Sequoia 15.5 Time Machine backup issues with Synology NAS on Mac

stevecimelli wrote:

Are other drives better or is this a MAC issue?

I also have a Synology DS223j, and have had no problems with TM backups from four Mac notebooks in the house running 15.5 (and one older Mac notebook still running Sonoma).

Are using drives from Synology’s list of supported models? I’m using a pair of Seagate IronWolf 10 TB HDDs. Did you follow their setup instructions?

https://kb.synology.com/en-us/DSM/tutorial/How_to_back_up_files_from_Mac_to_Synology_NAS_with_Time_Machine

I have 6 volumes on my NAS, five for TM backups and one as a general file share.

I can’t say if other NAS systems are better, but I can say I had a bad experience with QNAP. After firmware updates for the NAS, twice it failed to restart. Their recovery instructions require access to Windows or Linux which I don’t have, so the first time I had to send it in. The second time I bought the Synology NAS.

You mention unhappiness with your Wi-Fi network, certainly that could result in TM backup problems. When TM ‘quits’ what actually happens (i.e., what’s the issue reported in System Settings)?

I back up to a Mac in the basement with several drives attached. I also find that the server disappears, but the solution is dead simple.

Make sure you save the credentials when you make the connection. Then it will eventually re-connect.

If it takes so long to reconnect it makes you crazy, just make certain the drive is visible in Finder > Network devices.

if it's not, manually connect in Finder now. Then in Time Machine settings, choose "Back up now".

My new WiFi issues: I have dead spots in my house/yard where I didn't have them before with Time Capsule. AT&T (their Hub/Router) has a network manager software. I got a proactive message from it with dropped connections on me iPhone to use the Network Manager to optimize the Network. I never had this issue with the Time Capsule in the 10 years of 3 locations with the Time Capsule.

I have never had any trouble with any Time Capsule ever and I have many of them, several different models in multiple locations in three US states. Not one problem to back up or restore, never in the history of Time Machine. Not 99.999% but 100%. They remain in continuous daily service, even in some arguably complex mixed network installations. I realize they are old but the newest ones remain fully supported... for the moment.

I tried a Synology NAS and had the opposite experience. 100% failures. It never worked, despite at least two weeks of testing under direction of Synology's support, including reducing my network configuration to the simplest practicable installation. They blamed everyone and everything... me, Apple, my network, everyone but themselves. I gave up. Nothing but frustration and wasted time I'll never get back. They not so cheerfully refunded my money.

The problems you describe ("... it backs up for a while, a few days, then quits") are common, have been reported for well over a decade, and are similar to my own experience. Everyone's backup needs are different but mine are such that anything less than 100% reliable is not acceptable.

What's worse than backing up for a few days then quitting? When you find yourself in a dire need to restore that backup and only then you find out you can't. That was commonly reported.

C'mon Apple, a small 'freshen up' is all the product needs

Apple isn't here. You don't need to tell us, tell them. Their decision to discontinue the AirPort product line remains one of their most inexplicable blunders of all time.

If your Mac disconnects from the network (which it will do when you close the lid, though it will reconnect periodically when sleeping to refresh Messages, etc.), that will interrupt a TM backup. That happens for us, but no one pays attention because the TM backup just tries again when the Mac is open, connected to power (I have that option selected) and being used.

I would definitely recommend setting up the NAS for TM as outlined in the Synology article I linked above. I did that when I bought the NAS, haven't had any issues with the backups.

Side note: all drives fail eventually, so having just one backup drive is not optimal if you are at all risk-averse. The oft-stated goal is a 3-2-1 backup strategy, 3 copies of your data, two of which are backups and one of which is stored offsite. Personally, I run 5-4-1 because my NAS is set up as RAID1 (same data on both drives in the NAS) and I also have TM backups on a pair of 4 TB SSDs that I swap offsite weekly. Probably overkill, but I am confident that I won't lose data even if a drive fails or the house burns down (well, in the latter catastrophic case I'd lose up to the most recent two weeks of data, but I can live with that).

Not sure what router setup AT&T provides, I have an older eero mesh setup (from ~2018 IIRC, base station, 3 extenders and a second base to provide a wired connection for a second Arlo security camera hub). Quite a few network points, but no dead zones and great connectivity for about 40 devices including multiple 4K streamers.

stevecimelli wrote:

John, what did you end up using instead of Synology? I'll bring mine back to the store even it if means starting over.

Time Capsules, USB hard disk drives connected to them, and USB hard disk drives connected to AirPort Extreme Base Stations (the latest, "tall" models are the only ones that support TM). All 100% flawless.

If there were a better alternative I'd be using it by now.

Regarding corporate seeing these messages; I've been told by tech support that corporate does see comments here or at least a summary. Anybody here in favor of starting a 'high praise for Time Capsule' on Apple's social media pages? Updating the technology around the premise wouldn't cost much at all. Marketing costs would be minimal with hordes of raving fans wanting more, more, more. It can't hurt, can it?

Be careful with that because we are prohibited from posting polls, petitions, or links to them on this site. Not disagreeing with you; just pointing it out.

Minor update to my earlier reply. Anecdotal reports (meaning, not my personal experience) indicate Time Machine is giving people trouble in yet to be released macOS versions, but those troubles extend beyond the Time Capsule and involve Synology NAS devices, locally connected devices... you name it.

So it's working... for now. Too many variables and too early to draw any conclusions.

I strongly suspect what you have heard is correct. The reason is that AFP is being deprecated, and that's what TCs use. Excerpted from What's new for enterprise in macOS Sequoia - Apple Support:

• Apple Filing Protocol (AFP) client is deprecated and will be removed in a future version of macOS.

That future version is likely to be macOS 26 "Tahoe". But it could be later. We simply don't know for certain.