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Overview

This is the build-and-break log for bringing a previously unstable TrueNAS/FreeBSD box back to a usable state after months of ugly crash behavior under VM load.

The short version:

• Salvaged hardware repurposed as a NAS
• A Fedora VM running Plex-related work could trigger a reboot loop
• Early on, the machine was already rebooting itself in a loop — even before the NVMe path failure showed up clearly in logs
• Hard evidence eventually pointed at one NVMe path (nvme2 / nda2) timing out and detaching under load
• Reseating the suspect SN770 and replacing its heatsink brought the mirror back online
• Current best hypothesis: physical seating, thermal contact, or mechanical instability — not a software bug

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(Mac Pro 2013 / Non-Secure Enclave Macs)

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⚠️ Scope

This guide applies only to pre-T2 Macs (e.g., Mac Pro Late 2013).

These machines:

• Do NOT have a T2 chip
• Do NOT enforce hardware Activation Lock
• Store iCloud / Find My bindings in macOS user & system databases

This will remove the local iCloud association without deleting the Apple ID account itself.

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🧠 Understanding the Architecture

On pre-T2 Macs:

• iCloud login state is stored locally in user databases
• Find My relies on account tokens
• There is no firmware-level enforcement

Removing the local databases clears the association from macOS.

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ISSUE

Every good storage failure starts innocently.

Plug in a brand-new Samsung T7.
Select it in Time Machine.
Click “Use Disk.”
Allow macOS to format the drive automatically.
Let the backup run. It may even complete once — maybe even a few more times.
Then it fails with a generic error:
“An error occurred while preparing the backup.”

Time Machine consistently failed during the “Preparing backup” phase on macOS 26.3 (Tahoe).

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Overview

This document is the exact build log for bringing up a production-grade Nextcloud instance inside a Bastille jail on TrashProBSD (FreeBSD 14.3-RELEASE) using:

• nginx
• php-fpm (PHP 8.2)
• PostgreSQL 17
• Redis
• APCu

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Date: 2026-02-10
Host: new Mac (macOS Tahoe)
Context: Migration Assistant clone from older Mac failed

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Summary

First day using macOS Tahoe, immediately greeted with a broken Migration Assistant clone from an older Mac. The system failed to reach the login window due to a corrupted SecurityAgent authorization plugin left behind by TeamViewer. This caused login to fail and wedged Setup Assistant in a deadlock during post-migration initialization.

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