diff --git a/app/Models/S3Storage.php b/app/Models/S3Storage.php
index 3f6ee51cc..90232a151 100644
--- a/app/Models/S3Storage.php
+++ b/app/Models/S3Storage.php
@@ -14,6 +14,10 @@ class S3Storage extends BaseModel
 {
     use HasFactory, HasSafeStringAttribute;
 
+    private const CONNECTION_TIMEOUT_SECONDS = 15;
+
+    private const REQUEST_TIMEOUT_SECONDS = 15;
+
     protected $fillable = [
         'name',
         'description',
@@ -157,6 +161,10 @@ public function testConnection(bool $shouldSave = false)
                 'bucket' => $this['bucket'],
                 'endpoint' => $this['endpoint'],
                 'use_path_style_endpoint' => true,
+                'http' => [
+                    'connect_timeout' => self::CONNECTION_TIMEOUT_SECONDS,
+                    'timeout' => self::REQUEST_TIMEOUT_SECONDS,
+                ],
             ]);
             // Test the connection by listing files with ListObjectsV2 (S3)
             $disk->files();
@@ -164,11 +172,12 @@ public function testConnection(bool $shouldSave = false)
             $this->unusable_email_sent = false;
             $this->is_usable = true;
         } catch (\Throwable $e) {
+            $exception = $this->toUserFriendlyConnectionException($e);
             $this->is_usable = false;
             if ($this->unusable_email_sent === false && is_transactional_emails_enabled()) {
                 $mail = new MailMessage;
                 $mail->subject('Coolify: S3 Storage Connection Error');
-                $mail->view('emails.s3-connection-error', ['name' => $this->name, 'reason' => $e->getMessage(), 'url' => route('storage.show', ['storage_uuid' => $this->uuid])]);
+                $mail->view('emails.s3-connection-error', ['name' => $this->name, 'reason' => $exception->getMessage(), 'url' => route('storage.show', ['storage_uuid' => $this->uuid])]);
 
                 // Load the team with its members and their roles explicitly
                 $team = $this->team()->with(['members' => function ($query) {
@@ -183,11 +192,25 @@ public function testConnection(bool $shouldSave = false)
                 $this->unusable_email_sent = true;
             }
 
-            throw $e;
+            throw $exception;
         } finally {
             if ($shouldSave) {
                 $this->save();
             }
         }
     }
+
+    private function toUserFriendlyConnectionException(\Throwable $exception): \Throwable
+    {
+        $message = str($exception->getMessage())->lower();
+
+        if ($message->contains(['timed out', 'timeout', 'connection refused', 'could not resolve', 'curl error 28'])) {
+            return new \RuntimeException(
+                'Could not connect to the S3 endpoint within 15 seconds. Please verify the endpoint, bucket, credentials, region, and network/firewall settings.',
+                previous: $exception,
+            );
+        }
+
+        return $exception;
+    }
 }
diff --git a/tests/Unit/S3StorageTest.php b/tests/Unit/S3StorageTest.php
index 6709f381d..ddf390443 100644
--- a/tests/Unit/S3StorageTest.php
+++ b/tests/Unit/S3StorageTest.php
@@ -1,6 +1,10 @@
 <?php
 
 use App\Models\S3Storage;
+use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Storage;
+use Tests\TestCase;
+
+uses(TestCase::class);
 
 test('S3Storage model has correct cast definitions', function () {
     $s3Storage = new S3Storage;
@@ -45,9 +49,72 @@
     expect($s3Storage->awsUrl())->toBe('https://minio.example.com:9000/backups');
 });
 
-test('S3Storage model is guarded correctly', function () {
+test('S3Storage model fillable attributes are configured correctly', function () {
     $s3Storage = new S3Storage;
 
-    // The model should have $guarded = [] which means everything is fillable
-    expect($s3Storage->getGuarded())->toBe([]);
+    expect($s3Storage->getFillable())->toBe([
+        'name',
+        'description',
+        'region',
+        'key',
+        'secret',
+        'bucket',
+        'endpoint',
+        'is_usable',
+        'unusable_email_sent',
+    ]);
+});
+
+test('S3Storage connection validation uses short s3 client timeouts', function () {
+    $disk = Mockery::mock();
+    $disk->expects('files')->once()->andReturn([]);
+
+    Storage::expects('build')
+        ->once()
+        ->with(Mockery::on(function (array $config) {
+            expect($config['http']['connect_timeout'])->toBe(15);
+            expect($config['http']['timeout'])->toBe(15);
+
+            return true;
+        }))
+        ->andReturn($disk);
+
+    $s3Storage = new S3Storage;
+    $s3Storage->setRawAttributes([
+        'name' => 'Test S3',
+        'region' => 'us-east-1',
+        'key' => null,
+        'secret' => null,
+        'bucket' => 'test-bucket',
+        'endpoint' => 'https://s3.amazonaws.com',
+    ]);
+
+    $s3Storage->testConnection();
+
+    expect($s3Storage->is_usable)->toBeTrue();
+});
+
+test('S3Storage connection validation returns friendly timeout error', function () {
+    $disk = Mockery::mock();
+    $disk->expects('files')
+        ->once()
+        ->andThrow(new RuntimeException('cURL error 28: Operation timed out after 15000 milliseconds'));
+
+    Storage::expects('build')->once()->andReturn($disk);
+
+    $s3Storage = new S3Storage;
+    $s3Storage->setRawAttributes([
+        'name' => 'Test S3',
+        'region' => 'us-east-1',
+        'key' => null,
+        'secret' => null,
+        'bucket' => 'test-bucket',
+        'endpoint' => 'https://s3.amazonaws.com',
+        'unusable_email_sent' => true,
+    ]);
+
+    expect(fn () => $s3Storage->testConnection())
+        ->toThrow(RuntimeException::class, 'Could not connect to the S3 endpoint within 15 seconds.');
+
+    expect($s3Storage->is_usable)->toBeFalse();
 });