Current Setup: iPhone 6, PhotoSync App, Macbook, WD EX2 MyCloud NAS, LinkSys Router connected to Arris TWC Router Modem
*Additionally, I couldn’t get this to work before the TWC Arris router modem was hooked up trying everything I tried after the Arris was put into play.
I have tried FTP, SFTP, & WebDAV and I have not been able to use PhotoSync to sync my photos to my NAS. Yes, the NAS has a native app but I take a lot of photos on my phone. And PhotoSync knows what photos you haven’t uploaded and specifically highlights them for you so all you have to do is hit the sync button. With the WD native app I’d have to first check on the NAS what was the last photo I uploaded and then individually choose each photo out of the photos I have on my phone. This was easy of course when I had everything setup to sync to Google+ photos.
I’ve followed the following directions and have tried all kinds of other things and nothing has worked yet. I’d be open to using another app if it could also auto choose the photos that have not already been uploaded. Any ideas? I even tried single port forwarding for port 21 and assigned the IP of the NAS and then did the FTP setup on the NAS along with turning the FTP on for individual shares. Nothing. Ideas anyone?
Without going into all the details of what you have tried and failed, I noticed one very obvious thing. That is, the link you provided at the end for ftp settings is a link to a settings for a My Cloud device…which I hope you know is NOT the same as a My Cloud EX2. Their firmwares are very different and settings will differ too, especially the server name part. You can refer to the EX2’s manual to see what the right ftp settings are for the server name. And this is assuming you are doing this syncing while in the same network as the EX2. If you wish to do this sync from outside the network (say for example, from outside your home if the EX2 is kept at your home), then you need to setup port forwarding on your router. But best to get to that in steps…first get it to work from within the same network, before attempting it from outside the network, as you’ll have to set up port forwardings on your router, etc.
Also, if you were to try SFTP (not FTPS), the login username is different than your normal EX2 login username (it is the preset ssh root access username). You can find out what the username is for SFTP connection by looking in the EX2 manual for SSH username or in the dashboard right next to the settings to enable SSH access. And for SFTP to work, you need to enable SSH access first and setup a pasword (which will become your SFTP password). But I would recommend against using SFTP for your sync purposes because then your files are going to be saved as a root user which will affect the location and permission on the files on EX2, that you may not be able to access using your regular EX2 username. Best to stick with good old FTP…or with FTPS, if security is a concern during syncing.
Without going into all the details of what you have tried and failed, I noticed one very obvious thing. That is, the link you provided at the end for ftp settings is a link to a settings for a My Cloud device…which I hope you know is NOT the same as a My Cloud EX2. Their firmwares are very different and settings will differ too, especially the server name part. You can refer to the EX2’s manual to see what the right ftp settings are for the server name. And this is assuming you are doing this syncing while in the same network as the EX2. If you wish to do this sync from outside the network (say for example, from outside your home if the EX2 is kept at your home), then you need to setup port forwarding on your router. But best to get to that in steps…first get it to work from within the same network, before attempting it from outside the network, as you’ll have to set up port forwardings on your router, etc.
YOU ASSUMED CORRECT. I WANT TO DO ALL OF THIS WITHIN MY NETWORK. I CHECKED OUT THE MANUAL AND IT WALKS ME THROUGH WHAT I HAVE ALREADY TRIED SEVERAL TIMES OVER. I NOT ONLY SETUP FTP, BUT ALSO GAVE FTP ACCESS TO THE SHARES AS ADVISED. I’VE ALSO TRIED HTTP://IP-OF-NAS, JUST THE IP OF THE NAS, NAS NAME, & FTP.NAS-NAME.COM FOR THE SERVER NAME WHEN TRYING TO CONNECT FROM PHOTOSYNC. AT SOME POINT I EVEN TRIED PORT FORWARDING PORT 21 ON MY ROUTER (WHICH I DIDN’T REALLY WANT TO DO). THAT DIDN’T WORK EITHER.
Also, if you were to try SFTP (not FTPS), the login username is different than your normal EX2 login username (it is the preset ssh root access username). You can find out what the username is for SFTP connection by looking in the EX2 manual for SSH username or in the dashboard right next to the settings to enable SSH access. And for SFTP to work, you need to enable SSH access first and setup a pasword (which will become your SFTP password). But I would recommend against using SFTP for your sync purposes because then your files are going to be saved as a root user which will affect the location and permission on the files on EX2, that you may not be able to access using your regular EX2 username. Best to stick with good old FTP…or with FTPS, if security is a concern during syncing.
I ACTUALLY DID TRY SETTING UP AS SFTP ALSO. I HAD TO AT SOME POINT CREATE A SSH KEY TO PUT INTO PHOTOSYNC. I SETUP THE SSH WITH A SPECIFIC USERNAME AND ALL STEPS RELATED. THAT DIDN’T WORK EITHER.
I’D REALLY LIKE TO GET THE FTP PART CORRECT. ANY MORE IDEAS?
SORRY FOR THE UPPERCASE. I’M NOT THAT EXCITED…LOL!
I went the route of the following article. I was able to do everything on it except (1) obtain a Static WAN IP from your ISP (costs extra with Time Warner) and (2) set up a Domain Name Server (DNS) (which also costs extra). It looks like I may have to use the WD stock app for the iPhone. Which unfortunately leaves me having to choose each picture I upload. Ugh! I keep 100s of photos on my phone, but I typically only upload the newest that haven’t been uploaded already. Something which PhotoSync already knows.
I suspect the issue may lie with something in your ftp configuration…but it is only a suspicion. Can’t say with certainty without seeing screenshots of your ftp configs from your dashboard.
But even if I assume that you have setup ftp correctly, I noticed you talked about following the steps in that linksys document. I only skimmed the first half of it. I understand that you (or anyone else) would pay for getting a static WAN IP but I do hope you have assigned a static LAN IP on your router for the EX2 (which technically is reserving a DHCP IP for your EX2 but the idea isthe same - your EX2 gets a static LAN IP…and note, we are talking of LAN IPs, not WAN IPs). To be cleaer, this is something you’ll do on the router - on the link you gave, it is mentioned as “Setting up DHCP Reservation on the router”.
Once the LAN IP for EX2 is made static, you can use that IP anywhere you are asked to enter a server name (which in your pic is the first setting called Server) as long as you are within your network.
Anyway, I strongly recommend you first install an ftp client on your computer rather than do this from your phone and make sure it works from the computer first, Once you get it to work, simply use the same ftp connection settings in your Photosync app. Filezilla is an excellent ftp cleint app available for Mac and Windows. When installing do a custom install becase lately I have heard from folks that they try to sneak-install other 3rd party browser addons…so during custom install just decline any 3rd party stuff and just install the core filezilla client.
After that, try to connect via ftp usng your lan IP. If you have setup passive connection in your ftp config, filezilla should be able to connect using transfer mode as Auto (under Transfer settings tab), which is the default anyway. As long as you do all of this within your network, you do not need to setup ANY port forwardings…that only comes into the picture when you are coming in from outside…basically then you need to map what the outside ports will go to (i.e. forwarded to) which internal (LAN) IP.
As for SFTP, you cannot setup ANY username for sftp access othern than the one and only pre-defined SSH access username, as mentioned on page 122 of the maual using page number on the printed page (but actually is page 127 of the PDF). In the section titled SSH on that manual’s page, you will see what the SSH login username is in the last line of that section starting with the word Note. As I have said efore, you really shouldn’t do ay of this with SFTP. Unless you want to muck with Linux on EX2’s permission and path issues, which I’d guess you don’t want to (unless you are very familiar with Linux/Unix).
Sooooo…I gave up but I didn’t. I gave up on FTP. I had been trying to get WebDAV to work the whole time while I was working on FTP. That was equally not working. I just figured it out. I’m not sure if this really matters but I did…
On my linksys router I made the IP of the NAS static
On the WD NAS I made the IP of the NAS static (under Settings > Network)
I turned on WebDAV under the NAS Network settings (under Settings > Network)
I turned on Port Forwarding under the NAS Network settings: turned on for WebDAV (4443), WebDAV (8080) & HTTP (80). (Under Settings > Network)
I verified WebDAV was turned on in the Shares settings for the Public folder. I’m assuming turning this on for whatever folder you want to use under Shares would be sufficient (under Shares)
On my linksys I also have port forwarding enabled setup for ports 4443, 8080, 80 and set to point at the NAS IP address. Both UDP & TCP
On PhotoSync I have the following settings setup for WebDAV
Server: IP address of NAS
Port: 8080
Username: N/A
Password: N/A
Folder: Public (i’m assuming this would depend on what folder you gave WebDAV access to under “Shares”
Use SSL: I didn’t turn this on
After PhotoSync accepted these settings I was able to see the folders I had in the Public folder on my NAS.
I synced my photos!!!
With these settings I was able to upload 954 items of which about 50 are videos to my NAS in 30-40 minutes. Once again, I’m sure all these settings are not necessary, but since I’ve already set them all up I’m a little gun shy when it comes to changing anything. I’m just happy it works. I’ll probably start toggling things off later to see what settings I do not need setup. I have tons more of photos to upload first.
Some may wonder why I chose PhotoSync over the WD MyCloud app that was free and practically worked immediately upon download. Here’s why:
WD MyCloud app doesn’t keep your phone screen awake while it is uploading photos. When the screen goes to sleep the app stops uploading photos and videos. PhotoSync keeps the screen awake during the whole process.
WD My Cloud app was fairly fast, but WebDAV through PhotosSync appeared insanely fast.
WD My Cloud app doesn’t know which photos have not been uploaded.
WD My Cloud app doesn’t automatically select photos that have never been uploaded before.
When you have 900+ photos on your phone not having to choose 55 of the newest photos is mighty convenient.
Well, the main reason I had recommended you to use an ftp client on a computer was so that you could actually see more detailed error message (for you to debug the issue) during the ftp login attempt. Obviously that suggestion was ignored. And not even the smallest word of thanks for my time and suggestion. Oh well. I’m glad it is working for you in some way.
