Experience with Apple Time Machine backups on Synology?

[tgl]

I wonder if anyone is successfully using a Synology NAS to host macOS Time Machine backups? Years ago I tried to run TM backups on a Netgear NAS, and it kind of worked but every few months the backups would go corrupt and I'd have to start fresh. I'm aware that Apple has changed the TM storage implementation since then, so maybe third-party storage compatibility is better than it used to be; but it'd be nice to hear some confirmation before I invest a lot of time trying to switch.

The specific Synology model I have is a DS420+, in case that matters. I'm currently running TM backups on some ancient Apple Airport Extremes, but I know those are going to go belly-up someday soon.

 

[bbunge]

I ran Time Machine backups to a DS218j as a test and it worked OK. Have been thinking about trying it again with the DS220+ but for now a spare USB3 drive works well. Will try to get some time in the next few days to try it.

 

[vdemarco]

I wonder if anyone is successfully using a Synology NAS to host macOS Time Machine backups? Years ago I tried to run TM backups on a Netgear NAS, and it kind of worked but every few months the backups would go corrupt and I'd have to start fresh. I'm aware that Apple has changed the TM storage implementation since then, so maybe third-party storage compatibility is better than it used to be; but it'd be nice to hear some confirmation before I invest a lot of time trying to switch.

The specific Synology model I have is a DS420+, in case that matters. I'm currently running TM backups on some ancient Apple Airport Extremes, but I know those are going to go belly-up someday soon.

I have been doing this for a long time now, all do a DS920+, macos version 10.13 to 13.0 all working fine.

 

[bbunge]

Set the DS220+ to do Time Machine per Synology instructions and switched the MAC Mini from USB backup to my NAS. Worked very well over WIFI connection through my Asus router. Now that I have 8 TB drives I think I will let the Mini continue to Time Machine to the NAS.

 

[sfx2000]

I wonder if anyone is successfully using a Synology NAS to host macOS Time Machine backups? Years ago I tried to run TM backups on a Netgear NAS, and it kind of worked but every few months the backups would go corrupt and I'd have to start fresh. I'm aware that Apple has changed the TM storage implementation since then, so maybe third-party storage compatibility is better than it used to be; but it'd be nice to hear some confirmation before I invest a lot of time trying to switch.

There have been a lot of changes in how Apple has been doing TimeMachine over the years - moving from AFP to SMB/CIFS, the sparsebundle file itself, on newer OS versions, has moved from HPFS+ to APFS...

Some exceptionally good info here - I'll kindly direct you there, as they have covered this in depth...

Search Results for “time machine” – The Eclectic Light Company

Macs, painting, and more

eclecticlight.co

HTH...

FWIW - I've got a couple of time capsules (I pick them up on craigslist) and replaced the drives - 4TB is not a problem for the 11n/11ac units.

I've also been running TM over on a QNAP to see if things have improved (and they have with QTS5).

 

[bluzfanmr1]

HTH...

FWIW - I've got a couple of time capsules (I pick them up on craigslist) and replaced the drives - 4TB is not a problem for the 11n/11ac units.

I've also been running TM over on a QNAP to see if things have improved (and they have with QTS5).

I use a few of these old Pogoplug Pro's, hacked and running Debian with a 2TB SSD, for our Time Machine backups. Works great and I think the last one I purchased was $9.

 

[tgl]

Just to close the loop here --- I did switch to backing up my Mac onto the Synology NAS. No problems detected in about a week of operation, which of course isn't much track record. I was happy to find that it seems significantly faster than the Airport Extreme lashup: incremental backups complete in about a third as much time.

 

[sfx2000]

As luck would have it - a couple of days after posting, my sparebundle did corrupt itself, completely and irretrievably broken for the QNAP TimeMachine backup

Got the infamous "Error 19 - sparesbundle could not be accessed"

and when I tried to verify the backup, it immediately failed.

6 months worth of time on that particular image, and it failed on the cleanup on the previous backup.