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Start9 Docs Guides Device Guides Mac Mac Network Folder

Mac Network Folder¶

Setup a Network Folder
Connect Your Server

Setup a Network Folder ¶

Please select what version of MacOS you are using from the two tabs below:

Identify or create a folder you would like to use to store your Start9 server’s backups.

Tip

You can select an external drive or folder within an external drive connected to your Mac if you’d like.
Go to System Settings:
Click on General then Sharing:
Click the toggle to enable file sharing and then click info icon:
Click on the “+” icon and select the folder you would like to make backups to:
Once added, click Options:
Enable SMB sharing for the user you want to use and then click Done:
Click Done to close this window. You can now move on to connecting your server.

Tip

You can find the hostname at the bottom of sharing window. You will need this in the next step.

Connect Your Server ¶

Go to the System tab and click Create Backup:
Click Open New:
You will now see the following:
Enter the credentials as follows:
- Hostname - This is the name of your computer.
  
  Tip
  
  Sometimes it can be unclear what your Mac’s hostname is. Check the tip in Step 8 of the section above to find it. On some versions of Mac, you may need to open up Terminal and type hostname as below:
- Path - This is the name of the shared folder you are using and not the full directory path.
  
  Tip
  
  If you copied the share name from the Mac computer and it contained a space, macOS will have replaced the space with the string “%20”. Please re-replace %20 with a space in this Path field.
- Username - This is the user on the remote machine that you used to create the shared directory.
- Password - This is the password to the above user.
Note

If you are on MacOS Catalina (version 10.15.7), and the backup fails, please see this Apple support thread. If the provided solution still doesn’t work, SMB file sharing probably will not work for this old Mac. Consider backing up to a USB thumb drive instead.
Note

If you recently updated to MacOS Ventura (version 13.2), and you cannot get the share to connect:
1. Turn off file sharing switch in General > Sharing
2. Restart macOS
3. Turn on file sharing switch in General > Sharing
Click Connect.

That’s it! You can now create encrypted, private backups of all your Start9 server’s data to your Mac.