NAS Access in Catalina issues

I'm glad, I finally found this thread after a long search!

+1 to make Apple to fix this! It is not funny to relaunch Finder multiple times in the day! I run 10.15.4

Thanks to all who gave feedback here!

@Mike_App,

I fully support your proposal, here is my configuration (I have hopes with the upcoming Catalina upgrade):

• Catalina 10.15.4
• Synology DS218+
• 1 LAN used, directly connected to router (no switch)
• DSM Version 6.2.2-24922 Update 4 (Control Panel > Infos Center)
• NAS currently not opened to outside world
• 2 HD 4 To, Synology Hybrid RAID (SHR)
• I set a fixed IP on my router for Synology (192.168.1.57 / DNS 192.168.1.1)
• Packet Center installed:
  • Universal Search
  • Hyper Backup
  • File Station
• Network traffic: MacBook Air (2019) connected on an Elgato Dock Thunderbolt Pro 3 connected via LAN to a WiFi relay.

Fly_PetitPrince

PS: this night, first time that my TimeMachine did not work on NAS, usually I only encounter problems via Finder and TimeMachine always worked...

@raimond33,

Many of us encounter the same problems with our NAS systems in combination with Catalina, but not everyone.

Therefore the question is whether you would mind sharing your specifics, which might distinguish your setup from those who do not have these problems?

See examples above.

@Mike_App, Of sorry, yes I use the same login/password to access Web DSM (192.168.1.xx) than for Finder and connexion.

I did not store the creditential (login/password) in Apple Keychain to see if there were a difference, but no differences...

Fly_PetitPrince.

My motivation for this approach is at least two-fold:

(1) Learning from others whose NAS system is not showing the issues we are suffering from, so we can get hints about how to find better workarounds.

(2) Proving insight and input to Apple, so they have a chance to reproduce these issues within their test environment. No doubt that Finder still has some bugs. And as long as they only test against NAS systems that work fine, they would treat our issues as individual problems without taking accountability to fix potential issues within Catalina on their side. 

BTW, I strongly believe that Apple does care about NAS systems working on their products. At least the higher ranks. But where to draw the line between ‘standard usage’ and specific situations that worked well under Mojave?

@bsanders44

You probably hit the nail on its head as Apple had been invited several times to join the discussion but they didn't. From my point of view it would be a great opportunity for them to benefit from collaborating with this active group and the insights provided.

So, Apple, as mentioned many times before, please take action. Joining the discussion would be great as well.

And for all of us, please keep filing tickets with your hardware vendor as suggested by @bsanders44. This issue must be sorted rather sooner than later as it not only impacts NAS users.

I have what seems a very similar issue with an Apple to Apple connection. We are using a Mac mini with Catalina (10.15.4) as a local DNS and file server - we have experienced intermittent loss of DNS from other Mac clients on the local network (all now running Catalina) and this seems to be getting worse over time. Mostly the issue can be "fixed" by disconnecting the Wifi or ethernet connection on the client Mac and then reconnecting it - seems to find the DNS server again when this is done. As times goes on we seem to have do this more often and sometimes even this does not work.

I was going to discard our MacOS server and try using a NAS instead but after reading this thread I can see that we are likely to have the same sort of problems with that too.

After 15 years as a loyal Apple customer I am very close to the point of selling all our Apple devices and moving our business over to Windows or another alternative platform. Very frustrating.

Hi I have Catalina 10.5.5 and Synology nas TS-251+ firm ver 4.4.2 1302

I use AFP connection, I found the HD in the TM Backup

but it failed after some minutes

I have other 2 mac with Mojave and the backup works correctly

Did apple fix the problem?

Thank you

Franco

Not as far as i can see. It all depends on Finder's mood of the day. Sometimes things go as they should, sometimes not at all. Sometimes Finder works as it did in the past, sometimes only for a few hours or days. Then the issues come back.

From my perspective I still see these 3 main Finder issues in Catalina:

. Stability (freezing and ability to be relaunched)

. Performance (speed for typical processes, such as copying or viewing pictures)

. Consistency (getting same result when a certain task is being repeated)

And yes, it does affect the connection to my NAS system, but it goes beyond that. Sometimes viewing pictures in full screen via <alt><space> goes well and quick, but sometimes it takes 2-5 minutes to display the next picture. You never know up-front.

Nothing like I was used to getting from Apple. Now it feels just like any other buggy software ...

@Fly_PetitPrince

The Techarp "fix" does not work for me and most others. Have you tried restarting both your computer and your NAS? For most of us the issue recurs at some point, especially after restarting the NAS.

@exvo

I'm going to try bij Cemento's workaround and will post my results. My problems have been severe from this issue, and thus far nothing else has worked for me.

We need to very careful to qualify any potential fix or workaround as being a "possible fix" or "possible workaround" so as to not muddy the waters on this issue. Too many users (such as the Techarp writer) have tried something quickly, declared it a permanent and universal fix, and then forgotten to update when the issue recurs, or ignored those users for whom the fix didn't work.

This thread has, for better or worse, become the defacto document on this issue. In the off chance that Apple ever bothers to reengage with this issue, we don't want them to see inaccurate or unvetted "solutions", and then move on to some other issue. We also don't want to confuse users who are encountering this issue for the first time.

Until there is an approach that is verified by numerous users, for an extended period of time without recursion, we only have "possible fixes" and "possible workarounds". Let's continue to catalog them, test and monitor them, and report our results back to the group, but not declare a solution until we've thoroughly vetted it.

I have just installed the latest Version of Catalina 10.15.5 and the only improvement I see is that Finder does not keep crashing permanently when trying to connect to my NAS (QNAP). Connections to my network drives (SMB or AFP) still does not work !

It worked without any issues in Mojave! What have you done ?

I have just bought a brand new Mac Book Pro and I use this notebook to make a living. The fact that I can't use my NAS anymore at all is a disaster.

Here is what Apple support told me: Just go back to Mojave or try to completely reset your Mac and give up your TimeMachine Backups. Maybe it works. Also the issue is probably related to my NAS and I need to contact QNAP. They need to provide a fix. Problem solved for Apple. Wow.

This is an issue that Apple has to fix it ! Why can't you just admit that something went wrong when disabling the support for older SMB Versions ?

Otherwise I tend to believe the silly rumours that this is done on purpose to push your own cloud storage services.

Unfortunately, I only got a question mark when dragging the icon to the favourites and it is not clickable.

Even when not moving the shares directly. but using the link on my desktop instead.

Is there a trick to avoid getting the question mark?

@Datajack, @Cemento,

These instructions worked for me.

FYI: I do have multiple shares, all linked to the same Synology NAS device. Some shares are now accessible via the Side Bar under Favourites, while I left the others untouched. I’m curious whether this will make any difference.

Started texting now; will report back on next occasion.

I agree with you 100% @Cemento. The fact that this workaround improves my system's stability so much with so little effort seems to indicate that the root cause of the issue could be fixed relatively quickly and easily, if only Apple cared enough to do so.

At any rate, thank you for posting this workaround. It's incredible how much impact this issue was having on my everyday productivity. Not having to reboot at least once per day is wonderful.