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Synology Community
community.synology.com › enu › forum › 1 › post › 188522
Synology NAS acting as Time Machine server doesn't work
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Synology Knowledge Center
kb.synology.com › en-ro › DSM › tutorial › What_should_I_do_to_fix_the_problem_when_connecting_to_Synology_NAS_using_Time_Machine
What should I do to fix the problem when connecting to Synology NAS using Time Machine? - Synology Knowledge Center
Synology Knowledge Center offers comprehensive support, providing answers to frequently asked questions, troubleshooting steps, software tutorials, and all the technical documentation you may need.
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Reddit
reddit.com › r/synology › still can't get timemachine to back up to my synology
r/synology on Reddit: Still can't get TimeMachine to back up to my Synology
March 12, 2023 -

EDIT: SOLVED!!! Thanks to those that commented!!

I had my TimeMachine working for backup to my NAS (DS920+). That stopped working sometime last year. I read that further updates to macOS fixed that, but I upgraded to Ventura last night and it's still not able to back up to my NAS. I have TM configured to use the NAS and it's authenticated with an account that has r/w access to the TM folder but it just won't complete. I'm seeking any insight the braintrust may have.

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Synology Community
community.synology.com › enu › forum › 1 › post › 145292
Time Machine not connecting after DSM 7.0 upgrade
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SynoForum
synoforum.com › forums › synology disk station manager topics › backup solutions
Synology and TimeMachine, cure to long time problems | SynoForum.com - The Unofficial Synology Forum
July 16, 2023 - As TimeMachine filled the shared folder and things just wouldnt delete correctly and corruption would occur. With these 2 above fixes, Time Machine has been working pretty great on the synology. Note, if you have a huge backup, item (1) can be a real pain as it may take days to backup.
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Reddit
reddit.com › r/synology › time machine cannot connect to nas after ventura update
r/synology on Reddit: Time Machine cannot connect to NAS after Ventura update
April 28, 2023 -

TM with my Synology NAS worked flawlessly until I upgraded to Ventura. I tried the troubleshooting steps outlined in this Synology support article. I also tried upgrading the NAS software as well as disable + re-enabling SMB. None of these approaches fixed the problem. Has anyone else seen this issue and found a solution?

Eventually timesout trying to connect
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Apple Community
discussions.apple.com › thread › 254393738
Time Machine stopped working to Synology NAS
November 20, 2022 - Ensure that the NAS is configured to use SMB NOT AFP. That did the trick for me. The enoying situtaion that a only can do backups if I reconnect the medium on the NAS every time if I want to ensure I have a backup is gone. Just to let Synoglogy NAS users know...
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Synology Community
community.synology.com › enu › forum › 1 › post › 162623
Time Machine do not work on MacOS 13.5.1 Ventura and ...
September 4, 2023 - Hi! Come and join us at Synology Community. A place to answer all your Synology questions. Ask a question or start a discussion now.
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Reddit
reddit.com › r/synology › unable to do a time machine backup after the first one
r/synology on Reddit: Unable to do a Time Machine backup after the first one
January 10, 2022 -

I'm trying to do a Time Machine backup however, it keeps failing - "Time Machine couldn't back up to "192.168.0.35". Any ideas on how to resolve this? This happened previously and I basically just disabled/enabled Time Machine however after the first backup, it appears as though Time Machine can't do another back up.

I created a Shared Folder titled TimeMachine on my NAS with its own account. I connect to it using Finder on my Mac - Go -> Connect to Server -> smb://TimeMachine:*@192.168.0.35 and enter the password for my user. I can see it mounted on my desktop.

Find elsewhere
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Synology Community
community.synology.com › enu › forum › 1 › post › 150678
Time Machine back ups stopped working
January 28, 2022 - Hi! Come and join us at Synology Community. A place to answer all your Synology questions. Ask a question or start a discussion now.
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Reddit
reddit.com › r/synology › anyone had issues using time machine to backup to a synology since upgrading to sequoia?
r/synology on Reddit: Anyone had issues using Time Machine to backup to a Synology since upgrading to Sequoia?
November 6, 2024 -

I'm not sure if this is a macos issue or synology one, but just wanted to check if anyone else had the same problem.

Prior to updating to Sequoia, I followed this tutorial on setting up my mac to backup to my nas using time machine. It worked fine, the only issue was that I'd occasionally get notifications from my nas about exceeding the number of logins, which was my mac trying to backup. I'm still not sure why I was getting the warnings, but it would work in the end.

Since upgrading to Sequoia I get the same warnings, log center is showing that my mac has accessed the shared folder that I set up for time machine, but then my mac says backup failed and "The network disk disconnected from your mac while backing up".

I followed the steps in the video again from scratch and deleted the old backups but no luck. There is more than enough free space and the nas and mac are on the same network.

Has anyone had a similar issue and been able to solve it? Thank you.

edit: Thanks to u/s_p_lee for pointing out that it seems to be a known issue and turning the firewall fixes it. Not a permanent solution, but hopefully it's an easy fix for apple to make.

FIX: It looks like it has been fixed in Sequoia 15.1.

Top answer
1 of 2
1

I don’t back up to nas so I can’t fix that specific error, but one excellent troubleshooting step you can do is attempt a restore from that volume.

The requirements to restore are fewer than a complete backup.

Next step is to add an external drive and add it as a second destination. See if Time Machine can do a backup to a different clean disk. It will still continue to try to back up to the nas every other interval, but at least you will know the system itself is good and keep backups current while you suss out the cryptic error code.

Lastly, even if you can’t restore from the sparse bundle, can you select it in finder and get it to mount? That will let you know if it needs repair in Disk Utility.

2 of 2
1

I happened to have the same problem and found a lot of useless hints to solve the issue.

I can assure you 100% it has nothing to do with file permissions, NAS version, NAS filesystem, ... it is 100% an incompatibility a Monterey patch introduced depending on when the disc was initially created.

I'm using Synology DS918+ DSM 7.1-42661 Update 4 - which has served as a time machine capsule for years without problems.

Now I'm getting error 19 while still being able to access the files and folders on the NAS without problems via SMB, AFP, SSH,...

Depending on when you initially created your backup disc, it is not compatible anymore with Monterey.

If you upgraded to macOS Monterey, your existing backups are not upgraded. New backups that are created can be used only on macOS Big Sur or later.

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/mac-help/mh15653/mac

Remove the backup disc from Time Machine and create a fresh new one solves the problem.

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Synology
kb.synology.com › en-us › DSM › tutorial › Time_Machine_backup_failed
Time Machine backup failed. What should I do? - Synology Knowledge Center
December 11, 2025 - Synology Knowledge Center offers comprehensive support, providing answers to frequently asked questions, troubleshooting steps, software tutorials, and all the technical documentation you may need.
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Apple Community
discussions.apple.com › thread › 253369661
Cannot get Time Machine to use Synology N… - Apple Community
Just turn off AFP altogether. Apple has never supported Time Machine over AFP to a NAS because they never licensed AFP, so the AFP on a NAS is a hack that usually fails when you try to use it with Time Machine. ... https://kb.synology.com/en-global/DSM/tutorial/How_to_back_up_files_from_Ma...
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Apple Community
discussions.apple.com › thread › 256176713
Suddenly I can NOT take Time Machine Back… - Apple Community
October 30, 2025 - Here’s what you can try right now, remove your current Time Machine destination, then manually mount your NAS share via Finder using “smb://diskstation.local”, make sure the volume is visible on your desktop, and then re-add it in Time Machine preferences.
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Reddit
reddit.com › r/macos › time machine with synology nas
r/MacOS on Reddit: Time Machine with Synology NAS
May 10, 2024 -

Hi,

I use Time Machine - I have Sonoma - with a Synology NAS.

Unfortunately it work unreliable. Sometimes it works for two weeks without a problem then suddenly I get the red exclamation mark. - When I start a backup manually, it takes a long time at the "Preparing backup" stage. To get it working again, I delete the Time Machine Folder on the Synology NAS and the backup target in Time Machine - Then it works again.

But I don't want to do that every month or so.

Bonjour broadcast is on for SMB only.

Any setting to change on the Synology NAS?

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Synology Community
community.synology.com › enu › forum › 1 › post › 152014
Time Machine error "The network backup disk does not support the required capabilities" | Synology Community
March 18, 2022 - Works like a charm. Thanks. ... That's the solution, thanks! ... I have a DS920+ with the identical issue where just my 15" MacBook Pro (Monterey 12.3) reports, "The selected network backup disk does not support the required capabilities" for Time Machine, whereas my other Macs do not. ... I had similar problem. I use USB HDD for Time Machine and Syno NAS DS 118 as server for the USB HDD.
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Synology Community
community.synology.com › enu › forum › 1 › post › 141061
Time machine backups not working since Big Sur
February 9, 2021 - Hi! Come and join us at Synology Community. A place to answer all your Synology questions. Ask a question or start a discussion now.
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Synology Community
community.synology.com › enu › forum › 1 › post › 124151
Time Machine Backup doesn't work
March 9, 2019 - Hi! Come and join us at Synology Community. A place to answer all your Synology questions. Ask a question or start a discussion now.