Please help to figure this out

WD Legacy Products My Book Live
1

I just got a 2 TB Mybook Live and have some setup questions…

I want to have folders for pictures, videos, music, etc that anyone on my network can view without entering a password. But I need to be able to modify or add files to these folders such as by entering a password first.   I have tried but I just don’t understand the concept of shares and am afraid of locking everyone out - including myself. This has happened to me before with other drives.

Also, if it doesn’t interfere with the goal in the paragraph above, I would also like to be able to give my users a directory or folder where they can store there own files or edits to the pictures above without saving them back and writing over the pictures that everyone has access to.

Lastly, if it does not interfere with the goals in the first two paragraphs, I would like to have a folder or folders where they can save their changes to pictures that any user can access. Clearly, these folders would be fully accesable to everyone.

I’m sorry if this sounds like very basic stuff but I am having trouble figuring it all out. I understand that I need to create permissions or shares but don’t understand the specifics. Currently, my files are stored in the default directories that were on the drive when I got it.

I would also like to lock down the “Software” directory where the install files are located.

Thanks for your help,

Tim

2

You cannot make a “read only” Public folder.  

Everything else you describe is possible.

3

Wow. That’s a let down. Is there any other way to make a folder that everyone can read from but not write to?

Maybe create separate users for each one of them?

My daughter is a total menace with her too sensitive touch pad. She’s always “loosing” files by accidentally moving them and them I have to find them for her.

Does anyone know of another NAS device or another method that I could use to achieve this? All I want is to be able to protect my pictures but still let my family view them. My old method was keeping separate copies on each computer but that was a lot of work.

Thanks,

Tim

4

GJRipper wrote:

Wow. That’s a let down. Is there any other way to make a folder that everyone can read from but not write to?

Sure.   ANY share can be Read Only.   But it must have a “User” to log in.

This really isn’t as big of an issue as you might think.

Example:   Let’s say you have three people in your household.  Call them A, B, and C.  You want ALL of them to have READ WRITE access to the same share (Called XXX).   You want Each individual to have their OWN share that only THEY have read-write access to (Call the shares A, B, and C to match their user names.).   In addition, you want them ALL to have READ-ONLY access to another share, called YYY.

First, you’d create users A, B, and C.   As you create each user, you can tell the MBL to create their own private share.

Then you’d create SHARE XXX and SHARE YYY.

When you create XXX, you tell the MBL to give users A, B, and C  READ-WRITE access to that share.

When you create YYY, you tell the MBL to give users A, B, and C READ-ONLY access to that share.

So when user A logs into the MBL using the username “A” and whatever password, they will have:

Read Write access to Share “A”

Read Write access to Share “XXX”

ReadOnly access to Share “YYY”

NO access to Share B or C.

Read Write access to ALL Public Shares

Similarly, Username “B” would have:

Read Write access to Share “B”

Read Write access to Share “XXX”

ReadOnly access to Share “YYY”

NO access to Share A or C.

Read Write access to ALL Public Shares

 … and so on.

Finally, You, as “Super-User,” or “Owner” can log into the MBL using YOUR account and have:

Read Write access to Share A, B, C, XXX, YYY and all Public shares.

See?

5

Thank you. I’ll try to set it up that way post back how it works out. Thanks again.

6

Hi.

Sorry it took me so long to post back…

I set the drive up as instructed and everything went fine. However, I am unable to create folders or copy files to the new share described above as YYY.

When I look at the share it says only Admin has write permission and everyone else has read only - which is what I want. But when I map a drive to it (YYY) or navigate to it in windows explorer (windows 7), I get a message saying I need permission to create a folder or copy a file there. How do I “log in” to it via explorer to make it recognize me as admin?

Thanks.

7

Disconnect all mapped shares to the box, reboot your PC, then remap.  When authenticatEd, use the credentials you want.