TimeMachine backup to NAS
Discussion
I've used Macs for years now, and I've had the same Synology NAS for quite some time too. I use TimeMachine to backup, and for some time I just did that over the wireless LAN to the NAS. It worked fine for ages. I can't recall whether it was over SMB or AFP but one or the other. I definitely used SMB after some time as I recall that AFP was kind of deprecated as far as Apple was concerned.
Then, after quite some years the NAS backup method became a bit flaky and kept failing. I contacted Apple and they said yea... wireless backup to any NAS is unsupported, so you'll need to go and buy a disk to directly attach to the Mac. This royally pissed me off as it definitely felt not only a retrograde step in user experience, but also it meant additional cost. Nevertheless like a good customer drone I went and did as I was told and bought a disk.
Now, I keep getting disk errors, it reckons the disk is being disconnected, and so on. I check Apple's website for support info and there is NAS backup, mentioned again in big lights. So clearly it is now supported (again?). What the actual f
k is going on... I am fairly pissed off with Apple about this.
Anyone else been through this?!
Then, after quite some years the NAS backup method became a bit flaky and kept failing. I contacted Apple and they said yea... wireless backup to any NAS is unsupported, so you'll need to go and buy a disk to directly attach to the Mac. This royally pissed me off as it definitely felt not only a retrograde step in user experience, but also it meant additional cost. Nevertheless like a good customer drone I went and did as I was told and bought a disk.
Now, I keep getting disk errors, it reckons the disk is being disconnected, and so on. I check Apple's website for support info and there is NAS backup, mentioned again in big lights. So clearly it is now supported (again?). What the actual f
k is going on... I am fairly pissed off with Apple about this.Anyone else been through this?!
No, but Apple do talk a load of rubbish to suit their narrative ( get you to away ):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AirPort_Time_Capsule
'One of the key features of Time Capsule is the ability to back up a system and files wirelessly and automatically, eliminating the need to attach an external backup drive.'
I had two of these in the past, backups via wifi: worked.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AirPort_Time_Capsule
'One of the key features of Time Capsule is the ability to back up a system and files wirelessly and automatically, eliminating the need to attach an external backup drive.'
I had two of these in the past, backups via wifi: worked.
boxedin said:
No, but Apple do talk a load of rubbish to suit their narrative ( get you to away ):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AirPort_Time_Capsule
'One of the key features of Time Capsule is the ability to back up a system and files wirelessly and automatically, eliminating the need to attach an external backup drive.'
I had two of these in the past, backups via wifi: worked.
i think the weirdness started when they discontinued the airport line. The NAS OS had lots of options to emulate airport. Possibly this was the issue when apple decided airport was dead. Now the NAS makes no mention of airport, but touch wood I haven't had any issue backing up over wi-fi so far.... admittedly it's only done one full backup and a couple of incrementals. We shall see. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AirPort_Time_Capsule
'One of the key features of Time Capsule is the ability to back up a system and files wirelessly and automatically, eliminating the need to attach an external backup drive.'
I had two of these in the past, backups via wifi: worked.
Time capsule was always the most reliable but even they had a shelf life. I've used Synology and Western Digital NAS boxes as well over Wi-Fi and both worked, however after a few months you will inevitably get the "time machine needs to start a new backup" message when the sparseimage file corrupts. For this reason I run a cheap USB backup drive as well as a NAS backup.
Apple have been encouraging the use of iCloud for data storage anyway which although isn't the same as a true backups, for many people it's all the safety net that they need.
Apple have been encouraging the use of iCloud for data storage anyway which although isn't the same as a true backups, for many people it's all the safety net that they need.
I have a synology and backup over wire, no issues at all so there is likely something to do with the wifi element of the package.
How good is your wifi? Obviously from a connection perspective it isn't as reliable and power management can also play a big part in wifi management too so make sure you're not on some optimised power management thingy that is affecting your connections.
How good is your wifi? Obviously from a connection perspective it isn't as reliable and power management can also play a big part in wifi management too so make sure you're not on some optimised power management thingy that is affecting your connections.
Bikerjon said:
Time capsule was always the most reliable but even they had a shelf life. I've used Synology and Western Digital NAS boxes as well over Wi-Fi and both worked, however after a few months you will inevitably get the "time machine needs to start a new backup" message when the sparseimage file corrupts. For this reason I run a cheap USB backup drive as well as a NAS backup.
Apple have been encouraging the use of iCloud for data storage anyway which although isn't the same as a true backups, for many people it's all the safety net that they need.
classic apple really. We don't have a money spinning offering in that area now, so we'll make it not work properly for 3rd party solutions so people will be forced to move it all back into apple ecosystem and we can earn money again. Apple have been encouraging the use of iCloud for data storage anyway which although isn't the same as a true backups, for many people it's all the safety net that they need.
For an easy life I'd even consider it, if Apple were more granular and sensible in how they step the charge for iCloud space.
eeLee said:
I use TimeMachine on Synology. It works a treat for 3 MacBooks.
Do not use AFP, use SMB and have Bonjour on to allow it to be discovered. That's it.
that's what i have, and actually it's what i had before. Previously I was getting the message more and more frequently that a new full backup had to be created, and when i queried it with Apple they said over wi-fi timemachine was not supported and i had to go and buy a disk.Do not use AFP, use SMB and have Bonjour on to allow it to be discovered. That's it.
What model are you running this through?
I've had some pretty low end Synology units happily doing this. I've seen no errors. The only thing I can say is Tailscale on Synology is so slow, I could not use it to do the backup.
Also try mapping the device to the MacBook but I don't think that makes a difference, the wife's MBA is not mapped and gives no errors.
I've had some pretty low end Synology units happily doing this. I've seen no errors. The only thing I can say is Tailscale on Synology is so slow, I could not use it to do the backup.
Also try mapping the device to the MacBook but I don't think that makes a difference, the wife's MBA is not mapped and gives no errors.
I've got an old iMac and a MBP backing up via time machine to a Synology NAS without issues. It's been going ok for the last 3 years or so now. I seem to remember I had some sort of issue several years ago that was so bad I had to trash the backup and restart but it's just been doing fine ever since.
The iMac alternately backs up to my NAS partition and to a physical plugged in drive but the MBP only backs up to the NAS.
The iMac alternately backs up to my NAS partition and to a physical plugged in drive but the MBP only backs up to the NAS.
ok... the issues i was receiving with NAS were years ago... and Apple told me at that time it wasn't a supported route. I only posted the message to see if people were still seeing these types of errors now, as I can see it is now supported. I am dabbling with it, and in 24 hours it seems fine. I just don't want to hit the issue again where it keeps triggering the need to do a full fresh backup to NAS very regularly. Anyway from what I can see from comments, it at least works well for some now.
Works ok here too on a linux server, used AFP for years but moved over to SMB a while back, seems a bit more reliable. If it misses backups for a while then it needs a full one run.
Not sure if you can get into the raw config in Synology, I used settings from here: https://wiki.samba.org/index.php/Configure_Samba_t...
Not sure if you can get into the raw config in Synology, I used settings from here: https://wiki.samba.org/index.php/Configure_Samba_t...
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