Backing up iPhone/iPad photos with My Cloud app? READ THIS

WD Software & Mobile Apps My Cloud 3rd Party & Mobile Apps
1

Problems and issues can arise when using the My Cloud app to auto-backup and update photos and videos from iPhone and iPad Camera Rolls.

So, this post is intended to help prevent the following BIG problem from happening before you begin, or let you know why you had the problem, so you can prevent it from happening again.

IMPORTANT: for very large uploads (such as with a very full iOS Camera Roll,) the iPhone/iPad’s Auto-Lock control needs to be set at a high value (meaning, set it to Never,) BEFORE the upload begins, or else the iPhone or Pad’s Auto-Lock feature will most likely time out, step in, and shut down the
iPhone/iPad. If this happens, your uploading will stop before it completes.
(WD Support says Auto-Lock is a battery-saving design feature of iOS devices.)

Also, for any large uploads, have a fully charged iOS device, and keep My Cloud app in the foreground during uploading.

Be sure when all is completely finished to put your Auto-Lock control back to where you had it set (likely at 5 minutes or less).

Subsequent auto-backups may not require resetting Auto-Lock to Never if only a few items are uploaded each time.

Yes, it is an inconvenience, but let’s “thank” Apple and not blame WD.
I have been told by WD Support that Android devices do not have this issue.

5 Likes
2

Hi,

Thanks for sharing this with the community.

Hope this helps other users.

3

It will be useful, because I have written it in replies too many times already. Please make it a sticky. Actually, this should be a WD FAQ, too.

BTW, I have looked all over for an online My Cloud APP User Manual and cannot find one. Is one available?

1 Like
4

Mike, I have found that whilst I have done all of the above (left the iphone on charge, unlocked, over-night) it somehow times out/crashes at some point part way through the auto backup. Any ideas? I now have some 13GB of photos which I am trying to back up, but it was only a few GB when I first noticed this issue. I think I have read elsewhere that connecting the iphone directly to the MyCloud will not work.

Thanks,

Mark

5

Mark, seems like you are following the instructions of having auto lock set to NEVER, etc. So, I would say tthe problem is elsewhere; likely with your wi-fi connection. Assuming your router is OK, it is important that the phone be closer to the router for optimum signal – in the same room should do it. Also, if you have a 5G band (fastest) use it instead of the 2.4G band. Let me know if this helps.

6

I am having similar problem. I have followed your excellent advice mike. Set Auto lock to never etc. The iPad crashed after some 30 minutes, even though it was a few feet from the router.
I restarted the backup from my study which is a floor up and further away from the router. The iPad crashed after 15 minutes. The Passport pro dashboard confirms that 180 photos were loaded on during the second attempt at a back up of all photos

This has thrown up a fresh question. If I restart a backup from scratch, will the photos already on the Passport pro be duplicated? I have quickly checked the file list in Finder, and cannot see any duplicated files - so far. UPDATE.

I made a folder called iPad on the Professional Pro. I have been m annually moving files from the default storage folder into iPad and found duplicated files during the process.

BTW the iPad threw up a running out of space warning in storage. There is 1.9 Tb free in storage!!

7

I have created a New Upload folder for Camera Roll back ups for a variety of reasons. I always move uploads from it into to other folders in my drives, NAS, etc, so that I do not get dups. If my upload folder is empty and I want a new upload of everything, there will not be dups. If I want to upload the newest file, I select them manually from Camera Roll content. Just come up with ideas how to prevent dups and save only new stuff.

iOS STORAGE:
You need to find out what is using up storage on your devices. On my iOS 11 iPhone 7 and iPad 2017 I have 128 GB total for each device so I have room to spare; Anything you download and save in an app takes up storage space in that app. For example, I have over 5 GB saved in the Ipad’s VLC app. If I am finished using the data in it, I should delete the movies from the VLC app or else I may forget about it. Same goes for any data stored in any app.

In iOS 11, the storage used is found in General Settings in either iPhone Storage or iPad Storage. The apps using the most storage are in descending order and why I saw VLC at the top of the list. You ought to examine your storage and any over 1G you should take a look at and see if there are files in it you can delete.

8

This problems seems to be connected to the automatic upload / backup, right?
But what if I manually find a folder on my WD Wireless PRO, and manually selects videos and photos to drop in that folder…? Is it so that I can’t lock my phone, or let the WD My Cloud app run in the background? So if I have to upload 2gb video that I shot, and has to upload it in the filed, I can’t use my phone for any other stuff for that period it takes to upload the file?

1 Like
10

Hi guys, this post is quite old but I have a related question. What kind of backup is this? If I delete a photo from the phone, will the next sync delete it as well on the WD MyCloud device?

PS: I have a WD MyCloud EX2 Ultra, using My Cloud 5 on my iPhone 12 and I don’t have that time-out problem. I mean it stops if the phone locks, but then it just resumes where ever it was when it stopped. I just backed up 15GB of pictures. Now I want to know if I can delete any picture from the phone and still have them on my WD drive

Thanks!