MacOS Time Machine backups to NAS failing

[Viajero]

I back up my Mac to a QNAP NAS (TS 453-Pro) using Time Machine. I have recently updated the NAS firmware (4.4.1.1081) and the MacOS to 10.15, Catalina.

Time Machine no longer works. I am using HBS 3 and following these instructions:

https://www.qnap.com/en/how-to/tutorial ... as-via-smb

Whether I go Plan A or Plan B, the backups fail. Sometimes they'll start but then they hang indefinitely after backing up the first 0.5 - 1.5 GB (there are 320 GB roughly on the iMac to back up). More commonly, Time Machine simply hangs with the "Preparing Backup" message.

Because I have recently updated the firmware and the MacOS, I don't know whether the problem is with the NAS or the iMac. If anyone else has run into this problem recently and managed to solve it, I'd really appreciate some advice. Thanks in advance.

[ldir-EDB0]

Can't say I have any magic solution. I've 3 mac devices and they're all backing up to my TS453-A, though I do feel that recently the macbook wifi has become less speedy. For the initial 320GB backup it's worth using a wired network connection if that's possible.

[frogatog]

Yes, I have had the issue with Catalina as well on TS-853 Pro. Had no issues in prior OS. The issue is something relating to Catalina compatibility. We should report this as bug to QNAP.

[occamsrazor]

Ive had some issues with long backups before, though am still on Mojave.
Sometimes I find it's better to delete the existing backup and start a completely new one (assuming you don't have critical data in teh old backup you need to preserve).
Another thing you can try is to disable throttling of the Time Machine process in OSX, which can help to make it faster, at the expense of higher CPU usage:
https://www.imore.com/how-speed-your-ti ... ne-backups

[Viajero]

Thanks for that suggestion. I tried it. The good news is that Time Machine sped up noticeably. The bad news is that it still hung, after backing up 1.06 GB of a 320 GB initial backup.

Responding to Ldir-EDB0's comment, my Mac is connected to the NAS via a wired connection.

Scanning other threads I see that I'm not the only one with this problem, so at least I am in good company!

[Darthajack]

I hear Catalina has some more complex user permission framework, I don't have the details, but that could be the cause of breaking Time Machine in the NAS. Seems even before Catalina Apple recommended that if you do NAS Time Machine backups, you don't use the NAS for anything else. Reason behind that I believe is because it breaks permissions. Something affected in particular is the MacOS Photos app. Tried putting my library folder on the NAS, works fine, but you can't copy it back to your Mac. User privilege issue. Even tried by zipping on the NAS before putting it on my Mac. Unable to unzip it. Error.

I'm not suggesting this is entirely Apple's fault. QNAP needs to do something to make its NAS compatible with Time Machine. Built-in Time Machine capability was a selling point, they can't just remove it.

[ldir-EDB0]

The 3 macs running Catalina doing time machine backups to my TS-453A 4.4.1.1101 without issue must be a figment of my imagination

[Godrick]

I suspect that rebooting the NAS, or upgrading to the latest firmware or both will help OP.

One thing that I have discovered is that even though my Macs are now backing up OK, only some of them show up in HBS3, even though there are more backups in the TMBackups folder. I assume that they are backing up using a different username, but who can tell.

[Viajero]

In case anyone is still tracking this issue, it is now resolved. As Godrick suggested, it was a matter of updating the NAS firmware. After the most recent update (to 4.4.1.1117) I tried once more and lo and behold, my iMac is again backing up successfully to the NAS using TimeMachine.

Of course, this is after I went out and bought a 2TB external hard disk. I was on a week-long trip with my family and wasn't willing to leave the iMac without a recent backup. Oh well, I guess some redundancy won't hurt.

[HiZHiZ]

Hi, I'm having similar issues with a TS219 and Catalina too. For some reason Time Machine doesn't like my historic backups pre-Catalina and won't 'inherit' the .backupbundle if I try to force it. Perhaps there's a software update coming for the TS219 too... any ideas? Cheers

[EdsterC]

I had the same issue but i managed to fix it by logging into my NAS via AFP rather than SMB in Finder and that resolved my issue. Not sure if that is of any help.