Printer Setup

Next time I forget how to set up my printer (little laser Samsung ML-1665 attached via USB to my QNAP TS-219P+ NAS), here's the reminder:

QNAP and TimeMachine troubles

Both of my Mac laptops (running MacOS X 10.9.3 Mavericks) stopped recognizing my NAS – QNAP TS-219P+, firmware version 4.1.0 (yes, it's a beta) – for TimeMachine backup. After trying all the obvious troubleshooting steps – disabling and re-enabling TimeMachine in NAS interface, restarting everything, etc., I decided to call QNAP technical support. I was pleasantly surprised – no holding, polite technician on the line, asked to remotely connect to my Mac via TeamViewer. Here's what he did:

1. In the web interface of the NAS, disable AFP in Control Panel / Win/Mac/NFS
2. Disable TimeMachine in Backup Station
3. ssh into the NAS, and delete all TimeMachine files (yes, including the backups) by doing this: rm -r /share/MD0_DATA/.timemachine 
4. (He found the MD0_DATA directory by doing df -h)
5. Re-enable TimeMachine in Backup Station (enter your password there); AFP gets re-enabled automatically
6. Wait for a bit...

The Macs magically saw TimeMachine share! One laptop prompted me for username (TimeMachine) and password – I must have done something with its keychain, while the other happily started the backup as if nothing at all happened.

Moral of the story – in the question of QNAP vs. Synology, I still prefer QNAP. Oh, and once in a while, when you get really stuck, it's ok to call tech support. QNAP's is excellent.