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> Why are all these things still in the macOS?

The Finder shows these icons for network volumes.

How does the Finder determine the model of the remote host? This is metadata in the _device-info._tcp Bonjour service record that is the server advertises. My Synology helpfully shows up as an Xserve, in fact:

  $ dns-sd -L "synology" _device-info._tcp local
  Lookup synology._device-info._tcp.local
  DATE: ---Thu 07 Aug 2025---
  0:24:28.117  ...STARTING...
  0:24:28.378  synology._device-info._tcp.local. can be reached at synology.local.:0 (interface 14)
  model=Xserve


The AFP server in our old office often showed up as a Xserve that quickly helped identify it

While the normal file server showed up as a CRT with the legally distinct windows blue screen


I encountered this when setting up a Time Machine volume for my wife. In samba shares you can set that value in smb.conf by adding

  fruit:model=ModelX,Y
MacOS will accept plenty of device names that perhaps don't make sense for file servers (I have mine set to Watch6,18), but it makes sense realizing that Bonjour is used for a lot more than just network volumes.


Wow. Last time I did that, it was still AFP shares. Time Machine wouldn't recognize anything else.


RIP AFP




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