How do you configure MyBook Live as a Personal Cloud?

WD Legacy Products My Book Live
1

I’m having trouble figuring out how to configure my MyBook Live to act as a personal cloud.  The user manual says that SmartWare can be set up to automatically backup files as they’re changed on my computer.  But I can’t figure out how to start the initial backup, or how to tell if the backups are running automatically.

I’m using Windows 8, and have installed SmartWare and Quick View.  Both appear as icons on my start screen (the Metro page).  I restarted the computer after installation.  My MyBook Live device appears in my network area, and I can navigate into the shares that I’ve set up.  So it works as a conventional network storage device.

Clicking Quick View switches to the desktop, but nothing then happens.  (And I’m not sure what this is supposed to do.)

Clicking on SmartWare brings up the SmartWare application.  It counts the files, then displays two columns on the Home tab: my local C drive and my MyBook device.  The dropdown above the MyBook device shows all the shares on the device, but only the SmartWare share can be selected (which makes sense, I think).  But the backup and restore tabs never become active, so I can’t navigate to either of these.

But, if SmartWare acts like a cloud, shouldn’t the backup process start automatically, without my needing to initate it manually in the backup tab?

This looks like a great product, and WD claims it can be used like a personal cloud.  I’ve been through the documentation and knowledge base, but I haven’t found anything that helps.  Has anyone been able to use their MBL as a personal cloud under Windows 8?  If so, how did you set it up?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated … thanks!

2

I have discovered two things.

First, Quick View installs an icon in the taskbar.  On the Windows 8 desktop, this is a hidden icon – which is why I didn’t see it.  Click on the arrow that displays the hidden icon, and there’s a link to a page in the Control Panel where you can make it visible.  Ah, this makes sense now, and the icon is handy.

Second, to activate the Backup and Restore tabs, you must click on the MyBook live icon on the SmartWare home page.  Since I have only one target device, I assumed it was selected … but it’s not.  Also, on my computer, it doesn’t seem to change color or become highlighted when selected.  A default selection when only one device is present, and more prominent highlighting would be useful.

On to figuring out how to make automatic backups work …