Your NAS password and the keychain

Updated

Where the password is kept

When you connect to your NAS with a username and password, CloudBak saves the password in your Mac's keychain once the connection works. It's never stored anywhere else, and it's used only to connect to that NAS.

  • CloudBak keeps its own keychain item, named CloudBak followed by your server's name, such as CloudBak (nas.local). It never replaces a password Finder has saved for the same server.
  • The password is only saved when you also type a Username. If you connect as a guest, there's no password to save.
  • Your username is kept in CloudBak's settings on your Mac. The Destination screen shows it next to Account.

When CloudBak uses it

CloudBak uses the saved password whenever it has to connect to your NAS again: when you click Reconnect, when it reconnects by itself after your Mac wakes or the network comes back, during a backup, and before a scheduled backup.

When you connect again with the same username, you can leave Password empty and CloudBak uses the saved one.

If you change the password on your NAS

CloudBak can't connect with the old password, and Reconnect says The username or password wasn't accepted. Until you save the new one, a paused backup or a scheduled backup that's waiting keeps trying the old password, which can get the account locked on some NAS. See If your NAS or drive disconnects. Save the new password:

  1. If a backup is running or paused, click Stop. Change… is dimmed during a backup.
  2. Open Destination and click Change….
  3. Connect to Server shows your server and username already filled in. Type the new password next to Password, then click Connect.
  4. In the window that opens, choose the same backup folder you use now, then click Grant Access.
  5. Click Use This Destination.

Because it's the same folder, your backup and CloudBak's records of it stay as they are.

CloudBak goes by where the folder is, though. If macOS mounts the share somewhere else this time, such as /Volumes/Backups-1 instead of /Volumes/Backups, the same folder counts as a new destination. CloudBak then asks you to confirm with Change Destination, and stops keeping track of what it had backed up. The next backup recognizes the copies already in the folder, with the same size and date, instead of copying them again.

Removing the password

CloudBak doesn't delete the saved password itself, even if you change your destination or reinitialize its database. To remove it, delete the CloudBak item for your server, such as CloudBak (nas.local), from your keychain.