How to get Adroid app to disconnect from My Cloud cleanly

So, I’m playing with my newly purchased 3TB My Cloud. I get it up and running on my home network, so I try it out with my Android phone. The app works just fine, but my phone is on my home network wifi so technically I’m on the same network as my laptop where I’m doing a file transfer to the My Cloud device.

I’m having all kinds of fun on the phone when all of the sudden my file transfer stops with a message saying the My Cloud device is not available (I had closed out of my Android app before this happened). I close all of my windows, try to go back into my folders, and get a Enter Network Password message when I try to go into the My Cloud share (see the thread http://community.wd.com/t5/WD-My-Cloud/Enter-Network-Password/td-p/642741/highlight/true it has exactly what I experienced with pictures).

It just so happens my Windows and My Cloud username/password is the same, but when I entered it got a message that said “Multiple connections to a server or shared resource by the same user, using more than one user name, are not allowed. Disconnect all previous connections to the server or shared resource and try again” (just like the person got in the thread http://community.wd.com/t5/WD-My-Cloud/Enter-Network-Password/td-p/642741/highlight/true).

It then dawned on me that my Android app may have not let go of the My Cloud share. I went back into the app and sure enough I didn’t have to tell it to connect, it just showed me the contents of my drive. Just to make sure I was truly connected I went into a folder I had not browsed before with my phone and opened a file.

I backed out of the app to the screen where it asks me to connect to a device thinking that would solve my problem, but it did not. When I tried to connect again with my laptop I got the same error. I had to reboot the My Cloud device to re-establish a connection with my laptop. So, here are my questions…

…am I right that I caused the error because I was connected with both my laptop and my phone via my home wifi?

How can I get the app to break the connection to the My Cloud device cleanly?

If I can’t get the app to break the connection, how can a break any other connections via Windows or the dashboard?
(I’m trying to find a solution short of rebooting the My Cloud device)

Thanks!

Your PC and Android phone is using a totally different protocol to connect to WDMyCloud. Your PC uses Samba/CIFS protocol if you’re using the explorer. And if you’re using WD app on PC, it will use WebDav protocol which is similar to the ones on Android app.

…am I right that I caused the error because I was connected with both my laptop and my phone via my home wifi?

Nope, as explained above, both are using different protocol. But even if they are, there should be no issue as you’re accessing from two different point.

How can I get the app to break the connection to the My Cloud device cleanly?

The Android app is using a WebDav protocol, similar to http get/post. So there’s no such thing as persistent connection to the shares except for http/1.1 keepalive which will timeout after 15secs according to apache’s configurations.

If I can’t get the app to break the connection, how can a break any other connections via Windows or the dashboard?
(I’m trying to find a solution short of rebooting the My Cloud device)

There’s no such thing as dashboard connecting to your shares. For windows just disconnect the share drive if you have mounted it (maybe from wd2go.com) e.g. “net use [*/drive:] /delete”. Or if you’re accessing from the network uri i.e. “//wdmycloud/share”, you will need to logoff then relogin. Also make sure that only 1 account is saved for wdmycloud in the Windows Credentials which you view from Control Panel\User Accounts and Family Safety\Credential Manager.

As to why your transfer stops, what kind of files you were transferring and how large is per file? I never transferred anything from the Android app before but IIRC there’s a file size limit of 4GB because it’s using WebDav protocol. So if you need to transfer large files from mobile to wdmycloud, use samba or s/ftp (ftp is the fastest) from the android phone instead.

Hope it helps…

I understand what you are saying, but let me make sure I’m clear about what is going on:

  1. I have the My Cloud device hardwire to my router (of course), I have and old My Book 250G in the usb port of the MyCloud device.

  2. I have my Laptop hardwired to the router.

  3. I’m copying the contents of the MyBook to a folder called Media on the MyCloud via Windows explorer.

 

  1. I have everything hooked up this way because that is what WD recommends when transferring large files (everything is hooked up hardwire vs using the wifi).

  2. My Android phone is connected to the home wifi.  When I went into the app it immediately found the MyCloud device and asked me to connect.  Just as a test to see if the app was truly recognizing the phone was on the same network as the MyCloud, I deleted the device in the app, turned off the wifi on my phone so it would be forced to use my provider’s network/data and reopened the app.  At that point the app asked for a code to connect to/find my device.  As a further test, turned my phone’s wifi back on, opened the app, the app saw my device, I connected, I backed out of the app WITHOUT deleting the MyCloud device, I turned off my phone’s wifi and used my provider’s network/data, went back into the app, and was able to connect to the MyCloud WITHOUT needing a code.

I go through all of the above to say this:  I’m a computer nerd, but not a guru.  There is a lot of stuff I don’t know so I will defer to those folks who are A LOT smarter that I in that area; however I am an engineer by degree and profession.  Troubleshooting stuff, making dissimilar systems play together, and logically figuring stuff out is how I make a living…

…so I think you are RIGHT if I were talking about a scenario where my Andriod phone is using my carrier’s data. Testing bears out if my phone is using my home wifi, Windows treats it as another device on the network (heck my router says so).  Therefore, it would SEEM that the data bears out that you can’t have your laptop and your phone connect to the MyCloud at the same time if they are on the same network.

IF I’M WRONG (which I could be) and you are right, then that is a whole 'nother huge problem:  Why did I get the error I described in the first place and how do I solve it?

ANY feedback is welcome!

Thanks guys!

(I love a friendly tech debate)

I don’t know which phone you have but I have the Samsung Galaxy S4 and by going into the Settings>More>Application manager and opening up the WD My Cloud App I can do a _ Force stop _.

You can try that if you want but I have never had any problems with my desktop and or laptop and the App is always available on my phone.

Posted by,
cat0w (USA)

cat0w, are you saing you can have your S4 (I have an S5) using your home wifi AND your laptop on your home wifi at the same time AND open folders via Windows exporer on your laptop at the same time?

You can have mutlple devices connected to the mycloud at the same time with no issues other the possible performance based on the activity load

Let try to identify possiable issues with the transfer:

What FW version?

Static IP? or DHCP? set a static outside your routers DHCP pool if not already done

what type of file(s)? approximate size and quantity?

any custom software installed on the Mycloud? Changes through SSH?

Well it does not solve the issue and I really don’t like it for LAN access the WDMycloud program for Windows will transfer a lot faster the File Explorer when moving files withen the Mycloud as the data stays in the MyCloud instead of to the PC and back

_ What FW version? _

v04.00.01-623

_ Static IP? or DHCP? set a static outside your routers DHCP pool if not already done _

Static IP outside the DHCP pool (253 is the last octet of the MyCloud IP)

what type of file(s)? approximate size and quantity?

Mostly music about 8M each.  223G worth of files total.

any custom software installed on the Mycloud? Changes through SSH?

No and no.  I just got the thing two days ago after I saw a commercial for it and did some resarch on the web.  Want to get it working on my home network the way I want before I start tweaking it.

_ Well it does not solve the issue and I really don’t like it for LAN access the WDMycloud program for Windows will transfer a lot faster the File Explorer when moving files withen the Mycloud as the data stays in the MyCloud instead of to the PC and back _

Let me get this straight: Are you saying that using the progam tha the “WD My Cloud” shortcut opens (shown below) moves files within the drive itself vs going though the PC? (Even if i’m tranferring from a device connected to the usb port on the back of the MyCloud)

For your point #5, there’s 3 methods Android app uses to connect to your cloud. 1st by wlan which will directly ask you for the share password on initial login, 2nd by wdcloud account which uses your credentials (email/password) that you registered, 3rd is by the generated code within the Dashboard. These logins will be remembered till you unlink your account from the app’s settings which then, at next launch, you’ll have to reenter your email and password. If you need to restrict unauthorized access from your mobile, set the passcode lock in the app’s settings.

Now for your assumptions:

JamesTKirk wrote:

Therefore, it would SEEM that the data bears out that you can’t have your laptop and your phone connect to the MyCloud at the same time if they are on the same network.

This is not correct either. E.g. On the same network work and from an Android phone’s file explorer app, I’m streaming a video from a share lets say \Public\Videos\test.mkv. At the same time from another Android tab using WD app, I’m streaming the same video \Public\Videos\test.mkv. And from a pc, I’m torrenting a few files straight into the same share \Public\Videos. And from another pc, I’m also downloading the same file \Public\Videos\test.mkv.

JamesTKirk wrote:

IF I’M WRONG (which I could be) and you are right, then that is a whole 'nother huge problem:  Why did I get the error I described in the first place and how do I solve it?

I somehow believe your issue was with the USB attached. There’s several reported issues here that the USB drives sometimes disconnects during transfers or for no apparent reason. It depends on what kind of drive you feed to the WDMyCloud. Usually large external drives causes this especially those with external power, possibly that they draw more juice from the USB3 port. I have a 2TB USB3 powered drive, no issues so far. You might wanna try to use a usb powered hub to see if it helps.

PS: I’m not a lot smarter, this forum have many experts lurking. But from experience doing web-CGIs/mobile programmings, I do understand how network socket works.

larryg0 I just tried it with the program from the screenshot above.  You can only move one folder or file at a time.  No bueno.

_ I somehow believe your issue was with the USB attached. There’s several reported issues here that the USB drives sometimes disconnects during transfers or for no apparent reason. It depends on what kind of drive you feed to the WDMyCloud. Usually large external drives causes this especially those with external power, possibly that they draw more juice from the USB3 port. I have a 2TB USB3 powered drive, no issues so far. You might wanna try to use a usb powered hub to see if it helps. _

I am using an “old school” My Book I got in '07 or '08 the uses external power.  I’m just trying to get the files off it and onto the 3TB MyCloud.  I was going to then buy a 6TB My Book, hook it to the usb port on the MyCloud to use as a backup to the 3TB MyCloud.  If what you are saying is true, the it is not a good idea for me to do that.  I want my backup drive to be larger than the MyCloud drive.

Let me ask this:  The folks who have reported issues with the external powered drives, did it “drop” the entire connection (to both the external drive and the MyCloud) or did it just drop the connection to the external drive?

If it did drop the entire connection, did they get the same error as i did (Windows asking for a username and password then saying you can’t have multiple connections).

I’m going to see if I can re-create the issue.  The drive(s) have be behaving since I started this thread last night.  I just finished a file transfer that ran overnight and I’m about to start another one.

P.S.

I have no problems admitting I’m a n00b on some of this tech stuff.  I’m here seeking the knowledge of those who are experts!

If you have a thought of getting a larger drive attached to your existing cloud, do yourself a favour and get an external powered USB3 hub.

The question you asked, is best answered by those who’s facing the exact same issue from the same scenario. Because my experience differs (next para). I could only advise if you face the issue again, login to the cloud’s shell to check if the usb mount is still ok, the samba mount to the USB is valid and that you are able to mount the network share on the cloud itself i.e. “mount.cifs -ouser=user //wdmycloud/share /mnt”.

When I 1st got the cloud, I do experienced disconnects during transfers using my older 1TB eSata/USB2 external chassis powered drive which was directly connected to the cloud. But the results would be only the usb no longer mounts. A replugin or remount needed. Strange is that the USB share is still visible but invalid. Getting a powered hub iron out the disconnects. However now I’m using a USB3 WD 2TB MyPassport w/o the hub.

PS: I admire your patience with the good old 250G MyBook. I’m not, I shoved my other older 1TB non-eSata/USB2 external drive to a raid hot-swap just to get the data quickly transferred to mycloud :smileyvery-happy:

Edited: too many typos … almost 4am here, I’m out Zzzz…

I want to add this to my earlier post. I have only had my new Samsung phone for a short time. Here is the correct way for getting into the S4 Task Manager.

To launch Task Manager hold down the Home key and tap the Task Manager icon at the bottom of the screen. Then you should see this. See image below.

Posted by,
cat0w (USA)

Reply to: JamesTKirk

I know this has already been answered but yes I can use my cell phone, laptop and/or desktop at the same time for opening files on my My Cloud. I don’t do that a lot but it can be done.

Posted by,
cat0w (USA)