Q: Server Connections Interrupted

Update: Yesterday I heard back from AppleCare regarding this issue.  They are taking a closer look at the troubleshooting details that I provided in my previous email and will get back to me in about a week.  It looks like the problem is now getting some attention.  I'm hoping they will be able to come up with a resolution - but I suspect it may take some time - especially if the root cause of the issue is something obscure.

~Scott

Sorry for my delayed response - lots of other "life events" happening!

I downgraded my client's TC firmware to 7.5.2 a couple of weeks ago and it has significantly improved his experience. No more of the pop-ups and, so far, no lock ups. The network share of the hard drive attached to the TC does however seem to dismount from his iMac occasionally and BonjourMounter isn't remounting it (I haven't investigated why). But the client knows how to remount it with just a couple of clicks so he's a lot happier than he was. But it does indicate that there is still an underlying instability in the mount point that is being presented by the TC.

Glad to hear that the downgrade to 7.5.2 is making an improvement for your client.  I don't see much of an improvement when I downgrade to either 7.5.2 or 7.5.1 - where I see only a slight change in how the problem manifests itself - basically - I see the popup less frequently and I have to work harder to produce it - but it still happens.  I have never encountered a lockup - with any version of the firmware.  When I get some free time I will try some more troubleshooting - just can't seem to let this go.

~Scott

I was getting the same error messages using ethernet to a NAS mount.  Protocol was AFP and when I changed to SMB, the error messages stopped. Must be NAS related because when I use AFP to Ubuntu server running Netatalk 2.2, no issues whatsoever.

I actually got the error from my Western Digital MyBook Live - when I had left a share mounted via AFP.  Typically the WD MyBook Live does not get the disconnect error on it's own - unless there is also an AFP share mounted to the Time Capsule from the same Mac.  This is a "first" - however - it is possible that I had previously had a share mounted to the Time Capsule and disconnected it and forgotten about it - thus the error occurred on the MyBook Live.  The MyBook Live has "other" AFP issues - but not the disconnect issue.  I talked to AppleCare earlier this week - and they have still not received any feedback from the engineers that are supposedly looking into this issue.  I think it will be quite a while before we see a resolution.

~Scott

I CAN REPRODUCE the problem, I am trying to copy a big folder (143GBytes 25000 files) from Macintosh HD to Capsule Folder, Everytime I copy it, it CRASHES with Error -50 after a while and the message appears.

Apple, it is not acceptable to have a crash when copying files !!!! If it was only the message OK, but it crashes the copying of larges folders...

regards

Just out of curiousity - are there any sparse bundle disk image file within the 25000 files you are copying?  Are these files all of similar file types or are they a variety of different types of file.  Did you search to see what "Error 50" means on a copy?  Are you able to reproduce the error 50 while copying this data with the TimeCapsule downgraded to a prior version of the firmware - such as 7.5.2?

The largest amount of data I have copied at once has been a collection of copies of my itunes library and iphoto libraries about 70 gig.  I never get an error (of any kind) during the copy - but almost always get the disconnect popup a few minutes after the copy successfully completes.  I see no evidence that any of the files being copied have been corrupted in any way.  On my large copies (for purposes of reproducing this issue) I always use a wired ethernet connection for speed.  But I can produce the popup with smaller amounts of data over wireless - but it usually needs to be multiple gigabytes of data in a single copy - in order to produce the popup.

In various copy tests - I notice that copying a .sparsebundle disk image - there is usually a long hesitation while the copy operation appears to "reverse engineer" the .sparsebundle during the copy - rather I should say the sparse bundle doesn't appear to be copied as a single binary file - it appears as though the copy process looks inside the sparse bundle - takes it apart and reconstructs the sparsebundle at the desitnation.  I believe I see this deconstruct-reconstruct behavior on both AFP and SMB shares.  What I have not tried is copying a sparse bundle from or to the Time capsule to another drive via SBM on a Windows box - I'm wondering in that scenario if the sparsebundle would simply be copied over as a straight binary file - as Windows doesn't know what to do with a sparse bundle inmage - but the Mac seems to have special handling for copying a sparse bundle.

~Scott

No spare bundle, I tried smb but it si far worse, it does not go futher than seaching files to copy after one hour !

I CAN REPRODUCE the problem, I am trying to copy a big folder (143GBytes 25000 files) from Macintosh HD to Capsule Folder, Everytime I copy it, it CRASHES with Error -50 after a while and the message appears.

Apple, it is not acceptable to have a crash when copying files !!!! If it was only the message OK, but it crashes the copying of larges folders...

I too am experiencing this very annoying issue. It's been happening regularly on my macbook pro over wifi - certainly since upgrading to Lion but maybe before as well.

I have a third Gen TC (7.6.1) which was originally a 1TB device - I have swapped in a 2TB drive which I have partitioned 50/50 with TM backups going on one partition ('backup') and the other ('data') with my iTunes media files and all of my photos etc on it.

I now have a mac mini (Lion 10.7.3) connected by ethernet which I have been setting up over the last couple of days. I've copied all of my media and photos from the TC onto the Mini (1TB, no dropouts) and now plan to use that as the master (serving an Apple TV) with the TC acting as a backup of the important files - using Carbon Copy Cloner.

(I like Time Machine but have had occasional issues with backups becoming unreadable and so I prefer to have a straight copy of files available as well). I also do an occasional backup to a USB drive that I keep off-site.

Anyway - upshot is that I have been sitting in front of  the TC whilst unsuccessfully running CCC backups from the Mini to the TC. It drops out regularly with the server connection interrupted error. It has also worked OK sometimes - it doesn't appear to be long files (e.g. 4GB iso images) that are the issue. In fact it appears to drop the connection even when nothing is being copied - i.e. when CCC is comparing files.

I started breaking down the backups - only doing a major folder at a time (e.g. iTunes, Photos, Users etc). There seemed to be a specific point in a particular folder in Users where it triggered the dropout but that theory didn't hold.

What's also been interesting is that on some (but not all) of these occasions the TC seems to have done a reset - the light goes yellow and the internet connection drops. After a while the light goes green and you can browse it again. On one occasion I had to pull the power to get it to come up again. I don't think I've seen this behaviour described eleswhere.

Luis92100 - The fact that you are getting an actual error during the copy process almost sounds like either your time capsule (or its internal) drive may actually be defective - or possibly a network or cabiling issue.  Others (myself included) are not reporting errors, data loss, or corruption - and the disconnect popups seem to be more of an annoyance as opposed to an actual serious error.

Can you try any of the following to see if the error -50 stops:

1)  Plug your time capsule directly into the ethernet cable of your Mac (effectively taking it off your network) and repeat the copy process to see if the -50 error continues to occur.  By doing this you are factoring any type of problem with your network out of the equation.

2)  Completely erase (reformat) the Data volume on the Time Capsule via Airport Utility.  I realize this is painful and time consuming - especially if you have a lot of data on the TC that you would need to copy to another drive before reformatting - but there is a remote possibility that your file system could be corrupted.

3)  Completely reset your Time Capsule to factory defaults (with the Time Capsule on Firmware 7.6.1).  You do this from Airport Utility - Preferably Airport Utility 5.6 (which has the old interface).  Select your Time Capsule and then click on Base Station and select Restore Default Settings.  In Airport utility 6 - click on your Time Capsule in the network diagram - select Edit from the popup - and then select Base Station in the menu bar and select Restore Default Settings.  After you reset to factory defaults - you would need to setup the Time Capsule from scratch.  Although you can save the Time Capsules configuration to a file and then reimport that configuration - I think is is better to set it up from scratch for the purpose of this exercise - in case something is bad in the saved configuration.  Hopefully you don't have a lot of MAC addresses entered in the Access Control List or have a lot of MAC addresses in the DHCP reservation list - otherwise reentering those could be a pain.

Question:  Are you using your Time Capsule in Bridge Mode or in Router Mode (just curios)?  I use mine in Bridge mode - meaning that it is just another device on my network and is not providing router or DHCP functionality - and there is another router on my network.  In Router mode - the Time Capsule is also your router as well as the DHCP server.

So far people aren't reporting the discconect message when the TC is mounted via SMB (unless I have missed some prior posts).  The fact that you are having issues with SMB as well leads me to believe that something else is going on that is causing your error.  To the best of my knowledge the disconnect popup seems to be associated only with AFP connections to the Time Capsule.

~Scott

Hi Scott,

Thank's a lot for your time spend to write me a so detailed response.

This was very helpfull and finally solved my Error -50  problem, a Very Strange One as you will see.

After having done all this, Applecare replaced my time capsule by a new one as they supected a faulty disc.

But on the new one The problem Error -50 was still there !

So it was definitly on the Lion side, or/and a problem with the source, I then tried to copy again the folder with Carbon Copy Cloner in order to try to get a better error message than with findre Copy. Carbon copy cloner detected a file that it cannot copy ! I removed this file and then The Finder Copy worked like a charm, no more Error -50 message.

Problem was in the Source, The file that cannot be copied is an alias called z/ of 1 byte in a Wine Bottled application  (directory contents/Ressources/dosdevices) version 1.2.2. This file can be copied to a firewire disc bit not on time capsule.

I tried to build another .exe application with Wine Botller, same problem, so it is possible for anybody to reproduce.

By The way, The Server Connections interrupted message does still appear with the new Time Capsule...

Thank's again

Best Regards

Hello again,

After solving my problem that capsule fail to write Wine Bottle dosdevice folder that OSX can perfectly copy beetween Hard DIsks.

I tryed SMB to get read of Server Connections interrupted (not only message but effectivly disconnected ! then reconnect automaticly) but I get with my 140MBytes folder something like 11 Hours to copy instead of 2H30 with AFP, so its not really usable (How do you do a backup???) except for kids drawings one by one. (1GB ethernet, not WIFI).

Very Back to AFP

Anyone an idea ?

Regards

Scott,

I have an MBP 13" and an MBP 17" sitting on the same desk.  Each is connected to an external monitor and several harddisks.  Both use Time Machine to backup hourly and SuperDuper to clone the internal harddisk once a week.  Both MBP's run OS X 10.6.8.  I am considerng clearing some of this clutter off the desk by untethering the MBP 13" from the external monitor and the harddisks.  It would no longer have a "home" anywhere in the apartment, but would be picked up wherever it happened to be when needed, used wherever it was needed, and left where it was no longer needed.  To that end I am considering replacing the AEBS which extends my network (another AEBS connected to a cable modem) by a TC on which the Time Machine and clone volumes for the MBP 13" would reside, but I hesitate, given your experience.

Do I understand you correctly, that your problems seem to stem from connecting a non-TM volume to the network, either an external valume attached via USB to the TC, or a non-TM partition of the TC harddisk, but that the problem does not, or might not, occur if no external harddisks are connected to the network and the TC harddisk only consists of TM volumes?

Thanks,

Richard

Hi Richard,

To clarify - this thread is focusing on a popup message (which indicates Server Connections Interrupted) that appears periodically when a Mac has a share mounted in finder via AFP (the default) to a folder on either a Time Capsule internal drive, a Time Capsule with an external hard drive attached to the Time Capsule's USB port, or to an external hard drive attached to an Airport Extreme Base station via the AEBS USB port.  The popup became more prevalent after the 7.6 and 7.6.1 firmware release for the Time Capsule and AEBS - and seems to be further impacted by changes in Mac OS X as of 10.6.8 (Snow Leopard) and later 10.7.x (Lion).  Some people have reported that reverting back to the 7.5.2 firmware resolves this issue.  In my own case - I see the popup message on all versions of the TC firmware that I have (7.5.1, 7.5.2, 7.6, and 7.6.1).  If I revert my Mac back to Snow Leopard (10.6.4 or 10.6.3) - the popup goes away - however - rather than displaying the popup - the Mac will just silently eject the share - so it the past the problem was happening - it probably just went unnoticed.  OS X 10.6.8 and later seems to be doing a better job of detecting and reporting the "perceived" disconnection and now it is being noticed.

In my own experience I am not encountering any loss of data or any failures in the middle of copying files to or from an AFP share to the Time Capsule.  The popup seems to be triggered only after a significant amount of data (multiple gigabytes) is copied to or from the drive - and the popup disconnect warning seems to appear a few minutes after a large data transfer (copy) has completed.  At first it appeared to be tied to when the Time Capsule would spin down the drive (due to inactivity) - but closer examination disproved this theory somewhat.  Even though the popup appears - the share still remains active and is usable.  The popup does not occur when I mount a share on the Time Capsule via SMB  (e.g.  using the go-connect-to-server option specify smb://TimeCapsule).

This problem does not seem to impact Time Machine backjups at all.  Time Machine backups continue to work flawlessly - and I suspect that although Time Machine is connecting to the Time Capsule via AFP to perform the backup - the popup does not occur because as soon as Time Machine completes the backup - it ejects the share - before the condition that causes the popup has a chance to occur.

I am sure that Apple will get this problem corrected - and I know they are working on it beause I have an open case for it with AppleCare - and they do periodically check back with me.  This popup issue should not deter you from getting a Time Capsule - as (in my opinin) it is still the best NAS device available for reliably backing up a Mac and providing you with a dual band reliable wifi access point.

For your own scenario that you have described - I would suggest keeping one (or both) of your AEBS's and add a Time Capsule.  You should keep your existing AEBS as your router (attached to your cable modem).  You then want to locate your Time Capsule in an area where it will provide the best wireless access (due to the short range on the 802.11n 5GHz).  You should then create a "roaming" network with your two AEBS's and new Time Capsule.  You can also connect any spare USB drives to the USB port of each of your AEBS's and effectively turn them into network drives.

In a nutshell - the roaming network employs multiple wifi access points (all sharing the same network name and password) - connected to your main router (in this case the AEBS) via ethernet.  Your devices (laptops, etc.) will connect to whichever access point (AEBS1, AEBS2 or TC) has the best signal - seamlessly.  You would set your AEBS that is connected to the cable modem in Router mode and enable the DHCP server.  You would then "create a new network on AEBS1".  You would then connect the WAN port of AEBS2 and WAN port of the TC to one of the 3 ethernet ports on AEBS1.  You would then configure both AEBS2 and TC in "Bridge" mode (no router or DHCP capability enabled) - and create a "new" network on both AEBS2 and TC with the same network name and password as AEBS1 (your router).  Now you have a roaming network and multiple wifi access points - all appearing to be the same wifi network.  To determine which or your 3 access points a device has connected to - you would need to open Airport Utility and try to determine via MAC address which wireless devices are connected to which access point.

Note:  If you are in an apartment or relatively small living area - setting up a roaming network may be ineffective due to the small space.  Roaming networks are more effective in larger larger living spaces where there are multiple floors where there are structural obstructions such as walls and floor where having an access point on each floor (basement, first floor, 2nd floor) makes more sense.

Something you should note:  Although you can attach an external drive to the USB port of an AEBS or to a Time Capsule - and effectively create a network drive - Apple specifically states that using Time Machine Backup with USB drives attached to base stations is not supported and may not be reliable.  I have done this myself (in a test scenario) and not encountered any problems - but I would rather not risk corrupting an important backup.

Here is a link describing how to set up a roaming network (and other network setups for the Time Capsule and/or AEBS).  I think you should keep all your components and try to make the best use out of each.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4145

~Scott

Hi Luis - There are going to be peformance differences between AFP and SMB - depending on the nature of how each protocol handles different types of files and how it handles differences between the source and destination file systems.  I am not a networking protocol expert - but it appears to me that SMB involves a lot of per-file verification during the copy and/or delete process and thus transferring a large number of files and or complex subdirectory structure may result in perceived poor network performance.  I do question that SMB is seemingly exponentially slower than AFP.  I could see it being maybe twice as slow but not 5 times as slow.  It does appear that some file operations via both AFP and SMB result in unusal slowness when one does not expect the operation to be slow.

I have noticed that when copying disk images (sparse bundles, etc) - via finder on a Mac to a TC share or other network share - that the copy process (from the Mac OS X perspective) seems to be looking inside the disk images when copying them - and performing some type of processing or validation on a per-file basis within the disk image - resulting in slow performance.  However, if the copy process is peformed on a PC - via a mapped network drive to the Time Capsule - the Windows side (SMB) simply treats a disk image file as raw binary data and copies it as-is from A to B - without any additional processing - and appears to be relatively quick or at least it seems to move along at the expected copy pace.

Would you happen to be able to repeat your SMB folder copy to another network share - such as a shared drive on a PC or to another NAS drive other than the Time Capsule - to determine if it still takes 11+ hours?

There are a lot of factors involved in the overall performance of copying data to a network drive - and you are bound to see differences copying files from device A vs copying to device B - even though the data is identical - how that is handled between the source and destination could vary greatly - and also can be impacted by which OS is driving and managing the copy process.

~Scott