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KB ID: 4205

Configuring Mac OS X Time Machine with an LS520D



 

NOTICE:
As of September 15th 2025, with the release of MacOS 26 Tahoe, Apple has deployed step 1 of 2 towards the removal Time Machine over AFP protocol functionality. With this major release version of MacOS (26), only Existing Time Machine over AFP configurations will continue to function; it has been disclosed that in the next release, step 2, will completely remove Time Machine over AFP functionality.
 
Model Series Compatibility

LS700: Fully compatible with MacOS 26 Time Machine
TS3030/5020/71210: Fully compatible with MacOS 26 Time Machine

LS200: Not Compatible with MacOS 26 Time Machine, Firmware update Investigation in progress
TS3010/TS3020/TS5010/TS6000: Not Compatible with MacOS 26 Time Machine, Firmware update Investigation in progress
 
LS400/LS500:  No firmware update is planned, will continue to work with MacOS 15.x or older
TS1000/TS3000/TS5000: No firmware update is planned, will continue to work with MacOS 15.x or older
Older/Unlisted:  No firmware update is planned, will continue to work with MacOS 15.x or older

 

  1. Open the LinkStation GUI and click on the “Settings” icon in the quick launch menu.
  2. In the “System Settings” window click on the “AFP” icon under “Services”.
  3. Check the box to enable AFP and click the “Apply” button.
  4. You should get this message. It means that the service is enabled but no folders have the option turned on.
  5. Going back to the Settings menu, click on the “Folder Setup” icon under “Services”.
  6. This will show a list of shared folders. Click the “Add” button to create a new folder to be used for Time Machine.
  7. Give the folder a name and select the “AFP” box by LAN Protocols. Once that box is checked you can then check the “Time Machine” box to enable Time Machine to access this folder. Once all settings are correct click “OK”.
  8. You should get this notification.
  9. From the Mac desktop click on the Apple logo from the menu bar and select “System Preferences”.
  10. Click “Time Machine”.
  11. Click on “Select Backup Disk”.
  12. Click on the Time Machine share you created earlier. The name will be based on the NAS name and folder name you created.
  13. Enter the login information. This can be a user created for this purpose or login as admin.
  14. Time Machine should automatically be turned on now. You can optionally select to have Time Machine shown in the menu bar. At this point setup is complete, you can close out of all open windows.
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