Interesting response from WD tech support -- Time Machine not supported!

Community Archives WD ShareSpace
1

I sent tech support a question asking for help getting Time Machine set up for my Mac computers on my WD ShareSpace.  The answer follows:

[deleted for violation of privacy]

Doesn’t this amount to false advertising on WD’s part?  I bought the system because it was advertised as being fully compatible with Mac OS X and Time Machine.  What’s going on here?

2

What the agent basically said is that we don’t support the Sharespace on Mac’s or with Time Machine.  He did not mean that we didn’t build the device to be used with Mac’s and Time Machine.  We have provided the means, in the Sharespace, for using it on a network with a Mac.  However, what he should have stated more clearly was that  WD Technical Support does not provide support for setting up the Sharespace on a network with a Mac using Time Machine.  WD never has provided networking support for Mac’s with any of our products. 

3

Thanks for the clarification. Please note that I’m not looking for network support.  I’m looking for instructions to follow so that I can use your product as it was advertised. Your documentation includes documentation as to how to use Time Machine with the product, but the instructions don’t work.

You should probably disclose in your documentation in the section on using Time Machine that the instructions don’t actually work and that that’s tough because tech support won’t help you either.

4

At what point does it not work? 

5

I also have an 8TB WD ShareSpace and would like to use with Time Machine but it seems the NAS lacks some components for it to be automatically recognized by Time Machine. I had to follow the instructions from the website below for Time Machine to recognize the remote drive:

http://safalra.com/other/time-machine-network-drive/

Quoting from the WD ShareSpace Manual:

The Apple® Time Machine™ is a built-in feature on Mac OS X Leopard and Snow

Leopard computers that can back up everything on your computer: music, photos,

documents, applications, emails, and system files. The WD ShareSpace drive

(firmware versions later than 2.1.92) can store these backups, so that if your hard

drive or operating system should crash, or you lose a file, you can easily restore it to

your computer.

I think 2.1.92 is the latest firmware available and that is the firmware my NAS is currently on. Will WD release a new firmware to automatically support this?

The manual also states that a WD_Backup user should be available on the NAS but I do not see one with the firmware that I have.

I would appreciate any feedback you can give.

6

I have passed this along for information.  I should know soon.