ALL OF MY Cloud Problems Solved!

My Cloud OS 3 Personal & Network Attached Storage My Cloud
1

This is a re-post of my original post. My Cloud has performed flawless since this post.

I get 30mb/s transfer speeds

I get flawless streaming over the Internet to my android and ios devices

My Cloud has not disconnected one time

I backed up 300 GB in less than 2 days

It works better than I could expect.

The UI loads in about 5 seconds

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Hello All. Ok  here’s the deal I bought my cloud about 5 months ago maybe less. I take it out of the box set it up let it do all of the updates. Then I start backing up all my data to the drive approximately 250 gb mostly small files so my transfer speeds weren’t that great some times 16mbs/ all the way down to 1 kbs it never ran consistently constantly kept falling of the net work iphone app would connect sometimes and some times not. I was beyond frustrated so I decided to transfer all my files that took almost 2 weeks to transfer to the drive back off so I could smash the cloud with a hammer… Not really.

I decided I was going to do a full restore on the drive (i had tried the simple system restore to-no-avail) Well it took me another two weeks to recover my data then I did the Full Restore it took about 12 hours or more to do. I got everything set up users shares ect I started to transfer my files back (movies) I have 85gb it took one hour! I set up my phone apps they work flawless thumnail generation fast the difference in the operation of this drive is night and day. I had almost all the same problems everybody else had tried almost everything that was sugested nothing worked. This drive works better than it did out of the box my firmware is v04.00.00-607. 

So my thinkng is this: The linux operating system combined with the automatic firmware up grade out of the box set some kind of confict with  linux and the firmware. So if you buy a new my cloud set it up do the firmware upgrades then before you transfer any files to the drive do a Full restore so that the operating linux system can do what ever it needs to do to incorporate the new firmware. I just think theres a confilct.

Edit

I just wanted to update all who read this. It’s now been over a week and My Cloud has not disconnected from the network Not one time.

It seems my transfer speeds are getting faster I transferred a 40gb bluray disk from my computer to my cloud at 90mb/s.

IOS devices still connect flawlessly.

Android devices still connect flawlessly.

multiple connections while streaming still runs flawless.

edit 8/16/2014

Week 3 I still have blazing fast transfer speeds. And not one disconnects. Absolutely perfect performance across all devices. 

edit

8/25/2014

It’s been over 1 month now and the my cloud has worked flawlessly no disconnects super fast transfers

no problems.

I really believe this is the fix for the problems people have experienced with their drives. 

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2

So in summary, if you install the 4.x firmware upgrade, and do a complete erase-the-drive-factory-restore, it all works well?

I guess that may be what I have to do.  It’s a shame they can’t work out why the upgrade doesn’t work cleanly.  

Does anyone know what config files survive the upgrade and which are overwritten?

3

I just wanted to update all who read this. It’s now been over a week and My Cloud has not disconnected from the network Not one time.

It seems my transfer speeds are getting faster I transfered a 40gb bluray disk from my computer to my cloud at 90mb/s.

IOS devices still connect flawlessly.

Android devices still connect flawlessly.

multiple connections while streaming still runs flawless.

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4

I followed your suggestion, doing a full factory restore, on my 4TB MyCloud, which was updated to fw 4.00xxx.

As expected, this action takes quite some time, but after the second overnight, it came back to life and was accessible.

As I’m only using the device as a simple NAS, accessed via Windows Explorer as a mapped drive, I turned off iTunes and DLNA, as well as the general media streaming. Obviously, I also turned off the automatic firmware-update facility, as I didn’t want to experience new problems, while testing this suggestion.

The first two days it worked flawlessly with transfer-speeds of 9-10MB/sec on a wired-to-wired connection. My router is only 10/100, so this worked in the same speed, as I experience from my other DLink NAS. I use the device for simply copying my camera-cards to the NAS, which normally is a matter of copying 4-500 JPEGS plus the same number of NEF-files.

Unfortunately, the third time I accessed the device, transfer speed dropped significantly to below 1MB/sec and it seemed, the media indexer was running at full speed. So I must say, it didn’t work for me so far…

Any suggestions to completely turn off this indexer is most welcome! I’m even considering to scrap the device and putting the HDD into a simple USB-enclosure…!

Rgds

 Edit: I scrapped my device and the internal WD 4TB Red is now having its second life in an Icybox USB-enclosure.

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5

Here’s to hoping it works…nightmare of a device, managed after many hours in these forums to get it going LONG enough to get 99 gb of photos onto it…then it became useless due to the indexing of the photos (loved this blog…wish I’d read it before buying… http://shortattentionspade.com/tag/speeding-up-wd-mycloud/)..) It disconnected and froze and I couldn’t get on it for more than a few mins without rebooting. What a complete joke, from what’s supposed to be a respectable company. Embarassing to have put out firmware like this.

Your suggesting was my absolute last ditch effort to fix this **bleep** (support was supposed to call, never did), before taking it back to Best Buy (which doesn’t take back opened memory or HD’s…will have to threaten to return the $2,500 in equipment with the PC, router, software, etc  purchased…which I already had to do to return the FIRST My Cloud that failed on me after 3 days!).

I’m hoping for a little better than the 1-2mb/s speeds I’ve had to date, but more importantly, I’m hoping to have constant access to the drive for more than 10 mins at a time!!! Full factory restore in progress (3TB) on firmware 4.0.00.607, currently at 33% after 26 hrs. Not looking too good WD, not looking too good…  

6

Update…

My. God. The performance of a full factory restore is as horrendous as the out-of-the-box operation. The factory restore of this 3TB drive took…no word of a lie…a full 52 hours, 28 mins to complete. That’s writting zeros at 16.9 mb/s if my math is right. The poor thing can’t even write to ITSELF without severe, excrutiating pain. How can it handle gigabit network speed if it can’t write to itself anywhere near gigabit speeds!!! Maybe I don’t understand drive technology, but this seems horribly wrong.

Well, tomorrow the saga starts anew…we’ll see if this last ditch effort to “reset” the linux system on this BRAND NEW DRIVE, has the desired affect. 

7

Update for others who may come across the issues…

Turned off media streaming, itunes, cloud sharing, etc. to minimize interference while I initially loaded it up…

  • Loaded the drive with the family photo directories (~25,000 photos) via synctoy: the 99Gb, a respectable 3 hours to move at my current megabit speeds.

  • Home movies was next at about 80Gb, this time via mapped drive: consistent 10-11 MB/s (as expected (finally!), moving off of an old non-gigabit machine), 2.5 hours.

  • Kids’ movies director was next at 60Gb via the MyCloud destop app: again, >10MB/s on average, couple hours

No diconnects at all…slow UI access, but whatever. Best performance of this drive so far…although it was fresh out of the box with the firmware update, it was literally a brick.

Big, big thanks for passsing this fix along  azcoolmist!

It needed the complete factory restore, an issue that I’m sure WD is hard at work to solve, but unfortunately in the meantime, if after autoupdating firmware (for those who have that set), users would NOT take kindly to a message from their backup cloud drive that says “firmware updated, please remove all of your valuable files while this device completely wipes the drive to zeros over the next 2 days, in order to restore linux functionality”!

So today’s test, I turned Cloud access back on, as well as media streaming (I’m not going without that, as it’s the only reason I bought the drive). If things start to fail, I’ll be turning off the photo indexing service, but it’s looking a little brighter. 

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8

I just about killed it with a baseball bat, on a Gigabit network, 30-60 Kb/s. I finally decided to listen to the posts about logging into the drive through SSH and killed the  wdphotodbmerger & wdmcserver services. 

That fixed it, transfer rates upwards of 30-40 MB/S sustained, at times as high as 70-80MB/S, no crashes, the drive even sleeps and access times to the interface and files through mapped drives are incredibly fast and reliable. 

WD SHOULD  add an option in the settings to allow the user to stop those processes, write somenthing like: 

"Would you like a fast experience? YES/NO

If you select YES, no thumbnails will be created and files will not be catalogued for user interface information.

If you need thumbnails, the drive will create them when you read the drive just as fast, nothing to loose here."

And set it to YES by default.

Optionally, write a firmware that will give priority to user access, and not the background processes. Background processes as it stands, have absolute and total priority over any user interaction.

The information you need to turn those services off is in

http://community.wd.com/t5/WD-My-Cloud-EX4/wdphotodbmerger-amp-wdmcserver-pegging-100-CPU/td-p/712402

You will have to get a program to connect to the drive via SSH, there are a few options available.

I am waiting for a replacement drive, but I know what I will do first when I get the new unit to replace the one I have. 

Good luck, kill those processes and get the performance you paid for.

9

wtexas wrote:

I just about killed it with a baseball bat, on a Gigabit network, 30-60 Kb/s. I finally decided to listen to the posts about logging into the drive through SSH and killed the  wdphotodbmerger & wdmcserver services. 

That fixed it, transfer rates upwards of 30-40 MB/S sustained, at times as high as 70-80MB/S, no crashes, the drive even sleeps and access times to the interface and files through mapped drives are incredibly fast and reliable. 

 

WD SHOULD  add an option in the settings to allow the user to stop those processes, write somenthing like: 

 

"Would you like a fast experience? YES/NO

If you select YES, no thumbnails will be created and files will not be catalogued for user interface information.

If you need thumbnails, the drive will create them when you read the drive just as fast, nothing to loose here."

 

And set it to YES by default.

 

Optionally, write a firmware that will give priority to user access, and not the background processes. Background processes as it stands, have absolute and total priority over any user interaction.

 

The information you need to turn those services off is in

 

http://community.wd.com/t5/WD-My-Cloud-EX4/wdphotodbmerger-amp-wdmcserver-pegging-100-CPU/td-p/712402

 

You will have to get a program to connect to the drive via SSH, there are a few options available.

I am waiting for a replacement drive, but I know what I will do first when I get the new unit to replace the one I have. 

Good luck, kill those processes and get the performance you paid for.

We have made some changes in our latest release to directly address concerns like this.  More info here:

http://www.wdc.com/wdproducts/updates/?family=wdfmycloud_s

I would suggest that you update.

10

NOOOOOOOO! New firmware a day after I finally have it working!?! I’m too afraid to update firmware again. After a 52 hour-long factory restore, I’m fearful of having to start all over again if the update messes with the linux OS again…

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RockDocU3O8 wrote:

NOOOOOOOO! New firmware a day after I finally have it working!?! I’m too afraid to update firmware again. After a 52 hour-long factory restore, I’m fearful of having to start all over again if the update messes with the linux OS again…

Totally understand, but I went back and read your post too… you are also a prime candidate for this update and will benefit from it in the long run.  

12

Hi everyone,

I only registred to thank all contributors for they efforts to get WD My Cloud working and to share my experience in resolving all my problems.

I purchased the device just for backups and for remote access via ftp. At the initial setup my device updated to FW4. I had initial speeds of 50MB/s (write) and 70MB/s (read) on an WIN7-machine connected via GBit-LAN. After filling the device with roughly 1,5TB of data (40k photos, some videos, lots of documents) the performance went terribly down, down to 200KB/s read and write - unusable. The indexing wouldn’t stop for days and weeks.

Here’s what I did:

  • I downgraded the FW to version 3 like described here.
  • I stop all services via WebUI, exept ftp and ssh.
  • Via ssh I stopped all indexing services like described here (“workaround”).
  • I erased all hidden folders and files created by indexing services like describe here (post 6).

Well, that did the job. Now I achieved speeds of 30MB/s (write) and 50MB/s (read) and the device goes to standby. Well enough for my purposes, but not stellar.

A couple of days ago I decided to upgrade my OS to WIN8. And now the big surprise: I get speeds of 60-70MB/s (write) and 95-105MB/s (read)!

As I am a conservative guy I would say that’s it. Never touch it again. I have seen that as of today there is a new firmware upgrade. I think I will skip it, it can’t get any better.

There’s still one thing I would like to try and that’s installing pyloud. The void of warranty is not my concern, but I don’t want to sacrifice the actual performance of my device. Does anyone know how pyload influences the general performance?

So, thanks again to everybody and good luck!

2 Likes
13

Thank you Azcollmist, so far your fix is working for me using Mycloud Mirror.

I have a mycloud mirror 6TB that I just received after I returned my original after all my problems. The original one was plagued with problems from sparsebundle in use issues, slow transfer rates (5 days for 220GB initial timemachine backup through direct connection with my router), and finally an error that said my backup could not be verified and a completely new one would need to occur. I posted these problems here:

http://community.wd.com/t5/WD-My-Cloud-Mirror/BACKUP-FAILED-using-time-machine-quot-sparsebundle-already-in/m-p/815059/highlight/true#M708

and 

http://community.wd.com/t5/WD-My-Cloud-Mirror/SUPER-SLOW-transfer-speeds-using-time-machine-any-solutions/m-p/815055

After reading this tread, I called WD and they had me reset the mycloud mirror by pushing a paperclip into the small hole in back of the unit. This deleted all my data so I can send it back

Once I received my new unit, I followed this threads instructions. I updated everything, then I pushed a paperclip into the little hole in the back of the unit to reset it. After I reset it, I did it again just to make sure everything reset correctly.

Initial Time Machine Backup

I connected the newly reset unit directly to my router and performed my initial time machine backup. My transfer rates were insanely fast, 500MB per minute. I transferred 180GB in six hours

5 Days after initial backup

Its been five days since my initial backup and I have not had any issues yet. I set up another mac using time machine too, and no issues there. I do have slower transfer rates when I am backing up wirelessly though, not sure how slow, but its pretty slow still. I don’t mind it too bad because the hourly time machine backups are usually in the low MB range

I’ll update this on my progress for other users.

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I have just recently purchased A WD cloud even though I have read mixed reviews Some people satisfied and happy where as some were frustrated. I was hoping to be lucky and pray everything would work for me. While I was doing research I saw this post. However now I am petrified to open the box and use it since I can’t return it to Best buy.

Your solution appears to be working for you and since I have a fresh device I wanted to take advantage of this and fallow the same exact procedure before I run into bigger problems. I would like to run the procedure step by step since I am not very computer savvy, so please correct me at the parts that I am wrong.  

So from what I understand once the cloud is out of the box I have to fallow WD protocol to be able to do a set up and have access the dash board,

Then before uploading any data of mine from the dash board I have to update firm ware (what is the firmware number that works for you).

Fallowing this I have to do a factory reset and wipe out everything the from the back of the device with the paper clip method and this should be done preferably twice.

Last step is where I re set up the device and then upload my data.

Also I mainly got this hard drive to be able to have access to my movies from several hard wired, via LAN, TVs throughout my house and damp movies from my drop box account. I get movies and big files from my bother into my drop box account and manually have to move them to a hard drives to clear space systematically.

Any suggestion if this would work with cloud.

All your help and suggestion greatly appreciated. Cheers.

15

My experience with a new MC (3 TB) and a new My Book Studio (4 TB):

Prior to them arriving I updated:

  • Windows 7
  • Norton
  • router firmware (no action as it was current)
  • verified UPnP was DISABLED on router
  • installed 10/100/1000 switch

Installs I used for both WD devices

  • while drives acclimated to room temperature I registered on line
  • hook up MC to switch then power
  • accessed router to verify MC ip
  • used Firefox to access MC ip
  • cancel the cloud portion of registration
  • immediately updated firmware
  • renamed the device
  • performed a quick test
  • set up first user with password
  • set up second user
  • set public to off
  • set notifications and test email
  • rebotted MC
  • used  on line test to verify UPnP not enabled
  • install and launch smartware and upgraded to pro
  • back up c (SSD) and H (external 1TB)
  • reboot MC
  • accessed using iPhone
  • connected Mac Book Pro to switch
  • started Time Machine (initial back up ~40 min.)
  • connected My Book Studio to MC
  • initialized first safepoint

I found that:

  • Setup software was totally not needed
  • My Cloud desktop application not particularly useful since I mainly access from Linux vi ip
  • I can access MC using network browsing from Linux
  • The dash board via ip is great
  • Smartware works perfectly
  • Some of the other utiliities (ie discovery) might help

My advice take your time, think things through, don’t expect first backups to be fast and post here for help!

Good Luck

Regards,

Pete

16

Thanks Pete your quick response greatly appriciated. I will have to devote a weekend and as you have suggested take my time with it

Tan

17

Sorry for the delay it took me forever to post my results but i wanted  everyone to now i fallowed each step as it was suggested by Peter.

 Everything  with my cloud worked like a charm no glitches no stalling no problems, great speed

My only problem and a point that i have difficulty is the backup software which i think is confusions and not really user friendly , but i believe with little practice i will figure it out.

.

 Anyone having problems with their WD cloud try what ever is suggested in this forum it worked like a charm for me.

My gratitude and sincere thanks goes to  everyone who provided their input in this form. 

18

… I build my own “Firmware” and happy with that :smiley:

(Search at this forum my postst)

19

May 2020 update from a grateful reader:

Background:
About 10 days ago I decided it was time to reboot our Motorola cable modem that I use to access Comcast/XFinity for reasons unimportant to this discussion. The modem and the My Cloud are both plugged into the same surge suppressor. Neither the modem nor the My Cloud have power switches so I (mistakenly) decided just to hit the power switch on the surge suppressor to power cycle the both of them. BIG MISTAKE. A day or so later, a dialog box popped up on my Mac Pro saying that the TimeMachine data was no longer reliable and that TimeMachine needed to do a full backup to recover itself. Well, OK. I started the full backup and after 5 DAYS of running 24/7, it had copied a little over 200GB of the 679GB that needed to be backed up. This was getting nowhere.

My thanks to the author of this article:
I dug around the Web looking for solutions and eventually found this one. I followed his directions and lo and behold!! THEY WORKED!! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!

Details:
The TimeMachine folder on the My Cloud had a couple hundred GB of data already on it.
On the advice of some reading on the web (maybe even this article), since TimeMachine was going to build a complete new copy, I deleted the current TimeMachine share on the My Cloud to prevent it having to do anything with that data.
I also found another article on the web (sorry, don’t remember where) that said his My Cloud performance was improved when he mounted that share on his desktop, which I also did.
I don’t know if it was simply the complete factory restore or mounting the share or a combination of both, but my full 681GB (it had grown) backup completed yesterday in about 16 hours. OK, this is still a LONG time. I gotta believe that simply copying data of this size from my Mac Pro (running Mojave) to my Macbook Pro over Ethernet would not take anywhere near this amount of time so the My Cloud must be doing something with the data as it receives it.

One other thing: while digging around the web page displaying the state of my My Cloud, I found the button to click to gracefully shut down the My Cloud. So, LESSON LEARNED: if you’re using your My Cloud as a backup device and you need to power it down, do it gracefully from the web interface. DO NOT just yank the power.

Anyway, I just wanted to add my bit of experience with the author’s solution and let you all know that even 5 years later, it still works.

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