(upbeat music)
- Hi, my name is agent Taylor.
And today I'm going to show you
how to back up your computer
to a network attached storage, or a NAS.
Having a NAS on your network allows you
to have centralized storage
so multiple devices can access information saved on it.
Depending on the NAS,
you may even be able to set it up for external access
and the ability to access your files away from your home.
Backing up to a NAS is also an essential step
in a 3-2-1 backup plan.
The 3-2-1 backup plan allows you to have three copies
of your data and store the copies
on at least two different types of storage.
One of the copies would also need to be stored off site.
Also, if your NAS hasn't been set up
and you wanna do so, we have another tech tips video
that might be perfect for you.
There's a link in the notes below.
Okay, here's what you will need.
A computer, a NAS that is already set up,
and the backup software.
Today I'm going to be using this Dell laptop
with Windows 11, a Western Digital My Cloud Home
with four terabytes of storage,
and file history built into Windows 11.
All right, let's dive in.
When using the My Cloud Home
as a backup destination,
we first need to get the last six characters
of the serial number.
This information is located on the bottom of the NAS
and should be written down or captured with your phone.
A quick tip, before moving the NAS,
you'll want to make sure it is not powered on.
Just make sure the power is back up when you're done.
I already have our NAS set up on the network
and my computer can access it.
So we'll begin by configuring file history.
First, I will click on the magnifying glass in the task bar
to bring up my search.
Then I'll type in file history and click on File History
when it comes up on the list.
This will bring up the file history window
with all sorts of options for configuring it for backup.
You should know that the file history may be turned off
and we need to configure it to see our shared folders
on our NAS.
So click on the Select Drive option on the left side.
Now we will click on the Ad Network Location option
so that we can choose the folder on the NAS.
Also, network discovery and file sharing may be turned off.
So we will wanna click on the bar to change that.
Click on Turn On Network Discovery
and the file sharing option
to see shared items on the network.
If you get a prompt about turning on network discovery
for public networks, we don't wanna do that.
Instead, we wanna choose No, and make the network
that I am connected to a private network.
Great work.
Now in the folder box towards the bottom,
we need to type the path to the public folder
that is shared on the NAS.
This folder is the default location
that Western Digital supports for backing up the computer.
The path is \\mycloud-, then the last six characters
from the serial number, \public.
Just a tip, when typing out the link,
make sure My Cloud is typed out in one word,
even though it is typically two,
otherwise it might not work.
Now click on Select Folder.
You'll see that the folder will appear
in the list of available drives.
Click on the OK button that is toward the bottom.
Now you should be back at the screen
that shows that file history is off.
Click on Turn on,
and Windows will start backing up important files
in libraries, your desktop, contacts, and favorites.
You may not be familiar with libraries
but these are the folders such as documents,
pictures, music, and video.
And because file history in Windows 11
cannot be configured to include other folders,
you wanna make sure that you save important files
to these locations.
And that's it!
Your computer is now backing up to a NAS.
If you have other Windows 11 computers on your network,
you can configure them to back up to the NAS as well.
To learn about other ways to back up your files,
such as a USB drive or cloud service,
check out the links below.
Hopefully this video was helpful.
If it was, give it a Like.
If you have any questions,
leave them in the comments below.
Don't forget to subscribe to our channel
for more tech tips from Best Buy.
Thanks for watching.