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stevenp73540594
Participant
December 2, 2021
Question

Lightroom causes MacOS to lose SMB connection to Synology NAS

  • December 2, 2021
  • 6 replies
  • 6836 views

Hi,

I'm a recent convert to Mac and have started opening my Windows created catalogues on the MacBook. As this is a recently new resubscription, the lrcat files need upgrading.

As the photo filesystem has changed since my last subscription, I'm forcing LR to Synchronise Folders.Within a few minutes this causes Finder to lose the SMB shares, it moves into a state of "Connecting". I can force a restart on Finder and some times it may eventually come back for a few minutes, maybe not...

 

LR is the only application causing this issue, I've had the MacBook for a month or so and have never experienced this with anything other than Lightroom - anyone seen this before?

FYI I've confgured Max of SMB3 and Min of SMB2 on the NAS.

    6 replies

    H
    hduraes
    Participant
    December 16, 2024

    Tried the suggestions on this page and none worked.

     

    Found this page and configured samba on the Synology NAS as indicated: https://wiki.samba.org/index.php/Configure_Samba_to_Work_Better_with_Mac_OS_X. So far everything is working fine. I'll update if any issue returns.

    T
    TurlachMacD
    Participant
    January 2, 2025

    I spent a while troubleshooting LR and DaVinci both causing my MacBook from disconnecting from my Synology NAS. Neither was Synology or Adobe to blame. Apple was due to a bug in their smb protocols. 

    The solution listed here worked for me. 
    <a href-"https://www.reddit.com/r/MacOS/comments/1fnug2a/comment/lor4kv1/"> the solution at reddit. </a>

      cmgap
      Community Expert
      cmgapCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      January 2, 2025

      Thank you for posting this. I am seeing issues on my mac as well. The solution posted on reddit is for windows. If anyone has suggestions for mac please post here and TIA!

      mfiorentino
      mfiorentino
      Participating Frequently
      November 18, 2022

      Hello all,

       

      Your situation might differ from mine. But I have had an extensive support case going together with Synology. In my case, the problem lies in macOS and its handling of files during communication through the SMB file service. Technically, the issue appears to be with the extended attributes of the files being too large, which in turn causes the hanging of the SMB service. This, in turn, makes Lightroom halt, and the SMB connection to the NAS is lost afterwards.

       

      A hotfix is to add "smb2 max read=4194304" to the "/etc/samba/smb.conf" configuration file and restart the SMB service. The Synology engineers did this and told me about it afterwards, so I have no idea how to do it myself. And I was also told that this hotfix might not work correctly further down the road (regarding macOS/Synology DSM updates).

       

      So, to sum up, the problem is macOS and its communication with SMB. I have read other posts online regarding this, and it seems like macOS is prone to similar problems when dealing with this file service. I hope this sheds some more light on the matter.

       

      Cheers,

      Massimo

       

      UPDATE 23rd of May 2023:

      Another thing I have found to help with SMB-related issues is to turn off Transport Encryption and Server Signing. It is mainly related to speed issues, but I presume this would also help with LrC in general.

        S
        Stephen Byerley
        Known Participant
        May 28, 2023

        I actually had lingering problems when storing my pictures on my Synology NAS over SMB. LR would get stuck at the end of the import phase (wait bar would be stuck). I resolved the problems by switching to AFP - smoother and bug free. I have grown really tired of SMB over the years. Only brought problems.

         

        My configuration: Mac mini 2018 runing macOS Ventura 13.4

        Lightroom Classic 12.3 Release

        Ian Lyons
        Community Expert
        Ian LyonsCommunity Expert
        Community Expert
        May 28, 2023

        Why are moving to a protocol that Apple no longer supports. Surely, it would be better to understand/fix the issues that SMB is causing you.

         

        https://www.macworld.com/article/234926/using-afp-to-share-a-mac-drive-its-time-to-change.html

          GoldingD
          GoldingD
          Legend
          August 21, 2022

          Please clarify.

          Where are you locating the catalog?

          mfiorentino
          mfiorentino
          Participating Frequently
          August 22, 2022
          @GoldingD wrote:

          Please clarify.

          Where are you locating the catalog?

           

          The catalogue is local. Only the images themselves are on the NAS. If I understand your question correctly?

          mfiorentino
          mfiorentino
          Participating Frequently
          August 21, 2022

          I have the same problem.

          I only need to work for one or two minutes before I have to disconnect my Mac, so all network connections are cut off before I can proceed. I cannot do anything with Lightroom before the server connection closes and Lightroom/macOS Finder "hangs" (like not a serious hang where things need to be force-closed but connection and LR updates "stalls").

          Using LRC 11.5 & macOS Monterey 12.5.1. On the Synology NAS, I have set everything up as correctly as possible regarding both SMB & firewall, having traversed almost all pages regarding this on the net. Yet, LRC & SMB are not good friends - everything else works just fine.

          I would hate to have current year photos locally present for LRC because that defies the whole idea with NAS. Any experiences with this would be greatly appreciated.

          mfiorentino
          mfiorentino
          Participating Frequently
          August 21, 2022

          To elaborate when I say "everything else works just fine",: As an example, I have no problem running and editing 4K video files using Final Cut Pro on the NAS.

          S
          stevenp73540594Author
          Participant
          December 30, 2021

          Thanks for this, i'll certainly keep this in the bag for later. I found a work around, it was less than ideal but worked.

          1) Open the LR Catalogues on the Windows PC (wired to the LAN) and generate sync the catalogue with the file system.

          2) Move the catalogue over to the Mac (running Monteray)

           

          It seems ok to sync minor changes, it just seems to lose the plot where lots of photos are concerned.

           

          Many thanks for the feedback.

          cmgap
          Community Expert
          cmgapCommunity Expert
          Community Expert
          December 30, 2021

          YW - I think that working with both mac and windows platforms adds a level of complexity. I recently upgraded to a 16" M1 mbp and thought there might be an issue with Monterey and M1 working with my Synology. The Time Machine backup took a couple of days to get sorted out but I left it plugged in so it could run uninterrupted and all connections are back online and working as before. If you keep the connections from going to sleep that may help.

          cmgap
          Community Expert
          cmgapCommunity Expert
          Community Expert
          December 15, 2021

          I also have a Synology and I recently read this: https://mariushosting.com/connection-problem-between-synology-nas-and-macos-catalina/

          I'm not sure what OS you are on but thought this areticle might be helpful.

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