New folders empty after mac update

[Easy-R]

Hi everyone

I've been the proud owner of a Med600X3D for years now and I'm really happy with it. I've been on the Dutch forum since the beginning but now I'm checking here because I have a problem that seems hard to fix.

When I add new folders to my designated media folder, which I conveniently called "Mede8er", the folders are shown but look empty. so I can't play the movies inside.

So here's what happened. My mede8er was without power for two weeks because I forgot my adapter somewhere.  When I plugged it back in it worked ok but when I added new folders to my shared folder they showed up empty on the Mede8er. I first thought it had something to do with the long interruption of power. Like it had reseted or something? Not likely but you know...

A bit later I realised that in the mean time I had updated my Mac to OS Mojave so I figured that was the reason. The NFS Manager app I use is quite old and has never been updated. It was transferred to a new Mac in June using Time Machine. I never had any issues until now. I couldn't update the app anymore so I uninstalled it and installed the latest version of NFS Manager.

This made things worse because now I was unable to play anything! Using a guide on this forum I was able to get the older files to play again but the new folders still show up empty. Which is funny because the older version of NFS manager worked as long as the Mede8er was connected and I could add new folders without any problems!

There's a solutions page on the NFS manager site. I've done all of these things.
This is it https://www.bresink.com/osx/143439/Docs-en/pgs/0540-TMediaBox.html
The firmware on my Mede8er is the latest.
I've done many reboots of both the mac and the Mede8er to make sure effects took place.
I made sure the "show all files" box is checked.

So I am kind of desperate here. Anyone have any ideas?

Any help would be enormously appreciated.

R.

[K.B.Nikto]

Before I installed a NAS I used NFS Manager on Mac. This was in the days of Yosemite & El Capitan. In order to use NFS reliably, I had to turn off Samba in the Advanced Options of the Sharing preference pane. I haven't gone from High Sierra to Mojave yet but I'd assume that option is still there. Unless you need Windows file sharing for other purposes, you might try making sure that's off.

I also needed to make sure that Samba was turned off in the Med, but you've likely already done that. You might try alternating between TCP and UDP in the NFS Options to see if that makes a difference.

I wasn't sure from what you said whether you do or don't have an updated NFS Manager. Whatever version you reinstalled, I do remember that I had to define NFS shares within the app. Perhaps deleting those shares and redefining them could result in proper functioning.

It could be that I'm being no help to you so far, but what I would do after trying everything NFS-related is try using just Samba sharing in both the Mac and Med in order to see if the folders repopulate.

Not having Mojave, I can't test further to make suggestions, but the possibility does exist that Mojave simply screwed up NFS sharing. Also, every subsequent Mac OS seems to relegate to the abandonment pile (or cripple in one way or another) more and more apps that aren't yet 64-bit. Marcel Bresink might have more insight than is what is contained on that support page.

The last possibility is, as he stated there, the NFS protocol in the Mede8er is just too old to function properly within the new Mojave OS. I've had a problem properly logging into the shares on my NAS with NFS since updating the QNAP NAS OS. I've suspected a permissions issue but can't find anything awry, and I've also wondered if its implementation of NFS was just too new for the Med.

BTW, if you didn't know, there will be no more Mede8er updates because the units' CPUs are so outdated. Consequently, there's no chance that the NFS protocol can be updated.

I hope something here might help or that you can determine something else that's causing the problem. If you do, please comment back to this. Good luck!

[Easy-R]

Hey thanks a lot for your reply.

I went through your suggestions and rebooted the mac and the Mede8er to make sure effects took place.

It turned out that inthe Sharing preferences pane both Sharing through AFP and SMB were turned on. I turned both off but with no result. I actually thought that some time ago a mac Os no longer supported SMB sharing or at least I thought there was some problem with the mede8er. I even think that was the reason I went for NFS for sharing.

Samba on the mede8er was turned off as you (and I) already expected. So no issue there.

I also tried deleting and adding the shared folder in NFS manager (again reboot) but also no effect. When I installed the latest version of NFS manager I had to go through some steps to make it a privileged user in the security and privacy pane. I might trying deleting and adding this one to but I doubt it will have any effect.

I read somewhere about other nfs problems. I think it was Windows related and also I can't find it anymore. But someone said there was probably a problem with synchronisation and the mede8er falls back on the latest directory. Hence the old folders are ok but the new ones fail to load properly. Also it seems that mediaplayers stay connected in some way to the share. This would explain that it worked until I unplugged it from it's electricity source.

I'm going to call Apple support on Monday  and see if they can (or want to) tell me anything useful.

Or I could try using SMB protocol.

And if anyone has any ideas please don't hesitate to share your thoughts!

Thanks already.

R.

[K.B.Nikto]

Thanks for the update on what you've done.

One thing just came to mind because of your comment about old shares. I intend to try this but haven't had a chance yet: Factory reset on the Med8er and then reload if necessary the firmware and bootloader updates.

Please let us know what Apple says and any other of your travels/travails toward rectifying the issue. I'll do the same.

Best,
KB

[Easy-R]

Thanks again for the feedback.

So I talked to Apple support today. They say that since it's not an Apple app and I didn't get it from the Appstore they can't offer any support. I must say I wasn't surprised. They did help and try seeing if there's an app in the appstore that could replace nfs manager but apparently there isn't. They say there's not really any settings that can or need to be adjusted in the mac OS.

So much for Apple support.

I'll be sending an email today to NFS manager support and see if they are familiar with the problem.

Will certainly update this topic when I have a reply.

About the factory reset of the mede8er. I'm afraid this will also have an influence on the access I have to my older folders. So I'm going to keep this option as a last resort.

Considering the time I've spent on this issue I'm also considering getting a Raspberry Pi or perhaps even an Apple TV (if this works) to fix things. But then I would have to look into this, which would also take time.

Best

R.

[K.B.Nikto]

I use Apple TV but outside of playing things through iTunes, I don't know of a way to directly access files for playback. There are a few (I think) apps that provide an interface, like Plex, but my preference would be to simply play the files from a local drive like we had done through the Med.

I also have a Roku box and there is an app that will directly read off attached USB drives. I think it's called something exotic like "Roku USB."

By the way, I dislike Samba so much because it's such a slow protocol as compared to NFS. Large files simply don't play reliably smoothly.

Something you can do with an Apple TV is Airplay the file from your Mac. Cumbersome, but works if it's an mp4 or .mov. MKVs still are incompatible. And I haven't tried it with a DTS track and that might not directly play since ATV only deals with Dolby Digital and Atmos.

One other workaround is a Mac app called Beamer. It works niftily and will play any format of video or audio and convert it on the fly to something ATV will play. This needs to be played on the Mac and it automatically is sent to ATV.

A lot of workarounds that all take time and come with their own limitations. My preference would still be, ultimately, to use the Med (unless it's 4K, which it can't handle) because I've seen no player that works so seamlessly and with a great interface. Unfortunately, accessing the files in the first place is one of those "gotcha" prerequisites.   

[Easy-R]

Why Apple Tv doesn't support MKV is a mistery to me too.

And you're right to say that all the workarounds have their limitations. The Mede8er is just easy to use and works great. Also video quality is better than any casting situation or software players I know.

Well it turns out that Dr. Bresink from NFS Manageris a helpful and friendly guy :-). I already got a message back form him.
Here it is


thank you very much for your interest in NFS Manager and your technical
question on macOS.


Am 03.12.2018 um 13:04 schrieb Automatic Mailer bresink.com <webmaster@bresink.com>:
> I'm contacting you because of a problem I have with my mediaplayer.
>
> After updating to Mac OS Mojave, new folders (movies) that I add to my shared folder appear empty on the mediaplayer.

This usually indicates that the user account on the media player does not have
permission to see the contents of the shared folder.

> [...]
> The NFS manager app I was using was quite old and has been transferred to a new iMAc with Time Machine.

NFS Manager is a management user interface and has nothing to do with the file
sharing itself. It is completely unrelated to the issue you describe.

> [...]
> Is this a problem that you are familiar with?

This is a typical problem with any NFS server if you don't use synchronized
user accounts. Just review the ownership and access settings for each of the
shared files, and check whether Apple's file server on the Mac has recorded
NFS-related issues in the system log.

If I can be of further assistance, please let me know.

Best regards,
Marcel Bresink

I'll be answering him today. He says it's a simple matter of permissions but I think it's more complicated than that.

I'll keep updating.

Best

R.

Edit : oh yeah. anyone know where to find the log for file transfers on an iMac?

[Easy-R]

Unfortunately, Dr. Bresink has not replied to my follow up mail.

So I'm kinda out of options. On Monday, if I have time, I'm going to try and downgrade my OS back to High Sierra. If this solves the problem I will be sure that the OS is the cause of the problem.

Does anyone know where to find file server logs in the OS Mojave?

R.

[Breezsx]

What you can do is to develop a good story like this.