My Book World Edition is incomprehensible to me - help

I am used to using files, folders and drives.  I sort of half-grasp what a ‘share’ is. There’s a monitor icon called MyBook World, that someone at Western Digital decided needs to contain a Download and a Public ‘folder’.   Why?  Are they really folders, or ‘shares’? If they are folders, why are they not called folders, or at least ‘shared folders’?  What are the permissions schemes used for these two entities? How do I change, or delete, them…and start over afresh, creating what I want to have on the network drive, instead of someone else’s vision of what it should contain?  Also, why is there a HD icon called MyBookWorld-Backup?  What is it for?  I don’t think I need it. Is it a partition? What is its capacity? How do I partition this network drive? How do I get rid of this MyBookWorld-Backup thing…whatever it is…?  How do I get the network drive to appear on my Mac system 10.5.8 desktop?  And why does it seem to take the network drive, on initial bootup, several minutes to appear in the Network list?

What seems to be missing for me is an introductory explanation - kind of like a “MyBook World for Dummies” introduction, with simple examples telling how to do basic things like… " (1) You want to create a folder  on the network drive that nobody but you can access, and back up your computer to it.   Here’s how to do that…" Unfortunately the help system assumes the user has a basic understanding of what network drives are, how to administer and use them, and the concepts involved…which means a non-knowledgeable user like me has a difficult time figuring out not so much how to use this drive, but how to control and master it. I guess I truly am… ‘self annoyed’!  :-)   Has anyone else felt this way about this drive and the software provided to administer it?  Sure seems overcomplicated to me, but then I’ve been spoiled by years of Macintosh product use…! 

Self-Annoyed wrote:

I am used to using files, folders and drives.  I sort of half-grasp what a ‘share’ is. There’s a monitor icon called MyBook World, that someone at Western Digital decided needs to contain a Download and a Public ‘folder’.   Why?  Are they really folders, or ‘shares’? If they are folders, why are they not called folders, or at least ‘shared folders’?  What are the permissions schemes used for these two entities? How do I change, or delete, them…and start over afresh, creating what I want to have on the network drive, instead of someone else’s vision of what it should contain?  Also, why is there a HD icon called MyBookWorld-Backup?  What is it for?  I don’t think I need it. Is it a partition? What is its capacity? How do I partition this network drive? How do I get rid of this MyBookWorld-Backup thing…whatever it is…?  How do I get the network drive to appear on my Mac system 10.5.8 desktop?  And why does it seem to take the network drive, on initial bootup, several minutes to appear in the Network list?

 

What seems to be missing for me is an introductory explanation - kind of like a “MyBook World for Dummies” introduction, with simple examples telling how to do basic things like… " (1) You want to create a folder  on the network drive that nobody but you can access, and back up your computer to it.   Here’s how to do that…" Unfortunately the help system assumes the user has a basic understanding of what network drives are, how to administer and use them, and the concepts involved…which means a non-knowledgeable user like me has a difficult time figuring out not so much how to use this drive, but how to control and master it. I guess I truly am… ‘self annoyed’!  :-)   Has anyone else felt this way about this drive and the software provided to administer it?  Sure seems overcomplicated to me, but then I’ve been spoiled by years of Macintosh product use…! 

The “Public” folder is the default share INSIDE the MBW, it is clean of user permissions and restrictions as it’s meant to be able to allow universal access. The “Download” folder is another default share inside the MBW, whose function is to store torrent files downloaded with the MBW’s integrated torrent client (cTorrent).

The are called folders, but they are SHARES because they are side-by-side inside the ROOT of the MBW. Those shares have folder inside of them. A share can have any name, I can call a share “This_is_not_a_share” if I want to, it’s just a name. The FUNCTION as a share is dictated by its location WITHIN the MBW.

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