Guide

How to back up a Mac to a UGREEN NAS

UGREEN is a newer name in home NAS, and its boxes run UGOS. If this is your first NAS, here's the whole picture: setting up a shared folder, mounting it on your Mac, and choosing between Time Machine and a continuous mirror.

Updated August 9, 2026. Menu labels vary by UGOS version — the steps below describe the general flow.

Quick summary

If this is your first NAS, here's the short version. Time Machine is built into macOS and keeps versioned backups, but it needs UGOS's Time Machine-compatible shared folder option turned on first. A continuous mirror tool like ThirdCopy is the simpler of the two to understand — it just keeps a folder on the NAS that matches a folder on your Mac, in ordinary files you can open from Finder, kept current automatically with no restore process involved. Plenty of people end up running both: Time Machine for whole-system version history, a mirror for a fast, always-current copy of what matters most.

Set up the UGREEN side

UGREEN's NAS units run UGOS (or UGOS Pro on higher-end models) — the software you manage everything through, in a web browser. Before your Mac can back up to it, set up a place to put the files and a login for just that place:

Create a shared folder. In UGOS's file management or shared folder settings, create a new shared folder dedicated to backups.
Create a user account scoped to that folder. In UGOS's user management settings, set up an account with access to just that shared folder, rather than backing up as the main admin account — a good habit on any NAS, not just UGREEN's.
Confirm SMB / network file sharing is enabled. Check UGOS's network services settings. This is usually on by default, but if the share doesn't show up on your Mac later, this is the first thing to check.
If Time Machine is the goal, use UGOS Pro's Time Machine-compatible folder option. Make sure UGOS is fully updated first — Time Machine-over-SMB support has been an area of active improvement across NAS operating systems generally, UGOS included, so a current version gives you the most reliable result.

Mount the share on your Mac

With the UGREEN side set up, connect to it from your Mac:

In Finder, press Cmd+K (or go to Go → Connect to Server).
Enter smb:// followed by your UGREEN NAS's IP address or local hostname, then a slash and the shared folder name — for example smb://192.168.1.40/MacBackups.
Sign in with the account you created, and save the password to your keychain so you're not asked again on every reconnect.
Once mounted, it should also show up under Finder's Network sidebar going forward.

Option A: Time Machine to your UGREEN

Open System Settings → General → Time Machine → Add Backup Disk, and select the UGREEN share. It'll only appear if the shared folder was set up as Time Machine-compatible in UGOS first.

One thing worth knowing before you set this up: Time Machine backup over the older AFP protocol is deprecated, and Apple has said it won't be supported starting with macOS 27. That's one less decision for a new NAS owner, not a complication — set everything up over SMB from the start, which is what current UGOS versions use for Time Machine shares anyway.

Option B: a continuous mirror with ThirdCopy

Time Machine isn't the only option, and for a lot of people it isn't even the simplest one. A continuous mirror keeps a folder on the NAS that's just your files — no backup-disk container, nothing you need Time Machine's interface to get into. ThirdCopy's setup is three steps, pointed at the UGREEN share you mounted above:

Pick folders. Documents, Desktop, and Pictures are a reasonable starting set for most people.
Pick the destination. Select the mounted UGREEN share. ThirdCopy writes into its own subfolder there, never the share's root.
Pick a schedule. Continuous is the default — ThirdCopy watches your folders and backs up shortly after something changes. Scheduled options (hourly, daily, weekly, manual, or specifically when the destination connects) are available if you'd rather customize it.

That last option is worth knowing about if your NAS isn't always mounted or powered on: ThirdCopy skips a run rather than reporting a failure when the destination isn't reachable, and catches up automatically once it reconnects.

A quick note for first-time NAS owners

Before you settle on Time Machine, a mirror, or both, it's worth understanding the actual difference, because they don't behave the same way when you go looking for a file later. A mirror means your NAS has a folder that looks exactly like a folder on your Mac — open it in Finder, and there are your files, plain and browsable, from any device on the network. Time Machine means your NAS is a backup disk with version history inside a format only Time Machine's own interface knows how to browse and restore from. Neither is "better" outright — they answer different questions — but knowing which one you're looking at before you need it saves a confusing moment later. The mirror vs. sync vs. clone guide goes into this in more depth if you want the fuller picture.

Questions

Does UGREEN NAS support Time Machine?

Yes. UGOS Pro, UGREEN's more full-featured NAS software, includes a Time Machine-compatible shared folder option. Make sure UGOS is fully updated before setting it up — Time Machine-over-SMB support is an area every NAS vendor has been actively improving, and a current version gives the most reliable result.

What is UGOS?

UGOS (and UGOS Pro on higher-end UGREEN models) is UGREEN's own NAS operating system — the web-based software that runs shared folders, user accounts, installed apps, and network services on the device. It plays the same role Synology's DSM or QNAP's QTS plays on those brands' NAS units.

Is a UGREEN NAS good for a first NAS?

For most first-time buyers, yes. The core setup — a shared folder, a scoped user account, SMB file sharing, and an optional Time Machine folder — is the same handful of concepts every NAS brand asks you to work through, and UGREEN's interface is built with newer NAS owners in mind. The one thing worth doing before you buy any brand is reading a little about what a NAS backup actually is — mirror versus Time Machine versus sync — so you know which one to reach for once the box is set up.

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