How to Transfer Files From One Synology NAS to Another

Synology builds great NAS (Network Attached Storage) devices. For 9 years my DS1512+ worked like a charm. It still works, but since it reached the end of support it is time to move to another device – the DS1618+. The big question I had was how do I move the files from one NAS to the other? As it turns out, there is a surprisingly simple yet robust way to do that.

Log in to your new DiskStation and open the File Station tool. Click through the menu Tools / Mount Remote Folder / CIFS Shared Folder:

Click on any folder in the File Station to get the menu

This opens the connection window where you need to enter the path to your share on the old DiskStation, your username and password, and the location where you want to mount the share:

Enter your share and the credentials to access it

As soon as the remote network opens you can move files between your two DiskStations. I could move my 3 TB of RAW images in one go without any interruptions at more than 120 MB/sec. I did not expect that this works, but it did.

Should you need to move bigger shared folders or when this approach fails, you can invest a bit more in the preparation and try rsync or SSH/scp to move your files.

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