Home Network CommunityFeature Request (Deco)Add Time Machine over SMB support, since AFP is officially deprecated on macOS
Feature Request (Deco)
 
8
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Add Time Machine over SMB support, since AFP is officially deprecated on macOS

  This repeated request has been merged into the main thread Future Time Machine Support on TP-Link Routers (macOS 27 Compatibility). Please vote on the main thread.

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8
Votes

Add Time Machine over SMB support, since AFP is officially deprecated on macOS

  This repeated request has been merged into the main thread Future Time Machine Support on TP-Link Routers (macOS 27 Compatibility). Please vote on the main thread.
This thread has been locked for further replies. You can start a new thread to share your ideas or ask questions.
Add Time Machine over SMB support, since AFP is officially deprecated on macOS
Add Time Machine over SMB support, since AFP is officially deprecated on macOS
2025-07-30 11:09:20 - last edited Thursday
Model: Deco BE65  
Hardware Version: V1
Firmware Version: 1.1.7 Build 20250324 Rel. 32980

As per this Apple article (see the subtext or Find --> AFP), AFP is deprecated, and there's a notification banner (and banner in the settings panel for Time Machine) that appears from macOS Sequoia 15.6 alerting users that AFP is confirmed to be losing support in future versions, therefore, I'm requesting that Deco's Time Machine feature advertises over SMB (ideally V3.1.1), which should not be a stretch to implement considering that Deco already supports Samba. Also, implementing the filesystem driver for APFS would be a nice addition. Thanks!

#1
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9 Reply
RE:Add Time Machine over SMB support, since AFP is officially deprecated on macOS
2025-09-02 09:57:29
+1
#2
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RE:Add Time Machine over SMB support, since AFP is officially deprecated on macOS
2025-09-08 14:47:49
Tried and failed to use external SSD, APFS format, as recommended by Apple. The AX3200 supports SMB and USB3. I was surprised the Time Machine feature didn’t work.
#3
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RE:Add Time Machine over SMB support, since AFP is officially deprecated on macOS
2025-09-10 18:18:30
Yes! I don't want my timemachine backups to stop working with a future macOS update.
#4
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RE:Add Time Machine over SMB support, since AFP is officially deprecated on macOS
2025-09-10 18:19:38
Try formatting the disk as exFAT with "standard" partitioning - not APFS. Deco doesn't support APFS disks.
#5
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Re:Add Time Machine over SMB support, since AFP is officially deprecated on macOS
2025-09-23 09:21:07

  @CyberFlame 

+1. 

#6
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Re:Add Time Machine over SMB support, since AFP is officially deprecated on macOS
2025-12-03 13:17:55

+1

Really need this, and other Lunix variant supports it. https://www.reddit.com/r/homelab/comments/83vkaz/howto_make_time_machine_backups_on_a_samba/ and https://reifschneider.digital/blog/ultimate-guide-samba-time-machine-backups?lang=en

#7
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RE:Add Time Machine over SMB support, since AFP is officially deprecated on macOS
2025-12-10 12:49:45
Not supporting APFS is a problem for TM too because with standard partitions one needs to specify physical partitions with specific capacity, while in APFS, logical partitions means that backing up two Mac’s to same USB drive allows both to share the capacity as needed without predetermined division in capacity.
#8
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Re:Add Time Machine over SMB support, since AFP is officially deprecated on macOS
2026-03-05 16:22:19

  @CyberFlame This is such a problem. I hope it is fixed soon. Was counting on being able to use time machine back up through the router.

#9
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Re:Add Time Machine over SMB support, since AFP is officially deprecated on macOS
2026-09-06 09:13:21 - last edited Thursday

  @CyberFlame 

Don't enable TimeMachine on TPlink.

Use SMB instead. 

Because the TPlink routers lack the vfs_fruit extensions, macOS 27 will refuse to show the mounted SMB drive in the standard Time Machine menu if you just click the + sign.

To bypass this protocol limitation, you must manually bypass the graphical user interface using Terminal to force the connection.

  • Map the drive in Finder eg (Cmd + K -> smb://192.168.68.1). Make sure you use your TPlink router IP address!
  • Open the Terminal app on your Mac.
  • Type the following command and press enter:

    bash

    sudo tmutil setdestination /Volumes/YOUR_MOUNTED_DECO_DRIVE_NAME
    (Replace YOUR_MOUNTED_DECO_DRIVE_NAME with the exact name of the drive as it appears on your desktop).
  • Type your Mac's login password when prompted.
  • The tmutil command bypasses Apple's strict SMB protocol checks and forces the backup engine to initialize a .sparsebundle on the Deco's NTFS drive, regardless of the missing server extensions.
#10
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