dubie wrote:
if you are finding that you are repeatedly losing the same tracks, I believe that these disappearing files are caused by illegal characters in the file name, e.g. ?"@%# etc.or possibly Cyrillic alphabet characters. Also there might be problems with overly long file names. I have in the past found that some files I had with Russian text file names were invisible in my browser. Personally I try to keep my music track file names as short as possible. When you are ripping the music files, are you using an online database to fill in the track details? That may be the cause of the naming issues. I use CDex for ripping and have found it to be reliable.
Having said that, I have been messing about re-naming some test files on my MyCloud with Cyrillic and other unusual characters and I can’t get them to disappear in windows explorer…
I finished re-ripping the missing tracks last night and noted them, in case there is a pattern. I still need to back up My Cloud and I have a USB drive, but it is not USB powered (it has a separate wall adaptor) and has a power button. I realize this probably won’t work well for scheduled backups, unless I leave it always on. But, if I’m losing these files, I probably won’t want to keep it permanently connected anyway, because whatever is deleting my music files could delete my backed up files as well. Does that make sense? I figure that as I add more music to My Cloud, I will back it up on the USB drive immediately, then disconnect it. In the meantime, I will continue to investigate why the files are disappearing.
After reading that CNET forum thread, I’m thinking that the problem probably doesn’t lie with My Cloud at all. So, I appreciate the feedback I have received from you guys so far.
Your USB drive should be OK, but just be aware there are some issues with the MyCloud freezing when USB drives are connected. This seems to be a common problem with the latest firmware. So, if you haven’t updated your firmware yet don’t do it. Also, when you want to disconnect the backup drive, make sure to eject it using the eject function in the dashboard. If you have problems with a USB drive directly connected, you could still sync the MyCloud to a USB drive connected to your PC.
Oops, when I first encountered this problem, one of the first things I did was to update the firmware. Should I risk it? Or, is the freezing temporary?
Oh, and regarding Cyrillic characters in the file names, all I see is the “song title.flac” and none of the lost tracks have Russian names.
Well, if the worst happens and your MyCloud becomes inaccessible you can recover by disconnecting the power and re-booting. Remember to disconnect the USB drive before it reboots. You may have to do the 40-second reset, which means you will have to go through the set-up procedure again, but this won’t affect your data. If you do have to re-boot or reset you will need to connect up the USB drive to a computer and run a error check on the disk.
Have a look at this tip. I dont know if it will work
Also, some people find the MyCloud is more stable with the older firmware. It is possible to downgrade to V3 firmware. I have this setup with a USB drive for backups and I have no problems now.
If you download metadata from freedb in EAC (using Alt-G to get tags), EAC replaces ‘illegal’ characters when it creates the filenames, so that shouldn’t be a problem.
Even WD recommend not using the MyCloud’s USB port for bulk transfers; they suggest connecting the USB to a PC, and transferring from MyCloud to USB drive via the PC. USB connected directly to MyCloud seems to be for ‘Safepoint’ use.
I prefer to run my own backup regime, for which I connect USB drives to the PC, and run a simple DOS script using xcopy to copy new files from my ‘master’ disks (MyCloud and PC) to the backup disks.
My feeling has always been that it’s not the MyCloud deleting or losing files, but some malfunctioning media application or DRM spyware. Finding it is the problem. If you rip your own CDs, it’s possible you have installed one of the Sony rootkit spyware programs; the number of times I stick a CD in the drive, and it auto-runs some ‘extended CD’ stuff. Even though I keep hitting the “don’t auto-run anything, ever, don’t even open the folder automatically” button; Windows seems to ‘forget’ that setting…
I’m glad I just read that last post, as I’m a bit nervous about doing the backup directly from My Cloud to USB drive. I think I will do the backup through the laptop. I’m a bit of a Luddite with this stuff, so “run a simple DOS script using xcopy to copy new files” goes right over my head. I think I’ll wait until tomorrow to start the backup, as I’m sure it’ll take a few hours and I’d like to be nearby when it’s going on. It doesn’t appear that any files have disappeared since my last “re-rip”, so hopefully it’ll be OK until tomorrow. Thanks for the help.
By the way, I tried to register with the Sonos forums a couple of days ago and I was supposed to receive a confirmimg email. That didn’t come, so yesterday I sent an email to inquire. I received an auto-response stating that I would hear back within 24 hours. Well, that has come and gone…weird.
