Problems with File Sharing on Mac mini (Late 2014)

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Problems with File Sharing on Mac mini (Late 2014)

hi everyone

I very rarely post here, but I'm completely stumped and I'm hoping someone can help. I'm reasonably au fait with the workings of Macs, but I'm no networking authority, and I'm only the office adminstrator by default!

I run a small office set up, with a (Late 2014) Mac mini used as a file server for six Macbooks connected via ethernet network or wifi. All the files being shared are on the Mac mini, but it's connected to a Thunderbolt Promise Pegasus RAID set up which we use to back up the whole office via Time Machine (and a few other files). File Sharing is the only Sharing functionality we use on the Mac mini. It is also running the Server app (5.8)

We've had problems for some time with the Mac mini running slowly after its been on for any length of time (including, but not limited to, Spotify loading very slowly if at all, and Firefox crashing (we use the server to play audio in the office), and the file sharing freezing, but recently the problem has got much worse. Usually, when the Mac mini starts up it works fine for a while, and then after a while, when someone on a client MacBook attempts to save a file to the server, the client MacBook's Finder freezes for ages, and sometimes requires a restart to unfreeze. All of the other clients lose the ability to connect to the server at that point, and we can't open it up again without a restart.

Once the network has "crashed", client MacBooks can't back up to the Pegasus, until a restart. The Mac mini seems to run OK throughout....

When the Mac mini is working OK, some of the computers in the office are able to back up over the network to the client backups folder on the Pegasus, via the Macmini, but a couple of the MacBooks (the ones not running the latest OS) can no longer see the Client Backups folder on the network in the Time Machine Preference pane. This seems to be a different but related problem. As such they are currently unable to back up, except to a separate extrernal HDD.

Other functions of the network, such as remote access to a shared Filemaker database, or access to other computers iTunes libraries, work fine, even after the file sharing functions freeze. I suspect this is because they are using different sharing protocols.

Here are some things I've tried on the Mac mini:

Running Disk Utility First Aid (no issues)
restart in Safe Mode
PRAM reset
SMC reset
unattaching all devices (drives)
OS reinstall via Recovery Mode (but not, as yet, a clean reinstall)
fixed and dynamic IP address on the Mac mini
In the Sharing preferences, I've tried turning sharing on and off, adding and removing shared folders, applying permissions to enclosed items, etc. Basically anything I can think of, and I've run out of options!

One thing to note is that of the four folders that are being shared, the main folder of files on the server has the option to share via smb and afp greyed out - so I can only share via smb, which seems odd. This function seemed to turn itself off overnight, because I definitely had it sharing via both protocols prior to that.

I think the problem must be with either the sharing set up/protocols, and/or a permissions issue.

This is wasting hours of my time, and office productivity. Any idea what's going wrong and how I might be able to fix it?

Thank you for your time!

Mac mini 2018 or later

Posted on Jun 19, 2019 7:37 AM

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Answer 1

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Tesserax

Level 10

151,893 points

Jun 19, 2019 10:33 AM in response to Bonirex

Which exact version of macOS is your 2014 Mac mini running? How about the other Macs at the office?

The macOS Server app has been pretty much deprecated and most, if not all of its services, are now built-in the newer macOS builds.

FWIW. For the file sharing protocol, Apple has been moving away from AFP and fully supports all variations of SMB. AFP is still the required protocol for Time Machine backups to a Time Capsule, but SMB 2.x+ is used with NAS devices for the same purpose.

Looks like you have already done an exhaustive list of troubleshooting so far, so the only other things I could add would be to:

Run Apple Diagnostics to see if there are any hardware-related issues with the mini.
Run an EtreCheck report and post it so that we can assist you with any other potential issues that are found.

Ref: Using EtreCheck to Troubleshoot Potential… - Apple Community

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Answer 2

Bonirex Author

Level 1

5 points

Jun 24, 2019 9:11 AM in response to Tesserax

hi Tesserax

thanks very much for the reply. I've been trying a few other things over the last few days, including setting up a new User account on the Mac mini, but the problem keeps re-occuring. Save a document to the server, and gradually the file server seizes up, and then sometimes freezes the Clients' Finder, until the server is restarted. The network back up disk attached to the server also becomes unavailable.

In answer to your questions:

the Mac mini is running OS 10.14.5, as are most of the Clients. It turns out one of them that wasn't running the latest version can use the existing backups once it had been upgraded. That's fine (although a bit weird, when they were working fine before).

I'm aware that the OS Server software is pretty minimal these days. Are you saying that I don't need to run Server at all now and should just uninstall it?

I've read around quite a bit about the sharing protocols, and I'm aware that smb is the preferred format these days - I was just testing the options available to me, as this seemed like a possible culprit.

Apple Diagnostics reports "No issues found".

EtreCheck, which I haven't used before, produces the attached report. This was run on the 'new' user account, after the problems had manifested themselves.

Any ideas?

thanks again

Etrecheck report

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Answer 3

Bonirex Author

Level 1

5 points

Jun 25, 2019 4:32 PM in response to Bonirex

I took the nuclear option and did a full Erase and Reinstall on the Mac mini, followed by a Restore of all my files from the Time Machine Backup. The folders with all the Files to be Shared from the server was apparently not Restored (it resided as a folder called Shared Items in the main Macintosh HD folder.

I tried to copy these filmes manually from the Time Machine folder on my RAID drive, but I'm being told there isn't enough room to copy the files. There are over 700GB of shared files, but now only 165GB of available space on the HD.

Apple Menu > About This Mac > Storage suggests there is only 165GB of free space on the 1TB HD, despte the fact that the Shared Items, which would take up the bulk of the HD, are not there.

How do I clear these apparently phantom files on the Mac Mini and move all my data back into place?

Thanks

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Answer 4

Bonirex Author

Level 1

5 points

Jun 25, 2019 5:12 PM in response to Bonirex

Further to this:

Apple Menu > About This Mac > Storage > Manage shows that 830GB of the 1TB HD is taken up by 'System', which is ridiculous. If I navigate to the System folder itself, it shows just under 10GB of content. What's going on here?

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Problems with File Sharing on Mac mini (Late 2014)

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