If you try to connect an Android device (phone, tablet…) in mass storage mode directly to the USB port of My Cloud (say if you want to copy your photos directly from the phone there or wish to move some multimedia files) you will find it won’t be recognized. This is because by default the My Cloud does not provide support for MTP file handling.
To make it possible you must install mtpfs and mtp-tools packages from Debian SID (unstable) repository.
This will likely work as well with iOS (Apple) and Windows Mobile devices But I have not tested it with those.
These instructions were applied and proved functional with WD firmware v03.04.01-230 on a WD My Cloud 3TB and Debian repositories as of 16/07/2014. Functionality was tested with a HTC Desire running Android 4.4.
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WARNING
In any case be extremely careful while modifying system files. If you change stuff you should not you may render your device unusable altogether.
Do not touch/edit/change anything unnecessary just out of curiosity or for the sake of it!
If you feel uncomfortable with Linux or by using the command line likely it's better you leave as it is. You can always perform the same task by connecting the mobile device to your computer. This is only needed to connect the device directly to the USB port of your My Cloud. |
STEP 0 - The below presupposes (prerequisites to be filled, all must match):
- You have SSH enabled in My Cloud.
- You have an SSH client installed in your PC (Windows users will find Putty handy).
- You know the local IP address of My Cloud so you can connect to it via SSH.
- Your My Cloud has access to the Internet.
- Your My Cloud is running a firmware version prior to release 4.00.00-607.
STEP 1 - Backup your sources.list:
cp /etc/apt/sources.list /etc/apt/sources.list.bak
STEP 2 - Add Debian SID (unstable) repository to source list:
echo deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ sid main >> /etc/apt/sources.list
STEP 3 - Update the sid packages list (be patient as it may take a while):
apt-get update
STEP 5 - Install mtpfs and mtpfs-tools packages
apt-get install mtpfs mtp-tools
STEP 6 - Move back your original sources.list:
mv -f /etc/apt/sources.list.bak /etc/apt/sources.list
STEP 7 - Reboot your My Cloud:
reboot
Note: I found the reboot step to be necessary. Without it WD Control panel was showing the device with a recognized size of 0KB.
NOTICE
It is not necessary to change anything else (e.g. create mountpoints or issue manual mount commands…). Once mtpfs support is installed WD automounter will handle it properly.
Mounts are automatically created. The phone mount points (typically one for the internal memory and one for the SD Card) will be available via NFS and will appear as something like:
/dev/sdb1 /var/media/SDDATA
/dev/sdb1 /nfs/SDDATA
/dev/sdb2 /var/media/Android_Phone
/dev/sdb2 /nfs/Android_Phone
