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After updating to Sierra, Mac won't connect to ReadyNAS device

I have two Macs at home - an iMac, and a MacBook Pro. I also have a ReadyNAS device, which acts as a Time Machine for both.

I updated the iMac to macOS Sierra. The upgrade went without issue, no errors reported. However, once it was back up, I found that the iMac had issues authenticating to the ReadyNAS using AFP (and / or it would authenticate, then drop the connection), and also could not connect to the Time Machine service on the ReadyNAS device.

To be sure it was not the ReadyNAS, I went to my MBP - it's still running OS X 10.11, and is not showing any issues. AFP shares are accessible without issue, and Time Machine works as expected.

Did anything change with the AFP or Time Machine protocols in macOS Sierra, that might cause this?

The ReadyNAS Device is a ReadyNAS Pro 4, running 4.2.28 firmware, if that helps.

Thank you for your help!

iMac, macOS Sierra (10.12)

Posted on Sep 21, 2016 4:16 PM

45 replies

Kappy

Level 10

361,741 points

Sep 22, 2016 2:28 PM in response to Fischmuetze

Don't take it out on me. I've tried to help.

Contacting Apple Customer and Support Service

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Farrukh

Level 1

41 points

Sep 22, 2016 3:22 PM in response to Geoffrey Schaller

I am experiencing the same issue with my NAS and Time Capsule.

I have to click "Connect As" button every time I need to access external drives. Though passwords are still saved in keychain and filled in but password window pops up every time once it's disconnected/unmounted, and I have to hit 'Connect'.

Sep 22, 2016 3:48 PM in response to Farrukh

"I have to click "Connect As" button every time I need to access external drives. Though passwords are still saved in keychain and filled in but password window pops up every time once it's disconnected/unmounted, and I have to hit 'Connect'."

Ultimately, I think this is the root issue - not AFP, but authentication. I can connect manually to my AFP shares, but Time Capsule is not prompting me to connect with a username or password - and the AFP shares are having a similar issue with asking to authenticate every time.

Hopefully, if the Authentication thing is fixed, Time Capsule will be as well.

Farrukh

Level 1

41 points

Sep 22, 2016 3:51 PM in response to Geoffrey Schaller

Yes could be. But my both TC and NAS prompts me to click Connect.

Sep 23, 2016 6:01 AM in response to Farrukh

I did some experimenting last night, and was able to make some progress - I opened my Keychain, and removed all references to the NAS from it, then rebooted. Once I did this, I was able to connect to the device normally via AFP.

SMB is an issue, but I am not worried about that now that AFP is working.

Sep 23, 2016 6:20 AM in response to Fischmuetze

I have EXACTLY the same problem. I can (manually) connect to the (AFP) shares on my NAS without a problem. But from the moment TM backups start, the logs get filled with afpfs_FindForkRef failed -1 messages and TM is stuck on 'Preparing Backup...'. When I cancel the backup, also the afpfs_... messages stop.

dwmreg64

Level 1

36 points

Sep 23, 2016 7:51 AM in response to Geoffrey Schaller

AFP isn't going away. It's broken in Sierra that's all.

Look at this thread:

https://forum.synology.com/enu/viewtopic.php?f=64&t=122975&p=451468#p451468

My Synology NAS has the same issues, but not when I use SMB. I'm working with a Senior Applecare advisor and he's not told me that AFP is going away.

fcrombez

Level 1

8 points

Sep 24, 2016 1:43 AM in response to Geoffrey Schaller

Try disabling AFP on the Synology Diskstation !

I had a similar issue, solved disabling AFP and activating SMB 3 on the Diskstation.

Fabio_V

Level 1

4 points

Sep 24, 2016 7:34 AM in response to Geoffrey Schaller

I've the problem on a DLINK NAS. After installing Sierra the NAS is shown in the list of disk proposed by Time Machine for starting a new backup. But when connecting I always get an error: OSStatus Error 65

I've found a workaround:

I connect to the share that must contain the backup, using afp (with smb it does not work). This can be done using the Go -> Connect to the Server and writing the url as afp://server ip/Name of the share

When connected, I can use Time Machine as usual and I'm able to select the disk and start a new backup. Once completed, Time Machine keeps working as expected, and it's non more necessary to mount the afp share.

When restoring the full disk from the restore partition, the same approach must be followed. If not, the share cannot be found. But not having the Finder available, the afp share must be mounted using the terminal and issuing mount_afp command.

In any case, I open a ticket at Dlink support.

Sep 24, 2016 8:40 AM in response to Farrukh

Today 24/9/2016 I have same error in my Mac Pro Retina 2014 when I update macOS Sierra, can't connect automaticaly my Airport Time Capsule account and Time Machine not working beacause isn't connect, this OS have proplem, Apple should fix this soon for users. OS X El Capitan and Yosemite don't have many bug same macOS Sierra.

Sep 24, 2016 8:48 AM in response to Kappy

Sep 24, 2016 9:18 AM in response to Farrukh

gvde

Level 1

18 points

Sep 24, 2016 11:11 AM in response to Fischmuetze

Do you have sophos anti-virus running? Try disable the online scanner of sophos... It seems sophos messes up the backup process somehow...

John Galt

Level 10

141,252 points

Sep 24, 2016 11:28 AM in response to Geoffrey Schaller

Please read If you can't back up or restore your Mac using Time Machine - Apple Support.

I also have a ReadyNAS device, which acts as a Time Machine for both.

That is not a supported Time Machine configuration. To learn how to use Time Machine read Use Time Machine to back up or restore your Mac.

Despite their manufacturers' insistence to the contrary, there are no non-Apple NAS devices that will reliably work with Time Machine. If you want to use your NAS device to back up your Mac's contents, then use a backup strategy other than Time Machine.

The exhaustive list of devices supported by Time Machine are as follows:

External drives directly connected to the USB, FireWire, or Thunderbolt ports on your Mac
The built-in drive of an AirPort Time Capsule
A USB drive connected to the USB port of a Time Capsule or AirPort Extreme 802.11AC base station
A networked volume served by OS X Server using Apple File Protocol (AFP)

That is all.

Use whatever backup device you want, but you should be aware that this site is full of reports of misery from hapless individuals who had been using third party NAS devices for Time Machine backups, only to find that they were incomplete, corrupted, or useless in the dire circumstances in which they were required. Apple won't care if you lose your data while using a Time Machine configuration specifically excluded from their technical support documents.

gvde

Level 1

18 points

Sep 24, 2016 11:38 AM in response to John Galt

Well, read Backup disks you can use with Time Machine - Apple Support

where it says: "Network volumes connected using Apple File Protocol (AFP)" as supported device...

And at least for me it works just fine for a long time, reliably and very well.

After updating to Sierra, Mac won't connect to ReadyNAS device