How to Use Synology Drive in the Homelab: Part 2

In the first part of our Synology Drive guide, we explored an overview of Synology Drive and its benefits as a self-hosted cloud solution for homelabs. We then walked through the installation and initial configuration of Synology Drive Server. In Part 2 we will now configuring Synology Drive Server ensuring that your NAS is ready to manage file synchronization and sharing.

• Part 1: Overview of Synology Drive and Synology Drive Server Installation
• Part 2: Configure Synology Drive Server
• Part 3: Configure Synology Drive Client

Configure Synology Drive Server

When you open Synology Drive Admin Console for the first time and go to Team Folder you will see a red “User home disabled” status information.

By default, User Homes are disabled in DSM. If we want that every user can have his private space under Synology drive, we need to enabled user home service first.

Enable User Home service

To enable user home service we need to open Control panel and go to User & Group (1) – Advanced (2) – Enable user home service (3). We also need to select where the homes share get’s created.

Enabling the User Home service creates two new folders in File Station.

• home: Is the private “home” folder for each nuser to store personal data and is a link to /homes/USERNAME.
• homes: Is the folder including all “home” folders. This folder is only visible for user in the administrator group.

We can also see that under Synology Drive Admin Console – Team Folder the My Drive (home) has now Status enabled.

Using the Synology Drive WebClient

Click Synology Drive in the Synology start menu to open the Synology Drive Web Client. It’s like the same experience as using Dropbox or Google Drive. When a user access the Webclient for the first time you get the option to download the Desktop o Mobile Client.

For now we just want to see what you can do with the webclient. You have multiple options in the client but the most important are “My Drive” and “Team Folder”. In “My Drive” you will see all personal files uploaded either through the client, the Desktop client and uploaded to the home directory directly on the Synology NAS.

The “Team Folder” displays everything enabled in the Synology Drive Admin Console. In this example, it appears empty because no folders are currently enabled.

Enable folders for Team Folder

Enabling one or multiple folders for the Team Folder is really easy. Go to Synology Drive Admin Console – Team Folder and select the existing folder you want to show up in Team Folder. For this case I created several folders (finance, management and shared).

By default, the system enables version control and sets it to a maximum of 8 versions (adjustable between 1 and 32) with a 30-day version rotation setting. That means everytime you change a file it creates a new version up to 8 versions. When the system creates the 9th version, it automatically deletes the oldest version. If only five versions exist but 30 days pass, the system removes any version older than 30 days at midnight on the 31st day. While versioning is not a true backup solution, it helps recover accidentally deleted files or restore previous versions when needed.

Keep in mind that if you delete a file from the My Drive folder, it moves to the Synology Drive Recycle Bin. Once the bin is emptied, you won’t be able to restore the file through versioning. Similarly, deleting files from a Team Folder moves them to the Team Folder Recycle Bin. This Bin is only accessible by administrators.

When enabling folders for Team Folder you can also enable “Restrict Downloads” and / or Watermark. You can find more infos about these two features here.

After you click Ok, the selected folder (in our example finance) is now available to everybody who has permission to that folder. You will still manage folder permissions under Control Panel → Shared Folder.

Activate Advanced features

To active “Remote Wipe”, “Restrict Download” and “Watermark” you need to go to Synology Driver Admin Console – Advanced Features and Activate the features there.

Conclusion

With Synology Drive Server fully configured, you now have a personalized cloud solution with “My Drive” for private storage and “Team Folders” for seamless collaboration. This setup ensures efficient file organization, controlled access, and secure synchronization across all devices. In part 3 of this guide we will configure Synology Drive Client for Windows for optimal file synchronization to give you full control over your data.