10/10/2025
Todayโs adventure: fixing a NAS that decided to take a nap instead of working fast. ๐
My client, Dave, has a Synology DS923+ with a 10-Gig LAN card installed. But the problem? His Mac Studio was crawling at just 1-Gig, even slower speed.
So, I started digging. First, I gathered all the info, NAS setup, router details, home network map, basically everything that could be guilty.
And then I found it. The NAS 10-Gig port was connected to the routerโฆ which only supports 1-Gig. ๐ No wonder it was slow!
But Dave wanted full 10-Gig speed with his Mac Studio. So how do you get 10-Gig when your router is stuck at 1-Gig?
Hereโs the trick ๐
The Mac Studioโs Ethernet port supports 10-Gig, and the NAS already has a 10-Gig card. So I asked him to connect them ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐๐น๐ NAS to Mac.
Done? Nope, not yet. ๐
The Mac still needed internet via Wi-Fi, and the NAS still had to talk to the rest of the home network.
So, I configured the NASโs 1-Gig port to stay connected to the router (for home devices + internet) and set up a ๐๐ฒ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐๐ฒ ๐ญ๐ฌ-๐๐ถ๐ด ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ ๐น๐ถ๐ป๐ธ between NAS and Mac.
Then I created a unique IP range just for NASโMac (no default gateway), tuned both MTUs to ๐๐๐บ๐ฏ๐ผ ๐ต๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ฌ, and adjusted Macโs network priority to prefer Ethernet.
And just when I thought we were done, I noticedโฆ he was using a ๐๐๐ง ๐ฑ๐ฒ cable, which capped the speed limit to 1Gig. ๐
Thatโs a 1-Gig party cable. So I told him to switch to ๐๐๐ง ๐ฒ, we rebooted both NAS and Mac, and BOOM ๐ฅ full 10-Gig speed unlocked.
Dave was happy, I was happier, and the NAS finally ran like it should.
Heโs got a few more network gremlins Iโll be tackling soon, and I plan to upload the full live troubleshooting steps on YouTube.
Comment โ๐๐ป๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐๐๐ฒ๐ฑโ if youโd like to see the step-by-step process!
Till then, stay curious, stay cool. ๐