speeds that turn your first backup into a multi-day marathon. Whether you own a Synology, QNAP, or Asustor NAS, the core principles are the same.

For a broader overview of this topic, see our complete home backup guide.

Why Cloud Backup Matters for NAS Owners

A NAS protects your data from a single drive failure. RAID keeps you running when one disk dies. But RAID is not a backup. It does not protect against ransomware encrypting your shared folders, a house fire melting the unit, a power surge frying the motherboard and both drives simultaneously, or theft. If your NAS is your only copy, you are one incident away from losing everything.

Cloud backup solves the offsite problem in the 3-2-1 backup strategy. Your NAS pushes encrypted data to a remote data centre on a schedule. Automatically, without you remembering to swap USB drives or visit a relative's house. When disaster strikes, your data exists in a geographically separate location, untouched by whatever destroyed the original. For anyone who has spent years accumulating photos, business documents, or client files, this is non-negotiable insurance.

NAS Backup Software: Brand by Brand

Every major NAS brand includes cloud backup software at no extra cost. You do not need Veeam, Acronis, or any third-party licence. The built-in tools handle scheduling, encryption, versioning, and deduplication out of the box. Here is what each brand offers and how they compare.

Synology Hyper Backup

Hyper Backup is Synology's primary NAS-to-cloud backup tool, available on every Synology NAS running DSM 7. It supports a wide range of cloud destinations: Synology C2 Storage, Backblaze B2, Amazon S3, Wasabi, Google Cloud Storage, Microsoft Azure, and generic S3-compatible endpoints. Hyper Backup handles multi-version backups with block-level deduplication, meaning only changed portions of files are uploaded after the initial seed. Critical when you are working with Australian upload speeds.

Key features that matter for Australian users: client-side AES-256 encryption (your data is encrypted on the NAS before it leaves your network), bandwidth scheduling (throttle uploads during business hours, go full speed overnight), and integrity checking that verifies your backup is restorable. Hyper Backup also supports backup rotation, so you can keep 30 days of versions without cloud costs spiralling. A Synology DS225+ at $549 (Scorptec) or a DS925+ at $995 (Scorptec) both run Hyper Backup identically.

QNAP Hybrid Backup Sync (HBS 3)

HBS 3 is QNAP's all-in-one backup, restore, and sync application. It consolidates local backup, cloud backup, and cloud sync into a single interface. HBS 3 supports Backblaze B2, Amazon S3, Wasabi, Azure, Google Cloud, and dozens of other cloud and S3-compatible targets. QNAP's standout feature is QuDedup. Source-side deduplication that dramatically reduces the data volume before it leaves your NAS. For Australians on constrained NBN upload, QuDedup can reduce transfer sizes by 50-70% depending on file types, which translates directly to faster backups and lower bandwidth consumption.

HBS 3 also supports bandwidth throttling, scheduling, AES-256 encryption, and RTRR (Real-Time Remote Replication) for NAS-to-NAS scenarios. The QNAP TS-464 at $999 (Scorptec) is a popular 4-bay choice that runs HBS 3 with enough CPU headroom to handle encryption and deduplication without slowing down your other NAS tasks.

Asustor Backup Apps

Asustor NAS devices running ADM offer DataSync Center for syncing with cloud services and Asustor Backup Plan for scheduled backups. Cloud targets include Amazon S3, Backblaze B2, Azure, Google Drive, Dropbox, and OneDrive. While functional, Asustor's backup ecosystem is less polished than Synology's or QNAP's. The deduplication is less efficient, and the number of natively supported cloud targets is smaller. For users who need S3-compatible backup, Asustor handles it fine. For advanced features like source-side dedup or deep versioning, Synology and QNAP have the edge.

Cloud Targets: Which Service to Use in Australia

Not all cloud storage is created equal for NAS backup. You need an S3-compatible or vendor-integrated target that works with your NAS's backup software, offers reasonable per-TB pricing, and does not punish you with excessive egress (download) fees when you need to restore. Here are the practical options for Australian NAS owners.

Backblaze B2

Backblaze B2 is the go-to choice for most Australian NAS users. At $6 USD (~$9 AUD) per TB per month for storage, it is one of the cheapest S3-compatible options available. It works natively with Synology Hyper Backup, QNAP HBS 3, and Asustor's backup tools. The catch: Backblaze charges $0.01 USD per GB for downloads, so restoring 5TB would cost roughly $75 AUD. For disaster recovery where you are restoring everything, this is a meaningful cost. But for occasional file-level restores, it is negligible. Backblaze data centres are in the US and Europe; there is no Australian region.

Wasabi

Wasabi charges $7.99 USD (~$12 AUD) per TB per month with no egress fees. This makes it attractive for users who anticipate frequent restores or want predictable monthly costs. Wasabi has a data centre in Sydney (ap-southeast-2), which means lower latency and faster transfers for Australian users compared to US-based providers. The Sydney region also helps with data sovereignty requirements. If you need your backup data to stay within Australian borders, Wasabi's Sydney region is one of the few affordable options. Wasabi works with Synology Hyper Backup and QNAP HBS 3 via its S3-compatible API.

Synology C2 Storage

Synology C2 is tightly integrated with Hyper Backup. Setup is essentially one click from within DSM. Plans start at $9.99 USD/month for 500GB, scaling to $59.99 USD/month for 5TB. Per-TB, this is more expensive than Backblaze B2 or Wasabi, particularly at larger capacities. C2 data centres are in Frankfurt, Seattle, and Taipei. No Australian presence. The advantage is simplicity: zero configuration for S3 credentials, and Synology handles everything. The disadvantage is vendor lock-in. C2 only works with Synology NAS devices.

Amazon S3 and S3 Glacier

AWS S3 Standard costs roughly $23 USD per TB per month in the Sydney region (ap-southeast-2). Significantly more expensive than B2 or Wasabi for active storage. However, S3 Glacier Deep Archive drops to approximately $1 USD per TB per month, making it attractive for long-term archival backup you rarely need to access. The trade-off is retrieval time: Glacier Deep Archive restores take 12-48 hours and incur per-GB retrieval fees. S3 is best suited for businesses with large archival datasets or compliance requirements that mandate data residency in AWS's Sydney region.

Cloud Backup Cost Comparison

For a typical Australian home user with 1-2TB of important data, Backblaze B2 costs roughly $9-18 AUD per month. A small business with 5-10TB should budget $45-120 AUD per month depending on the provider. These are ongoing costs. Factor them into your annual budget alongside your NAS and drives.

The NBN Upload Problem

This is the section that matters most for Australians, and it is the one that vendors rarely talk about. Australian NBN upload speeds are the single biggest constraint on NAS-to-cloud backup. Your download speed is largely irrelevant. What matters is your upload, and on most Australian NBN plans, that number is painfully low.

Here is the reality:

• NBN 50 (Standard Plus): 20 Mbps upload. Roughly 2.1 GB/hour, or about 5 days to upload 1TB
• NBN 100 (Premium Evening Speed): 20 Mbps upload (same as NBN 50). Still 5 days per TB
• NBN 100/40: 40 Mbps upload. About 2.5 days per TB
• NBN 250: 25 Mbps upload. About 4 days per TB
• NBN 1000: 50 Mbps upload. About 2 days per TB

These are theoretical maximums. Real-world speeds are typically 80-90% of those figures. If you have 4TB of data to back up initially, you are looking at 10-20 days of continuous uploading on a typical NBN connection.

Tips for Managing NBN Upload Limits

Several strategies can help Australians cope with limited upload bandwidth:

• Prioritise what you back up. You do not need to back up your entire NAS to the cloud. Focus on irreplaceable data: photos, documents, financial records, client files. Media that can be re-downloaded (Linux ISOs, Plex libraries of ripped Blu-rays) does not need cloud protection.
• Use deduplication. QNAP's QuDedup and Synology Hyper Backup's block-level deduplication reduce transfer volumes significantly. Enable these features before starting your seed.
• Schedule bandwidth limits. Both Hyper Backup and HBS 3 let you cap upload speed during specific hours. Set full speed from 11pm to 7am, and throttle to 5 Mbps during the day.
• Consider a temporary NBN upgrade. Some providers allow plan changes mid-cycle. Upgrading to NBN 100/40 for one month during your initial seed, then dropping back, can save you a week of uploading. Check your provider's terms. Most allow instant plan upgrades.
• Use USB seeding where available. Backblaze B2 does not support USB seeding, but some enterprise providers do. If you have a very large dataset (10TB+), check whether your cloud provider can accept a shipped drive.

Encryption: Protect Your Data Before It Leaves Your Network

Never upload unencrypted data to the cloud. Every NAS backup tool supports client-side encryption, meaning your data is encrypted on your NAS before it travels across your internet connection and reaches the cloud provider. This means the cloud provider cannot read your files, and anyone who somehow gains access to your cloud storage sees only encrypted blobs.

Synology Hyper Backup uses AES-256 encryption with a password you set during backup task creation. QNAP HBS 3 similarly supports AES-256 client-side encryption. Write down your encryption password and store it separately from both your NAS and your cloud account. If you lose this password, your cloud backup is irrecoverable. This is by design. Store it in a password manager, a safe, or both.

Australian Data Sovereignty Concerns

Data sovereignty. Where your data physically resides. Matters for some Australian users and is legally required for others. If you are a medical practice, law firm, or any business handling sensitive Australian personal data, you may have obligations under the Australian Privacy Act 1988 (particularly Australian Privacy Principle 8) regarding cross-border data transfers. Even if you are not legally obligated, you may simply prefer your backup data to remain within Australian jurisdiction.

Your options for Australian-hosted cloud backup are limited:

• Wasabi Sydney (ap-southeast-2): The most affordable Australian-hosted option for NAS backup at ~$12 AUD/TB/month with no egress fees.
• AWS S3 Sydney (ap-southeast-2): More expensive (~$35 AUD/TB/month for Standard) but offers Glacier tiers for cheaper archival storage. AWS has strong compliance certifications (ISO 27001, SOC 2, IRAP).
• Azure Australia East/Southeast: Similar pricing to AWS. Supported by both Synology and QNAP backup tools via S3-compatible or native Azure endpoints.

Backblaze B2 and Synology C2 do not have Australian data centres. If data residency is a requirement, these are not suitable. Regardless of price.

Step-by-Step: Setting Up Cloud Backup on Synology

This walkthrough uses Synology Hyper Backup with Backblaze B2, the most common combination for Australian NAS users. The process is similar for other cloud targets. Only the credential setup differs.

1. Create a Backblaze B2 account and bucket. Sign up at backblaze.com, create a new B2 bucket (private, not public), and generate an application key. Note the keyID and applicationKey. You will need these in Hyper Backup.

2. Open Hyper Backup on your Synology NAS. In DSM, open Package Center, install Hyper Backup if not already installed, and launch it.

3. Create a new backup task. Click the + icon, select "S3 Storage" as the destination, and choose "Backblaze B2" or "S3-compatible" from the dropdown. Enter your B2 application key credentials and select your bucket.

4. Select folders and applications to back up. Choose the shared folders containing your critical data. You can also back up DSM application configurations (Synology Drive, Surveillance Station, etc.).

5. Configure backup settings. Enable client-side encryption and set a strong password. Enable transfer encryption (HTTPS). Set your rotation policy. Smart Recycle is a good default that balances version history with storage costs. Enable bandwidth control if you want to limit upload speed during specific hours.

6. Run the initial backup. Start the task and let it run. Monitor progress in Hyper Backup. The initial seed will take days. Do not interrupt it. Subsequent backups will only upload changes, typically completing in minutes to hours.

Step-by-Step: Setting Up Cloud Backup on QNAP

This walkthrough uses QNAP HBS 3 with Wasabi, a strong combination for Australians who want Sydney-hosted backup with no egress fees.

1. Create a Wasabi account and bucket. Sign up at wasabi.com, create a bucket in the ap-southeast-2 (Sydney) region, and generate access keys under your account settings.

2. Open HBS 3 on your QNAP NAS. Install HBS 3 from App Center if not already installed. Launch it and navigate to Backup & Restore.

3. Create a new backup job. Click "Create" then "New Backup Job". Select your source folders. Choose "Wasabi" or "S3-compatible" as the destination and enter your access key, secret key, and select the Sydney endpoint (s3.ap-southeast-2.wasabisys.com).

4. Configure job settings. Enable QuDedup for source-side deduplication. This is QNAP's strongest feature for bandwidth-constrained connections. Enable client-side encryption with AES-256. Set your schedule and bandwidth limits.

5. Run and monitor. Start the backup. HBS 3's dashboard shows real-time transfer speed, estimated completion time, and deduplication savings. Let the initial seed complete uninterrupted.

Test Your Restores. Seriously

A backup you have never tested is not a backup. It is a hope. At least once every three months, perform a test restore of a few files from your cloud backup. Verify that the files are intact, that your encryption password works, and that the restore process completes successfully. Both Hyper Backup and HBS 3 support file-level browsing and selective restore from cloud targets.

For a full disaster recovery test, restore an entire shared folder to a different location on your NAS. This confirms that your backup software, encryption credentials, and cloud provider access all work end to end. If your encryption password is wrong, you want to discover this during a test. Not during an actual disaster when your NAS is gone and your cloud backup is your only copy.

What About NAS-to-NAS Backup Instead of Cloud?

If you have a second NAS at a different physical location. A family member's house, an office, or a colocation facility. You can replicate directly between NAS units. Synology's Hyper Backup and Snapshot Replication both support NAS-to-NAS over the internet. QNAP's HBS 3 supports RTRR (Real-Time Remote Replication) for the same purpose. This avoids ongoing cloud storage fees entirely.

The downsides: you need to buy and maintain two NAS devices, the remote location needs power and internet, and you are still limited by NBN upload speeds between the two sites. For a small business with two offices, this can make sense. For most home users, cloud backup is simpler and cheaper than maintaining a second NAS. See our NAS backup software guide and NAS vs cloud storage comparison for a deeper look at these trade-offs.

Recommended NAS Models for Cloud Backup

Any modern Synology, QNAP, or Asustor NAS supports cloud backup. However, encryption and deduplication are CPU-intensive tasks. Arm-based budget NAS devices (Synology DS223j, QNAP TS-133) will handle cloud backup, but the encryption overhead slows transfers on already-slow Australian connections. An x86 NAS with an Intel or AMD CPU handles encryption in hardware, maximising your upload throughput.

For Australian home users who want solid cloud backup performance, the Synology DS225+ ($549, Scorptec) or the Synology DS425+ ($819, Scorptec) are strong choices. Both feature Intel Celeron processors that handle AES-256 encryption natively. On the QNAP side, the TS-464 ($999, Scorptec) with its Celeron N5095 and 8GB RAM handles HBS 3 with QuDedup comfortably. For businesses with larger datasets, the DS925+ ($995, Scorptec) offers 4 bays with expansion capability and strong Hyper Backup performance.

Remote Access and VPN Considerations

Cloud backup runs over the internet, which means your NAS needs outbound internet access. This typically works without any special configuration. Your NAS initiates the connection to the cloud provider, which works behind NAT and even CGNAT. Unlike remote access via VPN or QuickConnect, cloud backup does not require port forwarding or a public IP address. This is a significant advantage for Australians on NBN connections affected by CGNAT (Carrier-Grade NAT), which blocks inbound connections but does not affect outbound uploads to cloud providers.

If your NAS sits behind a corporate firewall or a router with strict outbound rules, ensure that HTTPS (port 443) traffic to your cloud provider's endpoints is allowed. Most home routers allow this by default.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

After years of seeing NAS cloud backup configurations go wrong, these are the mistakes that cost people their data:

• Backing up everything. Your Plex media library does not need cloud backup. Focus on irreplaceable data and save hundreds of dollars per year in cloud storage fees.
• Not encrypting. If you skip client-side encryption, your files sit readable on someone else's servers. Always encrypt.
• Losing the encryption key. Encrypt, but store the key somewhere you will not lose it.
• Never testing restores. A backup you have not tested is not a backup.
• Ignoring failed job notifications. Your backup may have silently stopped three months ago. Enable email or push notifications and actually read them.
• Using sync instead of backup. Cloud sync (like Synology Cloud Sync or QNAP Cloud Drive Sync) mirrors your folders. If ransomware encrypts your files, the encrypted versions sync to the cloud, overwriting your good copies. Use versioned backup, not sync, for data protection.
• No bandwidth scheduling. Running a full-speed upload while working from home will make your video calls, VPN, and web browsing unusable. Throttle during business hours.

Know your risk before relying on RAID alone: our Drive Failure Risk Estimator puts a percentage on the probability of a drive failure event in your array over a given period.

Related reading: our NAS buyer's guide.

Use our free Cloud vs NAS Cost Calculator to compare cloud storage against owning a NAS.

How long does the initial NAS cloud backup take on Australian NBN?

On a typical NBN 100 plan with 20 Mbps upload, expect approximately 5 days per terabyte of data. A 4TB backup takes roughly 20 days of continuous uploading. After the initial seed, incremental backups only upload changes. Typically a few GB per day, completing in minutes to a couple of hours. Using deduplication (QNAP QuDedup or Synology Hyper Backup's block-level dedup) can reduce transfer sizes by 50-70%.

Is Backblaze B2 or Wasabi better for Australian NAS backup?

Both are strong choices. Backblaze B2 is cheaper for storage (~$9 AUD/TB/month vs ~$12 AUD/TB/month), but charges for downloads when you restore. Wasabi has no egress fees and offers a Sydney data centre, making it better for users who need Australian data residency or plan to restore frequently. For most home users prioritising cost, Backblaze B2 is the better value. For businesses with data sovereignty requirements, Wasabi's Sydney region is the clear choice.

Can I back up my NAS to the cloud if I have CGNAT on my NBN connection?

Yes. Cloud backup uses outbound connections from your NAS to the cloud provider, which works perfectly behind CGNAT. CGNAT only blocks inbound connections (like remote access to your NAS from outside your network). Since your NAS initiates the upload, CGNAT is not a problem for cloud backup. This is one advantage cloud backup has over NAS-to-NAS replication, which can require port forwarding or VPN tunnels that CGNAT complicates.

Should I use cloud sync or cloud backup for my NAS?

Always use versioned backup, not sync, for data protection. Cloud sync mirrors your NAS folders to the cloud in real time. If ransomware encrypts your files, or you accidentally delete something, those changes sync to the cloud and overwrite your good copies. Versioned backup (Synology Hyper Backup, QNAP HBS 3 backup mode) keeps multiple point-in-time versions, so you can roll back to before the incident. Sync is useful for file access across devices, but it is not a substitute for backup.

How much does NAS cloud backup cost per month in Australia?

For a home user with 1-2TB of critical data, expect $9-24 AUD/month using Backblaze B2 or Wasabi. A small business with 5TB typically pays $45-60 AUD/month. These are ongoing costs. Synology C2 is more expensive per TB, while AWS S3 Glacier Deep Archive is the cheapest for archival data you rarely access (around $1.50 AUD/TB/month) but has slow retrieval times and per-GB restore fees.

Does my data stay in Australia if I use cloud backup?

Only if you choose a provider with an Australian data centre. Wasabi offers a Sydney region (ap-southeast-2), and AWS S3 has an ap-southeast-2 region in Sydney. Backblaze B2 stores data in the US and Europe only. Synology C2 uses Frankfurt, Seattle, and Taipei. For most home users, client-side encryption makes the physical location less critical. The cloud provider cannot read your encrypted data regardless of where it is stored. Businesses subject to the Australian Privacy Act or industry-specific regulations should use an Australian-hosted provider.

What happens if I lose my encryption password?

Your cloud backup becomes permanently inaccessible. Client-side encryption means neither the NAS vendor (Synology, QNAP) nor the cloud provider (Backblaze, Wasabi) can decrypt your data. This is a security feature, not a bug. Store your encryption password in at least two separate, secure locations. A password manager and a physical copy in a fireproof safe are a common approach. Test your password by performing a restore before you need it for a real disaster.