Sequoia Time Machine Synology NAS keeps disconnecting

spoona wrote:

Well, in my case, it's neither an Apple bug nor a Synology one.

I use some anti-malware/anti-intrusion apps from Objective-See Foundation. I disabled both BlockBlock and LuLu and the issue went away. I'll be sure to pass on this info to Objective-See !

Add-on security apps have a very long history of introducing issues and errors and noise, yes.

Hi everyone,

As promised here is an update - and it *might* be fixed. My machine has been backing up reliably now for about 24 hours without issue.

I've had a couple of chats with Apple's support team here in Europe - and first of all - lovely people, really friendly and patient. It doesn't look like we've found a root cause for the failure, but on my setup it looks like the preferences files in the Time Machine sparsebundle might have been corrupted after the update.

My 'fix' was time consuming. Be warned.

After turning off Time Machine temporarily, I opened the sparsebundle in Synology DiskStation (it appears as just another folder), deleted the three .plist files in the sparsebundle, then closed the sparsebundle.

Restarting Time Machine and triggering a Time Machine backup caused the machine to generate a new sparsebundle - this took HOURS, but since completing the first backup the machine has been backing up regularly including when asleep.

I haven't tried it, but I assume deleting the sparsebundle entirely would have the same effect - but that felt pretty drastic. After the backup was completed and verified, I could delete the old sparsebundle.

Not sure why this worked and creating a new folder on the Synology a few days ago did not, nor do I know if this is a permanent fix - but I am making backups again.

HTH.

I had this problem too...

I found in "System Settings" -> "privacy and security" an entry for "Full Disk Access". Time Machine was not in it.

I added and enabled "Full Disk Access"

Time Machine is working!

I don't remember seeing this setting in sonoma.

I am running the final release of macOS 15 and fixed the issue by going to Apple > System Settings > Privacy & Security > Full Disk Access > toggle ON smbd. It seems macOS 15 disables the 'smbd' by default. The 'smbd' option provides filesharing and printing services using the SMB protocol which is what Synology is using to broadcast its file and folder shares.

The issue is the Private WiFi Address for a WiFi Connection.

My WiFi subnet was 192.168.4.0/24, but I was getting an IP Address of 192.168.5.63 when connected. I was not able to browse or ping to any device on the 192.168.4.x subnet. I could not print either.

Turning off the "Private WiFi Address" and then disconnecting/reconnecting to my WiFi network resulting in getting a 192.168.4.x address and I was able to backup to my NAS and browse to it.

While checking on different forums, I find someone suggesting to issue the following command in terminal:

log show --info --style compact --predicate '(subsystem == "com.apple.TimeMachine") && (eventMessage like[cd] "Failed * acquire device lock assertion*")' --last 24h

after few seconds, I got the following:

Timestamp Ty Process[PID:TID]

2024-09-29 18:02:52.849 E backupd[54103:292ab9] [com.apple.TimeMachine:FileProtection] Failed to acquire device lock assertion for '/Volumes/com.apple.TimeMachine.localsnapshots/Backups.backupdb/iMac-M1/2024-09-29-171018/Data/Users/donato/Library/Containers/com.apple.findmy.FindMyWidgetPeople/Data/SystemData/com.apple.chrono/timelines/com.apple.findmy.FindMyWidgetPeople/systemSmall---2695494529729235827----164.00w--164.00h--20.00r--0f--0.00t-0.00l-0.00b0.00t.chrono-timeline' (assertion state: <dropped>), error: Error Domain=NSPOSIXErrorDomain Code=1 "Operation not permitted"

2024-09-29 18:06:23.246 E backupd[54103:292ab9] [com.apple.TimeMachine:FileProtection] Failed to acquire device lock assertion for '/Volumes/com.apple.TimeMachine.localsnapshots/Backups.backupdb/iMac-M1/2024-09-29-171018/Data/Users/donato/Library/Containers/com.apple.findmy.FindMyWidgetItems/Data/SystemData/com.apple.chrono/timelines/com.apple.findmy.FindMyWidgetItems/systemSmall---3453820889416213992----164.00w--164.00h--20.00r--0f--0.00t-0.00l-0.00b0.00t.chrono-timeline' (assertion state: <dropped>), error: Error Domain=NSPOSIXErrorDomain Code=1 "Operation not permitted"

There is an issue, "Operation not permitted", with FindMyWidget?

I get the same error on both my macs on Sequoia, an iMacM1 and a MacBookAirM2.

I closed the FindMy Widget on both macs. Let see what happens...

PS: someone else reports that booting into safe mode and then back fixes the problem. Will try this one too...

Hats off to you MrHoffman, sir. After seeing your excellent comment I disabled Lulu (from Objective-See) and this Time Machine backup error disappeared.

What's interesting is that the TM backup begins and makes some progress; it just fails part way through. So, the question I'm now asking is whether some my rules are at fault, or whether it's actually the functionality of Lulu itself. It may be one worth raising with Objective-See. I think I will. Will you being doing likewise?

(For others, this exception aside, Lulu is a wonderful app I commend it to those wanting control over inbound and outbound connections on their Mac.)

Thanks again!

Disabling the firewall on your Mac can indeed resolve issues with Time Machine backups, particularly when using a Synology NAS. Here’s how to do it and some additional context based on user experiences:Steps to Disable the Firewall on macOS

1. Open System Settings:Click on the Apple menu in the top-left corner of your screen.Select System Settings.
2. Navigate to Network Settings:In the sidebar, click on Network.Scroll down and click on Firewall.
3. Disable the Firewall:Click on the toggle to turn off the firewall.You may need to enter your admin password to make changes.
4. Test Time Machine Backup:After disabling the firewall, attempt to initiate a Time Machine backup again.Check if the backup completes successfully without interruptions.

Additional Considerations

• Firewall Rules: If you prefer to keep the firewall enabled for security reasons, consider setting specific rules to allow Time Machine traffic. This can often be done by allowing connections for specific services or applications related to Time Machine.
• Network Configuration: Ensure that your Synology NAS is properly configured for Time Machine. This includes enabling SMB (as AFP is deprecated) and ensuring that your NAS is accessible from your Mac without restrictions.
• User Permissions: Verify that the user account you are using has appropriate permissions to access the Time Machine share on your NAS.

User Experiences

Many users have reported that disabling the firewall resolved their backup issues, as it allowed Time Machine to communicate freely with the NAS. However, it's advisable to re-enable the firewall after testing and configure it correctly to maintain network security.If you continue facing issues even after disabling the firewall, consider checking other network settings or consulting Synology's support documentation for further troubleshooting steps.

Upgrading from 15.0.1 to 15.1 today fixed it. Could create a new initial backup of about 250 GB within 2 hours. It failed 2 times during that, but always continued where it stopped and after completion a "verify backup" succeeded. Also a good new timemachine feature is the limitation to certain size when creating the initial backup in the advanced options. Previously that required quota settings on the shared folder which is now not needed anymore.

I had the same problem. GOOD NEWS this seems to be fixed in 15.1 (you are at 15.0.1) ... it worked today with the firewall on!!!

Appears fixed in Sequoia 15.1 (definitely broken in 15.0.1). I am now able to turn my mac's firewall back on. There was also an update to Synology DSM 7.2.2-72806 I installed at about the same time. So between the two updates, it is now fixed.

For me it was simply because I had changed password on the NAS. I suspected Sequoia since I upgraded at the same time.

Time Machine will not prompt that the authentication failed, it only shows if you view the logs...

Removing and re-adding the share in Time Machine settings did the trick

Had the same situation - since 15.0.1 backups with Time Machine to Synology failed. For me it is the macOS firewall - disabling it and the backup just works fine, enabling it and the backup failed. Not sure yet why tough...

In my case I had updated to 15.0.1 and then experienced the problem. Turning the macOS firewall OFF was the only way I've found to complete a backup to my Synology NAS. Previously I was able to back up with the firewall on while on Sequoia 15.0.

Same here, Synology NAS worked fine for years, 15.01, and it died. I turned off the Firewall on my Macbook pro M1, and it worked fine. Does anyone know if we can put a SMB firewall exception rule to allow it to work with Firewall on?