Transferring data from old MyCloud to EX2

Hi there,

I’ve just upgraded from a MyCloud to an EX2 and wanted to know the best way to go about transferring all of the data from my old system on to the new one.

Also, will I run into any difficulties having access to two different devices from my laptop?

Thanks very much for your help,

I’d recommend manually transferring your content between units. It’s the most straight-forward approach.

You should have no issues at all accessing both units.

Thanks for the reply Trancer.

So how should that manual transfer take place? Do I need a physical connection between both boxes or are you saying I need to download everything to a laptop and then upload it again?

Thanks

Hi there. It is possible to do direct transfers between the two units via FTP. You’ll have to use a special mode called FXP, this setting can be found in any software like Filezilla. I believe you’ll also need to turn on FXP on the units themselves, it is to be found hidden under Settings > Network > FTP > Configure. Then, you’ll also need to handle the connections themselves, with both units connected to your router, and your FTP software doing the work of negotiating the connection and transfer of data between the two units.

Unfortunately, I do not have an extra device to test this with, so all I have to offer is theory on how it is supposed to work, so I am not confident enough to say it must work nor would I recommend it as such. But you might want to do some research into FXP, or wait for someone more proficient in this area to respond. Meanwhile, if you’re still interested, I found this bit of info which may help in your case. Have a look to see if these steps can be adapted for your use.

Can you please not quote My Book Live info about FXP which does not apply to My Cloud EX2? The firmware is different and so is the ftp daemon used in EX2’s firmware. Just because you find something that works on a different WD product does not mean it will work with EX2.

Here’s another question similar to yours. I forgot about the Remote Backup feature, which he also mentioned. You might want to have a look and see if it works for you. Otherwise, you’ll have to do it the tedious way and copy from Cloud to laptop to NAS.

Got it, Cybernut. My apologies. I did mention about reading up on FXP and adapting the steps, just in case. But if others have a better or correct method to do so, by all means, please do :slight_smile:

Hey, I think I should be the one apologizing to you. It has been so long that somehow I forgot that EX2 DOES support FXP. I now re-read my own 2-year old comment that you linked to in that second link…and in there I say it does support it. I cannot unfortunately pull up my EX2’s dashboard to verify it - my EX2 needs a reboot I think. But since I mentioned it in that 2 year old post, it must be true. I wouldnot post info without verifying. For some reason I thought it was FXP that was different between My Book Live and EX2, but no it must not be. But the firmwares are very different (MBL, a product that preceded the EX2 by 2-3 years had a much older and very different firmware).

Okay, I was able to kill and restart my EX2’s web server and checked in the dashboard. Yes, FXP is indeed supported on EX2…so it would work…BUT the steps in the first link will NOT work. Because the FTP daemon used in EX2 is different - it is pure-ftpd (the steps shown in first link is for vs-ftpd that was used in MBL’s firmware). But the nice thing is that enabling FXP can be now done via the dashboard’s FTP config GUI screen - there’s a switch labelled FXP that is turned off by default - that needs to be turned on. I however don’t use FXP because most FTP clients do not support it. Filezilla client certainly does not support FXP (https://forum.filezilla-project.org/viewtopic.php?t=32641)