Best way for Macs to access Windows Server file shares?

Posted by OneSad1993@reddit | sysadmin | View on Reddit | 33 comments

We were using Acronis Files Connect which was super nice because it allowed super fast spotlight search for the mac users as Acronis would create its own index. However Apple is removing AFP the next update and Acronis Files Connect is EOL as a result of its deprecation. Anyone here have Mac's that connect to a windows file server and find a way to allow seamless spotlight search?

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33 Comments

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mods_are_lame1@reddit

Smb

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intoned@reddit

NFS shares might work for you.

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Unfair-Nature9314@reddit

Interject a MacOS as a relay Mount the Windows share on Mac acting as a server, reshare it via SMB, and let macOS handle the Spotlight indexing. Hacky but it works and keeps everything in Apple's ecosystem. Realistically, HELIOS is the only drop in replacement that matches what Acronis Files Connect was doing. But very pricey. Just get hacky, best way out without budget.

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No_Yesterday_3260@reddit

Sounds like a recipe for possible performance bottleneck :O

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uptimefordays@reddit

Does SMBv3 not work?

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MisterBazz@reddit

This. Samba has worked for years.

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machacker89@reddit

Smb://{Either The IP Address or the server name} been like that since the early Mac OS X days. Lol

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Cooleb09@reddit

Yeah, except SMB on mac has been broken for years and performs poorly with windows servers. IIRC samba has a 'fruit' setting you can enable that helps.

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machacker89@reddit

It has .I acknowledge that

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HorseShedShingle@reddit

Yup. Cmd K Smb://{SERVER}

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CaptainSlappy357@reddit

Still blows my mind the hoops people will jump through and the mental machinations required to justify attempting to integrate Macs in a Windows/AD/Entra world. There’s no way the ROI will ever be worth the effort it takes to even half-ass it.

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bryan4368@reddit

Yeah no. I support both Windows and Mac computers. I’ve never had to deal with a user saying their MacBook is “slow”. I get less tickets from Mac users. Windows users always come to me with some sort of software bug or hardware issue. This is where Mac’s shine.

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Hangikjot@reddit

I've always wanted to like Macs, unix like and all that, but our user base just can't seem to use them well. So when the business measured output of users with windows and macs, Windows won out on productivity. So on that metric Macs don't have business support.

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FrivolousMe@reddit

Macs are definitely easier for users but can be a nightmare to administer in the wrong environment, even compared to windows

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CarnivalCassidy@reddit

And yet, sometimes it needs to be done. We don't get to pick and choose what our jobs require us to do, or give up every time we are faced with a challenge.

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CaptainSlappy357@reddit

>and yet, sometimes it needs to be done Only in a badly managed environment where some dumbass executive’s new and shiny preference or some snowflake developer has convinced someone they’re the second coming of Christ and their absolute need to print “hello world” on a Mac overrules the judgment of the very people the organization pays to know better.

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mixduptransistor@reddit

You must be a fucking joy to work with

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CaptainSlappy357@reddit

Prove me wrong. Make a valid argument. I’ll tell you my environment is indeed a joy to work in, where accessing a fucking file share doesn’t need a “hack”.

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VainTrix@reddit

Ya bro, just a heads up; your opinion isn’t a fact. Welcome to the real world.

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GamerDude290@reddit

Mac’s are 1000x better to develop on than windows. Most software companies offer their developers an option to develop on Mac or windows.

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ArborlyWhale@reddit

Local AI, cheaper hardware, better battery life, happier employees.

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RedOwn27@reddit

Why would you come to a sub like this and post in that manner? You make yourself look like a massive baby. Grow up.

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natefrogg1@reddit

Running local models on a Mac is way cheaper than on a windows or Linux pc, apple silicon and Unix under the hood with a pretty UI kick ass CMD+k then enter the smb:// address and login, not very hacky imho but different strokes and all

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alpha417@reddit

Maximal base-age.

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GamerDude290@reddit

Except for the fact that Mac’s are far better machines to develop on than windows

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B1naryD1git@reddit

Downvoted for industry ignorance

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Bogus1989@reddit

smb://ipaddressofwindowsserver

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ZAFJB@reddit

use DNS

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hb_2410@reddit

With AFP/Acronis gone, there’s unfortunately no direct replacement for that native Spotlight experience on Windows SMB shares. macOS doesn’t consume the Windows search index, so Finder searches will remain limited/slow. In practice, options are either moving to a storage solution that supports macOS Spotlight indexing (e.g., Samba/NAS with Spotlight support), using client-side indexing tools, or accepting the SMB search limitations.

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Xibby@reddit

Macs can connect to SMB just fine, they just won’t get speedy searches. Time to move over to OneDrive, GoogleDrive, whatever and share files/folders that way because.

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stiffgerman@reddit

>Cloud is native, file servers are legacy. Until you're moving very large files around. While audio production can be somewhat reasonably done via cloud storage, video production doesn't work so well. Or complex CAD (not really an Apple concern). Or complex signal analysis (think high-speed instrumentation of complex events).

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FrivolousMe@reddit

For video production pipelines wouldn't Linux file servers or even just a NAS be preferable anyways?

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Old-Flight8617@reddit

We learned the hard way to not use cloud storage, specially for large datasets.