I have been using a Synology DS1522 NAS to try to backup a Mac over a VPN. Sometimes it connects and works fine, and other times it gets stuck as “Connecting to backup disk…” Does anyone know a solution?

One thing I learned, thanks to asking BING AI’s chat, is that SMB is preferred rather than AFP:

Types of disks you can use with Time Machine on Mac – Apple Support

Tip: If given the choice between SMB and AFP, use SMB to back up to your external backup disk.

– Types of disks you can use with Time Machine on Mac – Apple Support

I went in to the Synology NAS control panel and disabled AFP and enabled SMB as well as Bonjour over SMB. We shall see if this helps…

Please leave a comment if you found this post while looking for a solution. I may have figured it out by the time you read this, and just forgot to update this post.