Western Digital NAS and Time Machine

Question

Western Digital NAS and Time Machine

I have a new WD MyCloudEx2 Ultra running Firmware Version : 5.17.107 (the latest). I am attempting to use it to backup an iMac24 (OS Big Sur 11.6) and a MBP (Big Sur also) on the same network.

I say "attempting" because I have had no end of problems with it:

the MCEx2U is sometimes not visible in the finder
"Backup now" in TM doesn't work - TM says it can't find the MCEx2U
TM shows a series of hourly backups, but I never hear the MCEx2U operating (it's close to my desk)
the MCEx2U has made some backups but only today's (and some of yesterday's) are reachable when TM is entered
when I select the oldest backup (c. 4 weeks ago), TM 'goes' to the right window, but nothing ever appears except a "loading" indicator, and the MCEx2U makes no noise
some of the back-ups indicated by the list on the RHS of the Time Machine window appear to be phantoms - they have no equivalent ‘pane’ in the central display of the folder which has been backed-up

The MCEX2U admin interface works as advertised and reports no problems.

I can access the "public' share on the MCEx2U as advertised, both on my network and over the web.

I have experienced these behaviours since I purchased the MCEx2U. I have Restored it once in a vain attempt to clear possible errors and 'start again'.

The WD website and 'help' functions are no help, and I have initiated a WD 'Incident' but no help there either. Apple simply requires SMB which WD say is provided by the MCEx2U.

This backup requirement is fundamental and straightforward, and was well solved by the Apple Time Capsule. Reading threads here and on the WD site, it seems there are a lot of people caught between the two suppliers.

Can anyone on the Apple side of the equation assist??

iMac 24″, macOS 11.6

Posted on Sep 25, 2021 9:42 AM

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Answer 1

Tesserax

Level 10

158,058 points

Sep 27, 2021 1:25 PM in response to georgefromsouthampton

In addition to Loner T's excellent comments, one tool that may prove helpful is to use a command in the Terminal app to monitor a TM backup in-process. That command is: sudo fs_usage -f -R filesys backupd

To use it, enter and run it in Terminal, then start a manual TM backup.

Alternatively, you can use a graphical interface app, like Mints from The Eclectic Light Company, to see those same results.

Ref: Time Machine 16: Reading a normal backup in Catalina using Mints - The Eclectic Light Company

FWIW, I've used this app numerous time to troubleshoot misbehaving TM backups as it helped narrow down where in the process it failed.

(Note: Although the article was written around macOS Catalina, it still holds true for Big Sur. If nothing else, it should give you a new found "appreciation" of what goes on in the background during TM backups.)

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Answer 2

Loner T

Level 9

59,536 points

Sep 26, 2021 8:19 PM in response to georgefromsouthampton

Is your iMac connected to the network via WiFi or Wired connection, or both? If the 'Share' is consistently visible, from teh NAS, but the TM disappears randomly, it indicates a buggy SMB implementation on the NAS. Do you know if the 'Share' is using NFS?

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Answer 3

Loner T

Level 9

59,536 points

Sep 28, 2021 8:32 AM in response to georgefromsouthampton

Can you post the output of

sudo tmutil destinationinfo

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Answer 4

Loner T

Level 9

59,536 points

Sep 25, 2021 10:30 AM in response to georgefromsouthampton

There are specific SMB version requirements. If you cannot see the MCEx2 periodically and/or randomly, you can see if the SMB requests from the Mac are being responded to by the MC. If you are handy with Wireshark, you can see what is happening between the Mac and the MC.

Also, do you have a NAS from a different vendor on your network, which behaves similarly?

I have asked the hosts to move this discussion to Time Capsule - Apple Community.

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Answer 5

Loner T

Level 9

59,536 points

Sep 30, 2021 1:19 PM in response to georgefromsouthampton

Your inability to connect via smb:// is indicative of the issues you will see for TM as well. This would also explain the erratic behavior you see during the backup with the various estimated time windows.

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Answer 6

Tesserax

Level 10

158,058 points

Sep 28, 2021 8:19 AM in response to georgefromsouthampton

The Mints app, I mentioned, can "backtrace" through your Mac's logs to provide previous successful/failed backups. Again, it may be worth a try.

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Answer 7

Loner T

Level 9

59,536 points

Sep 26, 2021 4:49 AM in response to georgefromsouthampton

Do you want to look at Wireshark traces to see what is happening between the client and the NAS?

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Answer 8

Loner T

Level 9

59,536 points

Sep 26, 2021 5:40 AM in response to georgefromsouthampton

In macOS Finder, under Network, do you see the MC? It should look similar to

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Answer 9

Loner T

Level 9

59,536 points

Sep 27, 2021 5:59 AM in response to georgefromsouthampton

I do not see a SMB setting. Looking at WD forums, it may require shell access to the NAS to setup SMB. AFP is a different animal. Has Time Machine ever worked on the MC?

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Answer 10

Loner T

Level 9

59,536 points

Sep 28, 2021 6:42 AM in response to georgefromsouthampton

If you need to verify that there are actual backups, from your Mac, if you connect/mount the MC, then you can check the MC for files similar to the following.

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Answer 11

Loner T

Level 9

59,536 points

Sep 25, 2021 4:28 PM in response to georgefromsouthampton

On my Mini, I have two destinations...

This is the locally-attached disk.

sudo tmutil destinationinfo 

Password:

====================================================

Name          : TCac2DISK

Kind          : Local

Mount Point   : /Volumes/TCac2DISK

ID            : EED6EB5E-159A-432F-A4B6-8DDD9F00CA3F

This is the SMB destination, hosted by a Mac mini.

> ==================================================

Name          : Shared Items

Kind          : Network

URL           : smb://sxxxxxxx@Macmini-i18-64._smb._tcp.local./Shared%20Items

Mount Point   : /Volumes/.timemachine/Macmini-i18-64._smb._tcp.local./D690566A-473C-406B-A849-991BF73F5C11/Shared Items

ID            : 726CA0A0-489A-48AB-B069-CBF77FCF11F5

This Mini server is connected via a TB3 connection to an OWC disk array.

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Answer 12

Sep 26, 2021 5:19 AM in response to Loner T

To be frank, when I bought the MCEx2U, I was hoping - nay, on the basis of WD advertising, expecting - to enjoy the connectivity and service I had from my (failed) Time Capsule.

Wireshark? I'm always keen to gain new skills, so I'll take a look, but I confess I'm basically a consumer-style computer person, so I might (!) find the water too deep.

Depressing that there are such complexities which discredit and demean both Apple and Western Digital.

Thank you for your interest.

p.s. now attempting to ** a MBP to the MCEx2U, but nil response from TM so far.

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Answer 13

Sep 26, 2021 3:07 PM in response to Loner T

Thanks again for your observations.

My network is very small - iMac24 and an MBP, and the MCEx2U of course.

I see the MCEx2U intermittently. I can't correlate its visibility with any other actions on my network or on my iMac. Sometimes it's there and the folders on it are visible, sometimes it's not, and I can discern no way of making it visible. I just looked in the finder - its not there. The Time Machine likewise has problems finding it - "back up now" never works, for example.

I've followed all the links I've been offered by Apple and WD - to no avail.

As you say, very poor product support, including by Apple. Both Apple and WD star that their products works with the other's, BUT their websites carry disclaimers that they cannot be responsible for the failures of the other's products. Why can't they partner with (say) WD so that they can each say that TM will work with NAS 'A' but not 'B' or 'C'? Maybe the reason is that Apple 1) don't think much of the NAS product AND 2) want to move users to the iCloud services model and its revenue stream.

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Answer 14

Sep 27, 2021 4:04 AM in response to Loner T

The iMac is on ethernet to the router.

The MCEx2U isn't consistently visible, let alone the TM ** Share.

Here's what the Admin UI says about the Network services settings of the MCEx2U:

Note that AFP is automatically ON if the MCEx2U is set up for TM backups (as stated in a pop-up when the mouse is over the "I" speech bubble).

Any observations welcome - thank you.

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Answer 15

Sep 28, 2021 2:42 AM in response to Tesserax

Thank you for your contribution.

My problem is that I cannot initiate a 'manual' "back up now". When try, TM spends c. 5 mins looking for the MCEx2U, then gives up suggesting I try again when the MCEx2U is available. I've just tried (again), and the MCEx2U has disappeared from the finder.

So I cannot even get to the start line of your suggested link - which, I'm slightly reluctant to say, tells me why I choose Apple (and WD (the irony!) products.

Incidentally, TM seems to actually do backups - there are several carried out overnight and yesterday in the 'list' on the RHS of the Enter TM screen, but as I've noted earlier, I never hear the MCEx2U fire up to do them so I have no confidence that they are real. Some of these BUs are clearly phantoms - TM try to go to them, offers the rotating sign and "Loading" for c. 20 secs, then reverts without further comment to a much later **. Also the TM Sys Prefs pane states that the latest ** was 6 days ago, even though the machine and the MCEx2U have been running continuously since then. The TM spec says that hourly, daily, and weekly BUs are kept - that too is not the performance I see either. All very 'counterintuitive'.

I do wonder why Apple persist with support of software for a key function - backup - which offers virtually no feedback to the user. Contrast that with Carbon Copy Cloner which reports each run intelligibly and also offers excellent user help/support. Incidentally, CCC does not offer the MCEx2U as a destination either.

There's something fundamentally weird here; if Apple wants people to use iCloud, why offer TM at all?

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