I am very new to this device and bought it mainly for backup but we recently had a family holiday where lots of folks took lots of pictures on their phones and we would like a central place where we can all share them. That means each person uploading to my MYCloud device and being able to view others pics. I have read but not understood the sharing section in the manual and I am hoping that someone on this forum can explain to me in simpler terms what each of us has to do. I only want others to be able to access this one folder on my MyCloud and I want to restrict it to named family members - ideally I would like to be able to tell them “go to this website, enter your name/password and do this to upload or view this folder.” Can anyone help me please.
If you haven’t done so already, read the My Cloud User Manual (https://support.wdc.com/product.aspx?ID=904) to learn more about the My Cloud and how to use its various features including remote access.
Also see the My Cloud Learning Center (http://learn.mycloud.com/) which has information on how to access the My Cloud remotely.
There are a number of ways to access the My Cloud remotely or to provide one direct access to a specific file on the My Cloud. These range from creating Users through the My Cloud Dashboard, to using the MyCloud.com web portal to using the My Cloud Desktop or WD mobile apps for iOS and Android.
I have read the manual several times and I still don’t understand it. Yes I have a share folder and I have all my pictures of this family holiday in it. I can access it remotely and I know how to do that. But my question is how do I allow my family members to access this file remotely so that they can upload pictures and view each others picture in this folder? I want to restrict access to six named people only and only for this one file and nothing else on the drive. Simple instructions are required and not the difficult instructions in the manual.
As you have already been told you can use mycloud.com to share. See example image below.
Click on tap or activate image to enlarge it.
There are no real simple instructions. The My Cloud User Manual explains the process.
You enable remote access if not enabled through the My Cloud Dashboard.
You create a User through the My Cloud Dashboard.
You enable that User to have remote access through the My Cloud Dashboard.
You configure that User’s access (full access, read only access, no access) to Shares through the My Cloud Dashboard.
That User is sent an email to create an account on MyCloud.com.
User creates account and logs into MyCloud.com where they see the various Shares they were given access to and can upload/download files.
Once account is created on MyCloud.com one can also use the WD app for iOS or Android, the WD My Cloud Desktop software, or WD Sync to access the My Cloud remotely.
More information (from the link’s already provided):
https://support.wdc.com/knowledgebase/index.aspx?s=upload+files&c=538&lang=en
Thank you cpt_paranoia and Bennor for your advice. We are a lot closer to a solution now but one more question if I may. When I send out a Private link I have the choice as whether or not guests can edit. If I tick this box then I assume it allows them the ability to delete files which I do not want. If I leave this box unticked so that they can view only can they still upload?
The answer is no. Giving read/write permissions allows that user the ability to upload, download, edit, and delete any files within folder or share.
AND this is a design limitation/feature of Unix/Linux operating systems. It is baked into the system, and you’ll find that true on any system that uses a Unix derivative operating system.
Thanks to all of you, I will need to warn my family not to delete any of the files in the shared folder. The help from all of you was much appreciated. As I learn to use this device then I may come back with some harder questions.
Yes but incase they do delete accidentally, be sure to do backups.
Be sure to do backups anyway. The device may fail at any time, just like any other piece of electronic equipment or HDD…
If you have a small number of family members, you could set up user accounts for each of them on your MyCloud. You could give them full access to their own Share, and give your other family members read access to each other’s shares.
You wouldn’t have a single folder to hold everyone’s stuff, but you would have a single device.
You’d have to tell them not to fill your drive up with their stuff, though; there’s no quota mechanism on the MyCloud…
