Creating Safepoint on a Local USB Device - Option Not available?

Hi everyone. I’m hoping to get some clarification on an issue.

I want to create a safepoint from my My Book Live to a WD Passport Ultra 1TB USB 3.0 drive connected to my laptop. When I follow the instructions for creating a safepoint, a local USB option, however, is not available. See here:

When I click “discover” it doesn’t locate a locally connected USB device either. However, the Help section associated with the safepoint section on my dashboard says it should be available. see here:

Anyone able to clarify for me? Amy I doing something wrong? Or is this option not available notwithstanding the Help section screenshoted above? Or is this an issue with the Passport Ultra drive? And I can confirm that the Passport Ultra device *is* actually connected to my laptop and recognized by my computer. It is password protected but was unlocked when connected to my laptop.

Any suggestions, help or solutions are appreciated. Thanks.

Welcome to the Community.

Just connecting a USB drive is not enough. It needs to be assigned network sharing permissions in order to be discovered on your network. For example, if another computer on yout network can not see the WD Passport connected to your computer, then neither will the WD My Book Live. Usually the required permissions are provided to USB devices when connected to routers with USB sharing features.

Regards,

Thanks for the welcome and quick reply.

I think I understand what you’re suggesting and that would make sense now that I think about it. I’ll try connecting the Passport HD to my router and report back.

So I have Verizon Fios and learned that Verizon disables the USB ports on their routers (except for charging purposes). Lovely. So now I need to think of a plan B. Any thoughts?

You must first share the folder/directory/drive over the network in Win7, or whatever you have. 

Search for guides. Similar to this video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_Hc6ByPP_s