▶️ Watch a video of this tutorial on YouTube
If you have a Network Attached Storage (NAS) device, or storage attached to a Mac or PC, then you can use that storage as a backup destination.
- Open CCC Mobile.
- Select whether to back up Photos or Files.
- Tap Select a destination.
- Tap NAS on Local Network….
- Select a NAS from the list, or manually enter a NAS hostname.
- Tap Mount in Files app.
- Tap Connect in the "Connect to Server" dialog presented by the Files application.
- Authenticate when prompted.
- Tap the CCC Mobile navigation link in the top-left corner of the screen to return to CCC Mobile.
- Tap Continue at the bottom of the screen.
- Tap Browse in the navigation bar at the bottom of the screen to view all storage available to your phone or tablet.
- Select the NAS volume in the Shared section of the sidebar (you may have to scroll down).
- Navigate to a folder on that volume where you would like to store the backup (you can add a folder too).
- Tap Open in the top-right corner of the window to select the current folder as the destination.
- Tap Start Backup.
Logistics and performance
In contrast to the experience on a Mac or PC, the logistics of connecting your iOS device to NAS storage are far simpler than connecting to locally-attached storage. The performance, however, will vary. If both your iOS device and the NAS device are connected to your network via WiFi, your files will make two trips across the WiFi network – first to the WiFi access point, then to the NAS device. You should anticipate slower performance in this configuration. If possible, connect to a NAS device that is attached to your network via ethernet instead.
That two-trip performance penalty is felt most acutely when using the Verify copied files option. Adding a verification step requires CCC Mobile to read the copied files from the destination, then verify a checksum of those files against the source files. This requires another two trips for each file across the network – first from the NAS to the WiFi Access point, then from the access point to your iOS device. Again, you should anticipate relatively slow performance if these hops are all over a WiFi network.
If you have a large quantity of data to back up, we recommend making your backups to storage attached to a Mac, hosted via a CCC Diplomat:
Best: Backing up to Mac-attached storage hosted by a CCC Diplomat