TerraMaster Forum

I bought a F2-425 to do Time Machine backups. I never got it to wok.

I have enables SMB and Bonjour and created the share etc.

Time Machine finds the share and starts the initial backup but fails after about 1 minute.
If you monitor the share it creates a folder and some files and the it converts it into a sprasebundle. After the space bundle has been created it fails and the file cannot be accessed even in finder.

Does it need to be on a a special volume? I have tried with/without encryption, with/without quota etc and all other settings without success.
I even tried TOS 7 but it is the same thing.

Currently running TOS 7.0.0299
MacOs 26.2

alexanderi wrote: ↑10 Jan 2026, 21:38

Please go to the Shared Folders settings and check the user's permissions as well as whether the SMB service has been assigned the necessary permissions. Since Time Machine uses the SMB protocol, insufficient permissions may result in write failures, causing the backup to fail.

I have read/write access on my user and deny on guest.

I can access the share from finder and write files to it. I can open the files and remove them.
So my conclusion is that the permissions are correct.



The volume that is used is formated as Btrfs. Is that a problem for Time Machine?

The issues you mentioned generally do not affect Time Machine. Please check the system load. Additionally, when creating a shared folder, there is a prompt asking whether to create a 'quota'. Please check if the quota is enabled for the shared folder. If it is enabled,it is recommended that you disable the quota or increase the quota and try again. Please update the latest TOS7 and try again.

This NAS was purchased primarily to be used for time machine for 4 MacBooks. It is brand new and the only thing it has on it is the a share for Time Machine. So the system load should be zero.

I have only tried with my main laptop without luck.
I have tried with and without quota on the share. I’m already on TOS7 (same problem in TOS6)

Please share a complete working configuration with Time Machine and I will mirror it so I can get it running with macOS 26.2

If you perform some normal file read, write, and copy operations through Finder, can it run normally?

Yes. Normal file operations work.

So does the beginning of the Time Machine backup process creating a folder with several files. It’s when it converts the folder into a sparse bundle that it becomes inaccessible and can not be opened.

Hi,

Not sure it may help, but to make it work on TOS 7, I had to create a dedicated user for TimeMachine (and not use the super user of the NAS)

Hi!

I need help setting up Time Machine backups on an external USB hard drive.

1. In the Time Machine backup settings on my TNAS F4-424 7.0.0392, I've connected an external drive (a 500GB USB HDD). To configure it properly, I remove the default public folder (/Volume1/public) that is initially assigned for backups and create new folder on usb hdd.
2. However, after every reboot of the TNAS device, the public folder (/Volume1/public) reappears automatically and becomes the default directory again. As a result, the external drive or its designated folder become inaccessible and disappear from the list of available directories.
3. This means that every time I restart the TNAS device, I have to manually reconfigure the Time Machine backup process.
Question: How can I permanently set a custom folder on the external drive as the default backup location for Time Machine backups?

We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience you’ve experienced.

Based on your description, it is possible that the USB drive was not automatically mounted after the TNAS rebooted. We recommend checking the following first:

• Go to TOS Desktop > Storage Management > USB Disk to see whether the external drive is correctly detected and mounted.

• If it is not displayed, please try unplugging and reconnecting the USB drive, or testing with a different USB port or another USB drive to rule out hardware or compatibility issues.

To further identify the root cause, we kindly ask for your assistance in providing system logs:

• Go to Desktop navigation bar > Support & Help > Enable System Debug Mode.

• After enabling it, repeat the related actions (such as rebooting the system or reconnecting the USB drive).

• Once completed, please send the generated Debug log to us via email.

After receiving the logs, we will promptly arrange for our development engineers to analyze the issue and provide you with a solution as soon as possible.
Thank you for your understanding and support!