MyCloud 4TB - Cant recognize external USB3.0 HDD

If connector power is of any concern, i cannot explain why my hdd now
mounts correctly!
I’m pretty sure that a robust power supply would be helpful, but
unfortunately MyCloud have
only a single port on the back, and adding a secondary power supply is a
pain on the rear.
Maybe an usb hub connected to a proper power supply would be better than
an Y usb cable.
In any case, i doupt the mounting problems is due to excessive power
drain, modern HDD
have an effective power management that control power usage when start
spinning,
avoiding excessive stress at startup.
Just a question, how is the MyCloud USB3 port rated on current provided ?
My HDD is labelled behind saying that at spinup can drain 800mA, and i
think it should
fit inside USB 3.0 specification (USB2.0 if i remember offer 500mA only)

Paolo

The OP indicated in a prior post what the problem/solution was for in their case and it didn’t appear to have anything to do with the USB drive not getting enough power.
https://community.wd.com/t/mycloud-4tb-cant-recognize-external-usb3-0-hdd/181050/31

Adding a powered USB hub or using a split USB cable to provide additional power via a second USB port is one troubleshooting step people should try if they are having problems with external USB hard drives not mounting when attached to the My Cloud’s USB port. Sometimes hardware could be slightly out of spec.

On a side note, while the My Cloud User Manual indicates one can attach up to seven external USB hard drives using a hub, we’ve had prior discussions where people have trouble using more than four devices. Some discussion on that issue can be found in the following thread:
https://community.wd.com/t/my-cloud-and-usb-hub-powered/168885
In that thread I mention how I had trouble with a seventh USB device sometimes mounting as 0K while using a powered USB 2.0 hub.

Oh my god… i’ve figured out why the 0Kb free space mounting issue.

Iesterday, i was notified by email from my home MyCloud that i had a power loss and the device has been rebooted,

When i come back at home, i discovered that my external hdd (always connected and usedonly for safepoints) was not mounted at all. I then rebooted the device (without hdd connected) then reconnected the hdd, and after some seconds it was mounted but with indication of 0Kb free… NNNnnoooooooo

One thing i have noticed, is that the mycloud hdd was furiously trashing, and UI seemed quite unresponsive to the user,… at the right bottom panel, the state was “indexing…”

I’m now 100% sure that, if the device is re-indexing content, then any external usb3 device is NOT recognized, or if it is recognized is reported as 0kb free!

I have done the following:

1- reboot the device without any hdd connected
2- entered into firmware ui looking at indexing page
3- wait for the indexing to complete (after an insane amount of time)
4- when the content indexing report “inactive”, ONLY NOW connect usb3 hdd
5- it will be detected as 0kb free, BUT the indexing now restart
6- go again inti indexing page, the device is scanning now content (on external hdd)
7- after some minutes, the indexing completes, return to home page
8- usb info now report the correct hdd size… HORRAYYYY

I now believe that MyCloud is unreliabe on usb detection while it is busy indexing content, most probably because excessive cpu usage.
Also, usb connected devices are mounted as 0kb free UNTIL the indexing is complete, only at that point it is properly mounted.

Does all this makes sense ? This aggressive indexing is evil!

It seems you do not want to listen…
When active, your My Cloud is using all the electric current.
Power your USB and it will work
It happened to me months ago, and when I externally powered the hdd, it worked right away, and since

I have just bought a powered USB3 hub. As far as installed, i will report here if the extra juice turn to be useful. I frankly doubt about the too-much-current-drain theory, but i will give it a chance nonetheless.

I have several My cloud Nas…On the EX2 ultra, when I put 6tb 7200rpm dual discs, I have to change the original power supply. It is advised in the manual. And on either the EX4100 or the EX2 ultra, my external seagate 4tb backup fast, shows 0kb if I do not use a twin power USB cable hooked to my apple Airport extreme usb3 just for the juice.
(never tried with powered hub, but must be the same)
Does not hurt to try, hopefully your data is there

This method worked for me and I think it should work for you too if I just plugged it in and waited for 5-10 minutes, it eventually fired up and got out of the 0KB mode.

Guys, a permanent fix would require you to supply more power, so maybe upgrading from 12V 1.5A power supply to 12V 2.0A, and the USB 3.0 port will get enough power to fire up any HDD. It’s the same reason some external HDD’s don’t fire up on the noteboosk, because the USB 3.0 port isn’t supplying enough power, nothing to do with drivers. (This worked for me, if the WD team would run some tests to clarify this).

Thanks for your reply, but at this time my attempt was still unsuccessfully.
It’s always an hit and miss. My HDD is powered by an external source (powered hub),
and the PC sees the HDD from the same hub. So i assume it’s a firmware defect of WD unit.
Anyway, i’ve not tried yet to replace the WD unit power supply with a more juicy one!
I will try this for sure, but WD team should in my humble opinion investigate further
to allow the HDD (that appear to be spinning just right) to be always recognized.