My Passport Wireless - Compatibility with other devices?

WD External Drives My Passport Wireless
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Hi everyone, this is rather a pre-sales questions around the My Passport Wireless, I’m thinking to buy one, and was wondering if anyone could help me with the following inquiries, here goes :slightly_smiling:

Here’s my current setup:

  • Samsung SmartTV, which has a SmartHub functionalities and currently plugged to my both AppleTV and a ChromeCast.
  • A Samsung regular TV (not a smart-one), but it has a HDMI & USB port, so decided to plug another Chromecast to it.
  • A modem & router that come from my ISP and another Wi-Fi as an range-expander and pretty much acting like a bridge from the unit that the ISP gave me.

So on to my questions:

  • For my Samsung SmartTV, does the My Passport Wireless, happen to have any native apps for the Samsung SmartTV edition, have tried to look for it in the Samsung SmartHub (Samsung’s SmartTV App Store), but seemed couldn’t find any?
  • The same thing with my AppleTV, does the My Passport Wireless has any native app for an AppleTV?
  • That goes the similar with the ChromeCast too.

So, my objective is pretty much straight forward, I wish to stream some movies from the My Passport Wireless, once I buy them and have them preloaded with movies and musics, while accessing directly from both my non-desktop and non-mobile devices much like a SmartTV, AppleTV and a ChromeCast.

Does the My Passport Wireless support my requirements? If it does, how would I implement them, should I connect it to my current Network, or should the devices just need to pair directly with My Passport Wireless?

Thanks everyone, any comments would be greatly appreciated it.

Cheers,
GLN

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Hi Gerry,

I don’t know if you realize what a loaded kind of post you made that could take anyone a long time to answer. Time is short for me now, as I am on west coast of US and should be in bed right now. But, since I started this reply, I will go for a while, but it will “have to be continued” some time later after your reply.

Anyway, I have a MPW, a Chromecast , no Smart TV, but I have a lot of gadgets that are “smarter” and can make a smart TV look less smart. So, you have a long laundry list of want-to’s here, and it makes me think you definitely could us a cool WD product; maybe just not a MPW; just yet.

You see, I can accomplish all you want with my MPW, but it takes things like tablets, phones and apps to get movies from the MPW to the TV, there are better ways to do that. (BTW, I don’t advise connecting a MPW to a Samsung Smart TV, firstly, the MPW is not made to be directly connected to a TV, and I have heard of damage made to MPW this way.) MPW is made for wireless use

I basically use the MPW for travel, and last vacation trip we brought it along and we watched a few movies wirelessly streamed from it at the condo resort we stayed in, because the TV was modern with an HDMI input. But, the MPW could not do it all; it just streamed to a Kindle tablet that happens to have an HDMI output jack on it, so I put in cable ends on Kindle and TV, used an app that could receive and play movie from MPW to Kindle, and we could watch the movie now on TV.

I told you all this so you know you can do almost anything today if you have the right gear with you. Not telling you this to give you idea to do it, too (although you could if you wanted to).

So, I am going to wrap this up soon, and leave you with my first suggestion: It seems you want to stream to a lot of devices in the home. So, I suggest you look into a product many people who want to do what you expressed are installing today. WD’s product is called a My Cloud. it is what is know as a NAS. It is a box with hard drive(s) in it that is connected to your network (via the router). No computer, tablets, phone or apps on at all. Just the NAS and your Smart TV are on. The NAS is on 24/7, but only running when you are using it to stream. Smart TVs can find the NAS on the network, so can other devices, like computers and mobile devices.

I have a NAS, it is not the basic one, so it “does more” and costs more, of course. But, a basic and affordable NAS can get the job of storage and streaming done, for sure. I have had it for a year or so and is the only device I use to stream movies and music from now, this includes to TV, to mobile devices, it even can be accessed from anywhere in the world given decent Internet speed at remote location.

So, go check out the My Cloud line of devices at the main WD website for your location. Report back later.

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Hi Mike,

Thank you for the explanation, I’m writing this post on the other side of the world, 2 weeks back I was still in NYC, timezone really creates the latency, so yeach, you should have gone to bed by now :slight_smile:

Well anyway, I realized the other option of having a NAS in my current setup, it’s just that, I’d figure if the MPW would meet my requirements, so I’d simply choose the MPW.

So, were you referring to this particular WD private cloud solution?

Thanks Mike.

Cheers.

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Hi @gerryleonugroho

So you can easily “hook up” the MPW direct to your existing wifi. The MPW can then act as a Mini-NAS and a dlna-Mediaserver

The MPW will occur as additonal media server in the TV

Again possible to use the MPW as direct attached via USB. But here, we have two issues. The one issue is the weight of the MPW, please don’t let it hang down only secured by the USB cable. The other one is the recording feature: don’t use this with MPW as the TV will / may format the MPW with encrypted file system which will stop all features of the MPW being available, no NAS-feature, no media server, nothing.

Best practice: hook up the MPW via Wireless into you home wifi and maybe connect a charging power supply to the MPW. Running on battery only may result in several hours time of operation until the MPW needs to be recharged.
How to hook up the MPW to your wifi is described on page 30 in the PDF of the English manual of My Passport Wireless.

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Hi @Joerg_A,

Thanks for the responds, really appreciate the information.

As previously shared with @mike27oct, a NAS-based solution might even be a better answer for the situation. I wouldn’t mind spending the extra investment to get the WD private cloud to meet my requirements.

So basically, there’s no native app yet for the Samsung SmartTV on their Samsung App Store, you know, the one with pretty covers and other built-in functionalities yet?

You see, I wish to have the setup to be something as user-friendly as possible for the wife, since she’s not really that too tech savvy. I wish to have the flow as easy as she’s enjoying NetFlix on the SmartTV, AppleTV or Chromecast on the iPhone, whereas she could easily just press those assigned Apps, and start enjoying the shows.

So would that imply there’s no native WD apps yet for the SmartTV, AppleTV and Chromecast that could turn the process easier for the non tech-savvy? Thanks @Joerg_A :slightly_smiling:

Best,
G

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At the end: yes, a My Cloud network storage would be much better.

You don’t need a special App, the MPW and the My Cluoud both have Twonky Media Server preinstalled. Twonky is the dlna-certified Media Server.

Of course, with a Samsung TV, you could even make use of the Plex Media Server, available as App on both TV and My Cloud. For a good user experience, the NAS should have a powerful CPU, so EX4100 or better DL4100.

The highest WAF* is given by the Plex Media Server on a EX4100 or DL4100 My Cloud and the Plex Client on a Samsung TV. Approved and confirmed by my wife :wink:

*WAF: Woman’s Acceptance Factor

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So, this Twonky thing will work also on my regular Samsung TV, with just HDMI or USB ports? I mean it has no WiFI or Network capabilities with it, unlike the SmartTV one.

LOL, I think, I’m getting myself the My Cloud version after this Q&A.

Thanks @Joerg_A :slightly_smiling:

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Gerry,

I see the WD manager Joerg stopped by to help you, too. I’m a forum member, like you, and not a WD employee.

It looks like we have you thinking in the right direct to go with a WD My Cloud NAS. Yes, a MPW can do the job, too, but there are too many “ifs, ands, or buts” associated with it being used as a “mini NAS” at home, and for maximum convenience and WAF the battery operation is not advisable. As I said, the best place and use of the MPW is when you are on the road with kids with tablets in the back seat, or on a trip and you want your music, photos and videos with you.

OK, the link you sent me to see is OK, but not enough info for you, so I will send you some other links from WD site:

What is a NAS, etc.
http://www.wdc.com/en/network-attached-storage/

Compare the basic My Cloud series

Compare the advanced My Cloud series

OK, so that you know what I have, I have the DL2100 NAS, and it is from the advanced series. As mine is configured, it has two drive bays, and inside are two, WD Red 4TB drives inside. One drive is a mirror image of the other, so I actually have just 4TB to store stuff on (I could set it up as not mirrored and have all 8TB available, and someday I might.) This configuration can cost over $600. BUT, you don’t need this; you can start off with a basic My Cloud for much less money – close to the price of a MPW.

OK, this will keep you busy reading for a while. I think if afterward you decide to definitely get a My Cloud, this conversation should be moved to the appropriate forum, later. I can check with a forum manager on how best to do this.

2 Likes
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Hi @mike27oct,

Nice wraps up, okay that settled everything, I think, I’d definitely go for the My Cloud Mirror (Gen 2). I’ll have them ordered from the local retailer in town.

I’ll report my findings soon enough with other devices at home, and how would they talk to one another. Will revert soon enough on this.

Thanks @mike27oct and @Joerg_A :slightly_smiling:

Cheers!
GLN

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OK Gerry!

I was hoping you would lean toward the Mirror. Good choice. What size do you want to get; the 2,3,4,6 or 8TB ? I took a look at the US Amazon.com site and see that the 4TB is the most popular size. Only you know how much data and media you want to store, so pick what size you need, and if undecided, get the next size up. (You will never be disappointed you got one “too big”, but you could be disappointed if you get one “too small”.)

Amazon is a very BIG seller of WD gear, and I wondered if you lived near an Amazon Service Center, so I Googled you. Gerry, as you know, you are all over the Internet and not hard to find. I now know more about you and that you are a “tech guy” in many ways. I still couldn’t figure out which Amazon Center you would order from.

I want to recommend you order this from Amazon; they are a very “together” company. We order from them all the time, (we live in Seattle where Amazon is based) and have purchased free prime shipping for a few years. If you don’t have Prime and decide to order from Amazon, be sure to sign up for Prime before you order this – the shipping cost alone for this heavy thing will be worth it, and you also have access to their free Prime Videos online service for they, too.

Alright, I want to answer your latest questions before I end this.

“I’ll report my findings soon enough with other devices at home, and how would they talk to one another”

OK, easy, take time to read the instructions for set up; right after you order your Mirror, go to the main WD website, go into Support, find the Mirror and model you ordered and download the complete user manual, and look through it, and keep it handy for reference while you are setting up and afterward.
Too many people don’t do this, and they are at the forum with questions right away, and they could have answered if they had just taken time to use the manual. You have been going into this purchase the best way, and I commend you for that.

OK, back to the question: Since the NAS will be on the home network, devices will find it. In your TV menu, you will find it under something like media sources. It will be in Media server (DLNA) configuration. Your PC will see it this way and also like a share on the network; like a shared drive is seen. You will use the WD My Cloud app on your mobile devices. There are iOS and Android versions of the app. I have both kinds of mobile devices so I also use other apps sometimes instead of WD My Cloud. Let me know what OS your mobile devices are and I can recommend some fapps or you when the time comes.

One last thing, my wife and I LOVE little Joey Alexander from your country. We are jazz fans so we learned about him right away when he showed up in the US. Have you ever seen him perform?

It’s been a pleasure helping you on this project. Take care, and have fun with it all.

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Hi @mike27oct,

I’m thinking to get a 4TB else even the 6TB from a local online retailer in town. Jual WD My Cloud Personal Cloud Storage 6TB di Lapak Takkii_Shop | Bukalapak

Not in many ways Mike, only in Digital Advertising vertical, and actually private-cloud and storage, rather a new aspect for me to adapt, I got 3 premium public cloud service subscriptions much like Google Drive and iCloud, but none for local storage device at home.

I wouldn’t think Amazon would ship this to Jakarta - Indonesia, they do shipments to Indonesia, but only for books, DVDs and other goods, but my best bet, they’re not delivering this type of shipment to Indonesia and I really should have this item bought when I was in NYC.

We’ll do this Mike, thanks for the information. But I’m being progressive even before actually buying one :stuck_out_tongue:

Yeach, Joey is such a big surprise for us Indonesians too, I believe he’s more popular back in the US compare to Indonesia prior the Grammy. I haven’t seen his performances yet in Indonesia, ever since currently he’s staying in the US.

One other thing @mike27oct, would it be doable for me to run FreeNAS on the Cloud Mirror?

Thank you very much @mike27oct for walking me through the process of inquiries, you’ve been very much helpful on this, you’re totally solid in delivering the product knowledge and information, coming from the non-WD employee perspective.

Again, thanks @mike27oct, you’ve been very helpful :slightly_smiling:

Regards,
GLN

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FreeNAS is not going to be necessary, because you are buying a NAS but it is a (NOT) FreeNAS. Download the complete user manual before you buy, it can assure you it will not need FreeNAS.

TAKE CARE!

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Okay @mike27oct, thanks for the advise.

Cheers,
GLN

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The Samsung Smart tv works great with Plex on the WD Passport.