[Announcement] New MyCloud Manual Published

It appears that WD have quietly updated the MyCloud User Manual, to reflect the OS3 changes.

I report this mostly so that the unpaid support staff will know not to refer to old page numbers.

In my job, I write quite a few technical reports, and they go through a formal review process, with the multiple reviewers, prior to internal release.

If I submitted something as poorly written, contradictory and confusing as this new manual, even for review, I’d be ashamed of myself, and would expected to get many scathing comments.

The fact that it has been released to customers in this state is, frankly, a disgrace.

Interesting. As one of the “unpaid staff” (i.e. forum members) I appreciate your pointing this out. I see from the doc properties it was done 10/16/15. I don’t have a My Cloud, although I have a My Passport Wireless and a DL2100 NAS, and both their manuals need to have omissions, inaccuracies, and plain wrong stuff corrected. I even had reason to speak with WD Support recently about one of the devices, and while I had the tech “on the line” I also unloaded to him politely about the two manuals. He was appreciative and told me he was writing it down to pass on. The more we complain to WD about these kinds of things, may help them get fixed!

I may as well publish the very brief notes I made on a first pass reading of the manual, just in case someone at WD is interested in editorial feedback. I’m sure if I sat down and read it again more carefully, I’d find more comments.

new OS3 MyCloud user manual comments

In summary: this is barely acceptable for a review draft. if I submitted a document for review in as poor a state as a this, I’d be embarrassed, and expect to get a raft of scathing of comments. It would never be released for internal use, let alone customer use.

cover: applicability note not correct: only relevant to 04-03-xx and beyond

p5: claims support for Win10 and OSX Yosemite, but these are not mentioned in the text.
what about OSX El Capitan 10.11.1?
windows XP is not listed as supported, but IS mentioned in the text.

Internet access is NOT required for setup

p6: Ethernet port LEDs now labelled - good

p7: table LEDs do not mention yellow light for no network connection.
Is this no longer supported? cf p91

p11: getting started
still unclear about the difference between setting up the device (which can be done entirely by the Dashboard), and installing the supporting software.
it does at least say that you CAN setup via the Dashboard. it would be nice nice if it had a link to p16: Getting Started Using the Dashboard

p16: it is not necessary to set up a MyCloud.com account to set up the device. pressing ‘cancel’ at the point allows you to continue with the basic setup of the device.

p17: the preferred method of LOCAL access is to map the device into file system of your OS. mycloud.com is ONLY preferred for remote access.

I cannot even understand the comment about the ‘Shared Media’ folders:
“The existing content of the subfolders are files that you dragged and dropped or files that have been backed up from your computer or an attached USB drive.”
what? we’re only just setting the thing up; we haven’t put any files on it yet.

p18,19: where’s the instruction for win10 and Yosemite?
p20: winXP is not supposed to be supported…

p21-29: OS support confusion

p30: “The My Cloud Dashboard home page provides a snapshot of the My Cloud device”
what? snapshot suggests a backup image. this is not what the Dashboard is for. use plain English. the Dashboard provides the means to control the features and facilities of the device. ‘summary’ may be the word you’re looking for. you even use the term ‘snapshot’ to refer to a backup in chapter 10…

p32: “information icons” also provide controls for usb, device shutdown, and user logout; they’re not purely informational.

p34: there’s no image of the firmware update control, even though there’s plenty of space to put one in…

p35: ‘cloud devices’. I think this is a poor name. a cloud device is a cloud storage device, surely? you mean ‘cloud access devices’; i.e. devices that can access the MyCloud device remotely. there’s no explanation of the use of your invented term. you might know what you mean, but it’s not plain English. use plain English.

p36: shares. as above; you have not explained what a share is. this is not plain English, or even common computer jargon. use plain English, or explain your invented jargon. refer chapter 7

p37: ‘snapshot’ again, where you mean ‘summary’.

‘media crawler’. what? explain your jargon.

p43: if you delete a user, what happens to the data stored in their share?

p46: you cannot make the Public share private; only public-access Shares…

p47: there appears to be no instruction of how to map shares into the file system, which is the best way of accessing locally, making shares look like any other network drive. this is especially useful for programs, rather than ad hoc, manual access.

p51: ‘mobilising your files’. plain English, please, not marketing-speak.

p56: cloud access only controls remote access, not local access. it just needs the word ‘remotely’ at the end of the first sentence.

p57: cloud access connection: this isn’t a helpful explanation at all. when should I choose manual? what numbers should I use for the ports? how is this related to my router’s firewall and port forwarding rules?

p61: explain netmask, gateway and DNS server.

p62: iTunes and DLNA only work on the LOCAL network.

p64-66: when should I restore/re-boot, etc.? why would I want to do this?

p79: have you checked to see if www.twonkymedia.com actually has any information on Twonky? the last time I looked, I couldn’t find anything even vaguely useful. Twonky is a supplied feature of your product; provide information for it yourselves, and don’t try to absolve your responsibility for it to someone else.

p81: shared media folders used by Twonky. good: about time this was explained…

p83: store media in Public/Shared Media. you said earlier it could be stored anywhere, especially if you want to protect it. make your mind up. be consistent.

p83: “the various WD media players”. what? WD employees may know what you’re talking about; your customer probably does not.

p86: no instruction on how to safely remove a USB HDD.