diff --git a/src/img/2026/fixing-smb-transfers-on-mac/after.png b/src/img/2026/fixing-smb-transfers-on-mac/after.png new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8483743 Binary files /dev/null and b/src/img/2026/fixing-smb-transfers-on-mac/after.png differ diff --git a/src/img/2026/fixing-smb-transfers-on-mac/before.png b/src/img/2026/fixing-smb-transfers-on-mac/before.png new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0b27f25 Binary files /dev/null and b/src/img/2026/fixing-smb-transfers-on-mac/before.png differ diff --git a/src/posts/2026-04-05-fixing-smb-transfers-on-mac.md b/src/posts/2026-04-05-fixing-smb-transfers-on-mac.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6740643 --- /dev/null +++ b/src/posts/2026-04-05-fixing-smb-transfers-on-mac.md @@ -0,0 +1,59 @@ +--- +title: Fixing SMB transfers on Mac +summary: My notes on how to fix SMB transfer speeds on Mac Tahoe on Unraid NAS +tags: + - Server + - SMB + - Unraid + - Mac Tahoe +--- + +Setting up my NAS last year was probably one of the best things I did, I'll try and do another post on all that but the long and short is I'm using an old PC with Unraid. + +Unraid gives you a few options to connect to your NAS, I first tried SMB, I really liked how Mac Finder just discovered it, I didn't have to remember any IP addresses or special commands. + +Reads were good, I could browse directories pretty quick, open up files fine. But writing was extremely slow, and worse with lots of files. + +At the time I didn't really know what to do, someone on the internet said try NFS and the transfers were much better. But today accidentally crashed my server (my fault not Unraid) and I thought ok time to give SMB another shot. + +I tested this by transfering a folder of varying sized MP4's. Finder doesn't have a fancy transfer rate window like windows does so I used Activity Monitors network view which does the job. + +![View of graph](../img/2026/fixing-smb-transfers-on-mac/before.png) + +This sawtooth pattern is weird, it looks like finder is transferring one file, then reading it before transferring the next. + +The internet said that macs aren't setup great for SMB performance. And after a while of trial and error I settled on this config + +```toml +[default] +# Disable signing +signing_required=no +# Turn off validation of the negotiate info (helps with signing issues) +validate_neg_off=yes +# Force SMB 3+ for better performance +protocol_vers_map=6 +``` + +After connecting to an smb share on mac we can run `smbutil statshares -a` to get a picture of what that looks like. Unfortunately for me `signing_require` didn't seem to change this to OFF even after restarting. + +```txt +SMB_CURR_SIGN_ALGORITHM AES_128_GMAC +``` + +I got the same transfer performance when I tested which confirmed more work needed to be done. This config might be unnecessary, and if thats the true I'll update this article. + +Next up lets make sure that signing is not on the NAS. In Unraid, Settings > SMB > Samba extra configuration: + +```toml +# Force signing off +server signing = disabled +strict sync = no +``` + +It was adding `strict sync = no` that made the difference, since adding my network transfer looked a lot more consistent. + +![View of graph](../img/2026/fixing-smb-transfers-on-mac/after.png) + +Speeds aren't amazing but this is equivalent to NFS so I'm happy. After [reading the docs](https://www.samba.org/samba/docs/using_samba/ch11.html) I think it was requiring the server to do a WRITE > READ cycle for every file. + +Hopefully this will help you, or more likely future me after I've forgotten about this