Which SMB protocol is used by Time Machine?

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Which SMB protocol is used by Time Machine?

I have attached a Lacie 2TB hard drive to my Linksys router Model WRT3200ACM, intending to use it as a backup disk for my MacBook Air (Retina, 13-inch, 2020) using MacOS Big Sur Version 11.1. The hard drive has been formatted to "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)" with the Scheme "GUID Partition Map".

My router recognizes the hard drive is connected, and my MacBook Air sees that it is attached to the network; however, when I go to Time Machine preferences to choose this external drive as my location for Time Machine backups, this preference window does not show this disk as an option.

I was told by Linksys support that this router model only supports the SMB1 protocol. Can anyone tell me which SMB protocol is used by Time Machine because I suspect this is why the Time Machine preference window does not recognize this external disk.

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

MacBook

Posted on Jan 31, 2021 1:52 PM

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Answer 1

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Barney-15E

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116,170 points

Jan 31, 2021 5:42 PM in response to BCGregory

I have attached a Lacie 2TB hard drive to my Linksys router Model WRT3200ACM, intending to use it as a backup disk for my MacBook Air (Retina, 13-inch, 2020) using MacOS Big Sur Version 11.1.

That configuration is not supported by Apple. Good luck.

when I go to Time Machine preferences to choose this external drive as my location for Time Machine backups, this preference window does not show this disk as an option.

You would have to trick Time Machine that is a supported backup scheme.

I was told by Linksys support that this router model only supports the SMB1 protocol. Can anyone tell me which SMB protocol is used by Time Machine because I suspect this is why the Time Machine preference window does not recognize this external disk.

I think it can connect to any version, but it defaults to only File Sharing on 2 or 3. That would not affect connecting to your router. Just try to connect to the drive in the Finder. If you can connect in the Finder, then the version is not the issue.

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Answer 2

BCGregory Author

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Jan 31, 2021 5:49 PM in response to Barney-15E

Thank you for responding.

When the external drive is attached to the router, I can see it in Finder but not in the Time Machine preferences window as an 'available disk' to select when you choose where your Time Machine backups are to be stored.

I am no expert but from what I've been able to piece together, it sounds like it's only Time Machine that requires the SMB protocol and not the entire OS operating system. By this, I mean that I can see the drive in Finder and I can manually save files to it but Time Machine does not recognize it to use storage for backups.

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Answer 3

Barney-15E

Level 10

116,170 points

Jan 31, 2021 6:17 PM in response to BCGregory

Big Sur only uses SMB, now.

In order for Time Machine to use a NAS as a backup destination, the NAS has to support the Time Machine over SMB specification. I doubt that a router that is only using SMB1 would be capable of supporting the Time Machine over SMB specification.

Even if it did, it is not a supported backup disk for Time Machine.

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Answer 4

Feb 1, 2021 8:31 AM in response to BCGregory

If a router or NAS does not specifically say that it supports Time Machine,

it is a coin toss whether it will work and worse yet whether it will be

reliable, which is the whole point of backups. A backup that is not reliable

is no backup.

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Which SMB protocol is used by Time Machine?

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