Well, I am a bit new in WD Community. As I purchased a new My Cloud 3TB device yesterday I started to configure it and then I saw it hasn’t an ON/OFF button. It is logic since this product is designed to be “always online”. The only way to turn it off I have seen is using the WD QuickView program, but when I turn it OFF it is impossible to turn it ON again. Am I right or wrong? Regarding all these things I’d like to ask two more questions:
First one: At home we’re used to turn off the router at night. As My Cloud keeps running, but with the router offline, is it harmful for the My Cloud device?
Second one: If it is harmful, is there an easy way to safely turn on My Cloud at morning and turn it off at night before disconnecting de router?
PD: The only way I have found to turn ON and OFF the device is by plugging and unplugging the power cable, but it is surely a bad practice and over time will harm de device.
No it is not harmful – though you might get warning e-mails every time because it will send notifications (if you configure it) that the network went down.
You are correct. The only way to turn it back on is to unplug the power and plug it back in.
The issue of no shutdown button in the v2.x firmware My Cloud has been discussed in numerous threads including as recently as yesterday in the following thread:
See the link above for a number of other threads where various methods of shutting down a v2.x firmware My Cloud are discussed.
The v4.x firmware My Cloud’s have a shutdown option in several locations within the My Cloud Dashboard.
The ONLY way at this time to power on a My Cloud is to cycle the power on it. One could use a cheap power timer (like those used for lights) to turn the My Cloud on/off at set times. There are more expensive options for turning devices on/off on a set schedule or via remote methods like home automation.
The My Cloud is designed to be run 24/7.
Before I moved to using SSH from a mobile device to issue the shutdown command on a v4.x firmware My Cloud I would simply switch off the power strip that the My Cloud (and broadband router) where attached to. Using that method I would sometimes get corrupted media files (always video files) for some strange reason. Problem went away once I started shutting down the unit using either the Dashboard shutdown option or the SSH shutdown method. I explain the SSH shutdown methods I use on a v4.x firmware My Cloud in another thread:
Currently one cannot “switch on” the single bay/single drive My Cloud units using WD Access. The single bay/single drive My Cloud units have different features than the My Cloud Mirror and more expensive My Cloud product line devices. The single bay My Cloud units currently lack Wake-On-Lan capability.
another who has found this distressing business of no shutdown facility, and here is W.D.'s latest response, I know it’s a bit late but has anyone got this sort of response or are willing to escalate this? I doubt this will ever be rectified but one may hope
Cheers
James
**
Thank you for your reply and for your remarks.
Your remarks have been escalated to our higher level of support and our engineering team and we will have it under consideration for our future products.
I am truly sorry to hear that you are left dissatisfied with your product and that it does not fit your needs. I will be more than happy to request a discount coupon for your next purchase from the WD Store, as we value you as our customer and your opinion does count. Please, do let me know if you wish to receive the 20% discount code for the WD Store.
If you have any further questions, please reply to this email and we will be happy to assist you further.
Sincerely,
Alex
Western Digital Service and Support
Yes, its normal. But device will not accessible some time after router went back online.
If turn off the power while disk is used (active) - possible to get damaged partition (And “bricked” device). If HDD not in use - its safe tu turn off.
You can install my “hack” that unlock all blocked functions, include power control.
Like a router - mycloud a “24/7” device. It consume ~2-3W in sleep (~5W for 2-disk devices) and around 20-24W (upto 35W for 2 disks or with connected USB-hdd on full load). Not so many, yeah?
Why do you think it is a bad practice to disconnect the power cable from the device every night?
I always switch off by the dashboard or by the quickview program and then remove the power cable. I do this for fear that there will be variations or drops in the electrical network that could burn the device or corrupt the data during some process.
However, I have always doubted if the practice is indicated, because, when removing the cable (even with the device already turned off) I notice that the led flashes once quickly.
Other than that, I’ve heard that other electronics have a longer service life when kept connected as they are less worn out with the startup and shutdown process. However, I do not know if this holds true for WD.
So far, the precaution with the variations in the electrical network seems to me to be good.
I am using my cloud home with WIFI switch which can be turned on and off via internet remotely. So, I just turn it on as and when I need to upload or download. It is quite great.
I think the life span of the disk will be short if the disk is keep on running and increasing heat inside the device. Spinning the disk cause shorter life of disk definitely unless the disk is SSD but WD hard disk in mycloud or mycloud home is not SSD type.
