Hello. I currently have a 4TB mycloud (white one). Its at 87% right now. I decided to step up to a PR4100 that has two 12TB drives (raid 1), leaving 2 additional bays open for possible expansion later if needed. I’m not very familiar with all the ins and outs of NAS’s and all. Thats why I originally went with WD–it was all-in-one easy for the average joe to plug in and start using. Is there a recommended method or software for migrating all the data on the 4TB to the new unit? I havent decided if I’m going to keep the 4TB unit or not but, I do want all the data currently on it to be switched over to the new device… do I just setup the new device and use windows to copy all files (not a fan of this idea). Or, is there a more direct way to go straight from device to device with some part of WD’s app? I’m not looking to clone the drive or save config or settings… I just want all the data and file/folder structure moved to the new drives where I will once again have space to breathe and add more movies.
One way to copy the data is to use SSH and issue the copy command from the older single bay My Cloud device to the newer multi bay My Cloud device.
Another way to copy the data is to “shuck” the My Cloud hard drive from it’s enclosure and connect it to the newer My Cloud’s USB drive (using a SATA to USB powered adapter then use SSH on the new drive to copy the data from the USB drive to the main NAS drives.
depending on the version of the old My Cloud one may be able to use the SafePoint backup option to copy the data to the new My Cloud. Once copied over one can move the data to their appropriate locations.
Not familiar enough with the PR series to know if one could shuck the old My Cloud hard drive, insert it into the new multi bay My Cloud along side new hard drives and access that old hard drive as another volume. And from there copy the data within the new My Cloud from one hard drive volume to another.
yeah, I was wondering whether or not I could get the drive out of the enclosure and put in the 4 bay unit. Again though, is it worth all the trouble? i dont mind if it takes a long time to do the transfer over ethernet but, I’m more concerned with avoiding losing anything due to corruption or shoddy transferring. Also, in case something happens which halts the transfer before it finishes, that I can start it back up where it left off. does windows still copy files like a skitzophrenic with dementia on acid?.. I remember back in the 90’s I started using some FTP program for general file transfers that were large since that program went one by one, in order so, it was super easy to see where it was and if it stopped,… WHERE it stopped. hehe… anyway… I’ll be looking around for any and all info I can find to make this a smooth reliable migration. got a week or two before I set everything up and get going.
Well, I think the Windows copy function is still skitzo. . . . but I trust the drag and drop more than most typical backup programs. . .
. . .I move a few terrabytes every year or two. . . I usually break the transfer into several chunks to avoid problems. I also do it using a machine that won’t be multitasking (i.e. no web browsing or other stuff happening)
Easiest is definitely Windows copy. If you’re concerned about interruptions, just copy smaller blocks at a time.
Been a while. Was on this forum for a different reason now but checking older posts. I ended up using a program called “ViceVersaPRO”. I still did it in smaller chunks for the first few transfers to make sure it worked how I wanted. Then I let it rip with the bulk of the rest and no problems… I like that it conveniently does comparisons between source and destination. This was the deciding factor in case of some weird glitch or crash that might have interrupted any transfer that takes a huge amount of time. I’ll probably use it again in the future.
I still dont understand why WD doesn’t have an app in the PR4100 software/utility for this sort of thing. ESPECIALLY with the PR4100. seems like they should have a lot more apps for things like this and other utility functions for such a pricey network drive that boasts that it can run its own apps. Like, there is a virus app but, why only one? wth? Telling me norton, mcafee, etc. cant be automatically setup and pimped out by WD? hehe… same goes with any other company that does these types of drive utilities… is WD not even reaching out to them or are they not aware that WD has a NAS being sold to consumers that might want their software?
*sigh,… ah well… I used ViceVersaPRO. if there’s any other faster or more useful recommendations, I’d like to know about it as I’ll probably be upgrading to larger drives in 2 years or so at the rate I’m going. Maybe something will have changed for the better by then. 
The problem with both of these programs is that they are running on the PC.
What you (you; by that i mean all of us) need is a program running on the NAS. One that uses the NAS brain to copy files from a USB drive to the NAS with zero pC involvement. This allows the PC to be doing other things while the NAS concentrates on mundane file tasks.
While not user intuitive one can always use either the cp or rsync command via SSH to trigger a copying of files from a USB hard drive attached to a My Cloud’s USB port to the My Cloud internal hard drive. Or from the internal drive to the USB drive. At least that way one isn’t tying up a PC beyond the initial SSH connection and issuance of the code in the command line terminal. One could I suppose even write a script to do it at the root OS level.
But yes, WD really needs some kind of page in the My Cloud Dashboard that would allow one to perform basic file management tasks. That is one thing I love about Synology’s DSM. It has an app called File Station that one can use for basic file management tasks within the web browser connection. There are other DSM apps as well that could be used to copy or move data from a USB hard drive to an internal Synology NAS hard drive(s).
Yup. This is exactly what I was ‘trying’ to say in different words. Some way to run file management tasks only on the PR4100 without involving any other PC on the network—other than to access the PR4100 through a browser window or whatever.
I’m way beyond the initial task of moving my 4TB to the 12TB setup… but, eventually, when I hit 11TB, I’ll be looking to step into some 20+ TB drives… Maybe I’ll end up switching to a different system entirely. Although, I’d prefer to just put in two 20’ish TB drives in the empty bays set them up as a new RAID and then have the PR4100 copy all the data from the 12TB to the bigger ones without having my PC tied up for a day or two controlling that move.
I am not sure. . .but does WinSCP provide this functionality in the Windoze world?
Yes and no. WinSCP is basically just a GUI interface for an SSH client. It may still be up to the user to issue specific Linux commands to get the copy process to run in the background on the My Cloud so the user can then close the WinSCP application while the copy process continues on the My Cloud.
Really though just about any SSH client can be used to issue Linux cp or rsync commands to the My Cloud OS and then leave it to the OS to run the copy while the client application window is closed. Assuming of course WD didn’t remove things like nohup from the My Cloud OS. Its just a matter of issuing the right string of commands like nohup in addition to the cp or rsync commands. Later one can reconnect via SSH to check on the status of the cp or rsync process using jobs -l or top.
. . .oh sure you can do this from a SSH command line.
. . . just like you can copy files on PC from the command line.
However, since this is 2021 and not 1991. . . .everyone (inc. me) wants a GUI.
But having said that. . . .what we are suggesting. . .to leave a copy process running in a SSH session when the WinSCP application is shutdown. . .from what I read is very contrary to the “design intent” of that software package. From what I see. . . it is very good for what it is.
Bottom line is we should really have a WD app that runs on the NAS that does these type of functions.
The key here is having gigabit ethernet.
I became a bit educated one day when I needed to copy a large volume of files (over 1TB) from a USB drive to a NAS. . . . and at that time my PC was only wireless to the router.
Ultimately, I had success when I plugged the USB directly into the NAS (It was an EX2) and I used the WD Backup app. Today I would attempt this using the USB directly on the NAS, but use WinSCP to initiate the action.
(Side note: This was on an EX2 ultra. I can’t even remember if the MyCloud even has a USB port!)
Which defeats the purpose of having the copy process run entirely from the My Cloud without the need for a computer. In my case if I kill the WinSCP application the copy stops entirely when copying from the My Cloud to a USB hard drive attached to the My Cloud. If I leave a separate SSH session running that means I have to leave both the WinSCP (default settings) and the PC running. WinSCP is a good program but does have some limitations.
Its a fundamental problem if one wants to run management tasks on the My Cloud without involving an app or program on the computer and application that must be left running the whole time. At least by using the scripting method previously mentioned (nohup) one can kill the application and turn off the computer and the copy process (or what ever process one initiated using nohup) will continue to run on the My Cloud. Its not perfect but does accomplish what some are seeking, having a copy process that runs independent of the computer or software on that computer once that process is initiated on the My Cloud.
Example nohup rsync command on a first gen v4.x single bay My Cloud to copy all MP4 files from a directory on the My Cloud to a USB hard drive attached to that My Cloud’s USB port. Command can be issued from SSH clients like Putty or WinSCP and those programs can be closed while the copy process continues on the My Cloud.
nohup rsync /DataVolume/shares/Public/*.mp4 /var/media/Toshiba_Canvio_1TB/
There may be ways to create a custom command within WinSCP to automate the use of nohup to copy files using WinSCP.
Edit to add: Since WinSCP won’t show the results of top properly (live) here is the results of top run from Putty showing the rsync process continuing in the background on the My Cloud after WinSCP was closed/shutdown after triggering the nohup rsync command via the WinSCP terminal window.
Oh I agree. My observation, however, is based upon my view that WinSCP appears to be geared towards file transfers to/from a PC. . . in which case the PC will generally be left running.
I have learned a lot from this thread.
