I really don’t understand how MyCloud works

I bought a MyCloud External Hard Drive a few years ago and have barely used it because I just don’t understand the blasted thing. I’ve used mapped network drives at work before and I don’t understand why I cannot access the external hard drive from my PC just like any other mapped drive in File Explorer and use the File Explorer to view, delete, or organize files. Am I missing a setting somewhere that would allow me to do this?

I can view the files but I cannot do anything with them from the PC. Plus, there’s a c r a p (FYI… they bleep out the word “c r a p”) ton of files there that I have NO IDEA where they came from and I’m the only user that accesses my MyCloud. In addition, the folders that I see via my PCs File Explorer are completely different than what I see when I log in on MyCloud.com.

And on top of all that… the web interface is a piece of c r a p. When I go into a folder, it doesn’t even show all of my files. I can click on a file (a picture) and use the arrow keys to scroll through the pictures. I was trying to organize them and would delete one… and it would close. I’d be back at the File listing but say the File I deleted was IMG5200… the last file showing in the list is IMG5100. I have to then click on IMG5100 and then scroll through approximately 100 pictures to get back to where I was when I deleted the other file.

I’m generally pretty tech savvy, but my networking knowledge is limited. It’s been a while but I’m fairly sure that I followed the instructions when I set the darn thing up. Any advice is appreciated… because I’m at the point I want to throw the thing in the garbage.

@MandyB1997 Are you on a Windows 10 PC? Do you know if you have a 1st or 2nd generation My cloud? Have you ever read the User Manual for your generation of My Cloud? See link below for more information about My Cloud.

https://support.wdc.com/product.aspx?ID=904&lang=en

If you can use a computer then you should be able to use the My Cloud. How have you backed up your files? Do you use SmartWare?

Here is a link to the Learning Center too. http://learn.mycloud.com/

You can. Read the user manual, or search these forums for ‘map network drive’.

https://community.wd.com/search?context=category&context_id=105&q=Map%20network%20drive%20order%3Alatest&skip_context=false

Did you install WD Sync, or WD SmartWare?

It is possible this gentleman has a MyCloud Home.

Remember, the single bay NAS products have been discontinued, and WD has been pushing the Home like it was the return of Jesus.

Opening line suggests not:

User name suggests may not be a gentleman…

I’m running Windows 8. I suppose it’s a first generation MyCloud. It doesn’t say otherwise on the box.

In my file Explorer, I have discovered since I posted that I can access MyCloud like a regular external hard drive and delete and manipulate files like normal if I go to “network” and then access the drive… I also have “MyCloud” listed under the section “This PC” which is where I had been trying to access the MyCloud from, since this is where all the other regular drives show up for my computer. But accessing this way did not allow me to do anything but view the files.

As far as reading the manual… I read the start up stuff when I set it up. I get frustrated because you have to go to one place just for setup stuff, then another place to access content online and apparently there are multiple ways to access the device from the PC itself, but depending on HOW you access it you get different functionality. This device is NOT user friendly to me and I use computers on a regular, daily basis.

I had originally purchased this device to try to easily backup photos from my phone. I downloaded whatever the app was but eventually deleted because it would not sync my photos to the drive, even when I was connected to the same network.

And correct… I’m very much NOT a gentleman.

Nice to see you figured out how to access the files via Network, and not PC. A NAS is connected not to a PC as a drive is, but rather to the Network, so therefore any device on the network has access to the NAS. This is one of the advantages of Network Attached Storage (aka NAS). If you do a little research on the concept of a NAS , all this stuff will make a lot more sense. A NAS is much better than individual drives scattered on PCs. Also to access a NAS does not require a PC to be on to access the data in the NAS. like accessing a drive on a PC does.

If you have mobile devices.,accessing music and videos with them is a piece of cake from the NAS.

So, your NAS is not a piece of c r a p, but your understanding of them needs a lot of improvement. Glad you finally delved into to things this time. Keep up the good work. I like to help people who help themselves, and why I kept silent here until now.

Skip to the sections on controlling the device through the Dashboard; they’re a lot more logical, and, I suspect, written by a different hand than the introductory, auto-setup actions, which are poor.

If the files you see there are only media (music, photos, videos), you may be seeing the media server, not the file server.

Maybe you should have just continued to have kept silent if your response was just going to be patronizing. And word is still out on whether or not the MyCloud is a piece of c r a p or not.

Thanks. I’ll try skipping that set up stuff and see if the rest of the content makes more sense.

I just don’t have a lot of time to devote to figuring it out. I expected the drive to be more like a regular external hard drive… plug and play basically. To get full advantage of it, I think I need much more networking knowledge that what I have. I don’t know that I’ll ever figure it out completely.

Thanks again.

A NAS needs a little more effort than a USB HDD, but it shouldn’t need too much networking knowledge.

Start by getting it connected to your router, and working as a file server, mapping shares as network drives. Put most of your stuff in private shares, not Public.

You might choose to install and set up a backup for your PC at this point (or later); you are not forced to use the WD software; other products are available, and may be superior. You should also think about backing up the MyCloud; like any HDD, it can fail at any time.

Then get the media server going, if you need it.

Then use one of the mobile device apps to access the device, and get it to back up pictures you take on the mobile device.

Then look at enabling remote access.

You don’t need to do all these things at once. Take your time, and build your knowledge and functions. One problem with the automated setup is that it tries to do too much at once, automatically, so users learn nothing about how the device works, or not…