How to Easily Backup Buffalo NAS to External Hard Drive

What Is Buffalo NAS?

Buffalo NAS is short for Buffalo network-attached storage which is a sort of data storage device. They can easily provide secure and reliable centralized storage and backup for your small office, business, or home needs.

These devices can be modified into miniature general purpose Linux-based computer with various series, such as LinkStation, TeraStation, Kuro Box, Linux community, Uses, Gallery, See also, Reference.

Among them, the LinkStation and TeraStation are intended for the general public. The Kuro Box is intended for expert hackers as a cheap platform for Linux development.

Why Backup Buffalo NAS to External Hard Drive?

Since Buffalo NAS is a very popular storage device in the worldwide, thus many users use it to store data. Meanwhile, the need to backup Buffalo NAS to external hard drive is increasing. Here we summarize the most common reasons for this operation:

Easy and Fast file transfer: It allows you  to save and transfer files much faster in a very short time amd retrieve the previous files very easily. And for administrator, it acts as a complete and standard platform. 

Gain big capacity: Buffalo NAS can support Redundant Array of Independent Disks (known as RAID) by holding plentiful disks, and you can connect these appliances for storage expansion.

Avoid data loss due to power loss or machine failure: You are mainly allowed to run on Linux file system and retrieving or recovering files or folders from the system becomes complex once power loss or machine failure appears. In this case, you need to ask professional data recovery software for help, or you can not access any Buffalo NAS device. 

Best free Buffalo backup software - AOMEI Backupper Standard

To backup Buffalo NAS to external hard drive, you need the best free Buffalo NAS backup software. AOMEI Backupper Standard is a great choice due the following advantages:

• All-in-one backup software for Buffalo NAS. You can choose to backup files, partition or disk on the Buffalo NAS. And it works well for system backup.
• Backup all kinds of NAS devices. Except for Buffalo, you still can use it to backup Synology NAS, QNAP NAS, etc.
• Backup files continuously, even only changes. You can backup files with Daily, Weekly, Monthly frequencies. And usually, this software backup only changed files with Incremental Backup for a scheduled task.
• Backup files without booting into Windows. You are capable of creating bootable USB or CD/DVD with this software, boot from it and then backup files in the recovery environment.

All the operations are based on a software with graphic user interface, you can download it to have a try! It applies to Windows 11/10/8/7/XP/Vista. For server users, try AOMEI Backupper Server.

How to backup Buffalo NAS to external hard drive step by step 

Backing up to NAS is a good way to protect your data, but there is a possibility the NAS will run into issues. Thus, you need to backup Buffalo NAS to external hard drive for double insurance. This further decreases the risk of losing data.

Please prepare an external hard drive and connect it to your computer. Then, follow the steps below carefully:

Step 1: Launch AOMEI Backupper Standard, and enter the main page, select File Backup unde the Backup tab.

Step 2. Click Add Folder or Add File to select files or folders on the Buffalo NAS.

Then, choose Share/NAS in the pop-up window.

Afterward, click Add Share or NAS Devices, type display name, network path, user name, password and click OK to add the Buffalo NAS. Then, select one or more subfolders you want to backup.  

Step 3. Select the external hard drive you plug into ahead of time and rereive the backup image. Then, click Start Backup to backup Buffalo to external hard drive.

This only backup files or folders currently on the Buffalo NAS. If you make any changes to it, you need to backup gain or set Schedule Backup to backup changes automatically. You can choose among Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Event trigger, and USB Plug in. The last two premium features are available on the professional version.

By default this software will create one full backup and 6 incremental backup if you set a scheduled backup task. This may result in backup disk full issue in the long run, thus it's suggested to enable Backup Scheme and delete backup file automatically. You have 3 options, By quantity,  By time, By daily/weekly/monthly. You need to upgrade now (5% off for one computer) before using it. 

And the incremental backup has high requirement for recovery while differential backup is much easier. For differences between them, learn my previous article: Incremental or Differential Backup.

Besides, you still can enable email notification after the task finished. Comment, split, compress the backup image, or select a backup mode, etc. 

Now, you may have a copy of your files on the Buffalo NAS and then you can restore files from backup at any time. You don't need to worry about data loss anymore. 

Summary

You can easily backup buffalo NAS to external hard drive with Buffalo NAS backup utility - AOMEI Backupper Standard. And you can make it run automatically by enabling the daily, weekly, monthly schedule backup and backup only changed files by default. Also, if you want to access your files at any time, you can choose to use File Sync feature. 

In its advanced edition, you can enjoy safer backup methods - Differential Backup and delete old backup images automatically with different cleanup methods. To deploy image to multiple computers, you need to use image deploy tool in the technician or TechPlus edition. For differences betweem them, learn more in the edition comparison page.