Upgrade or not from 03.04.01-230

Hello,

I’m currently running my WD Cloud on 03.04.01-230, and haven’t updated. I was wondering if I should perhaps for ahead and upgrade to 4.x? I don’t really use any of the features in the WD cloud except as a network drive(Previously I used it for Qbittorrent but have since moved to a seedbox).

I’ve also disabled all things I don’t need so it doesn’t spend power or cpu on things like twonky and so on.

Is the 4.x better or should I stick with 3.x?

Have you done a forum search, magnifying glass icon upper right, to find and read the various threads that discuss each new firmware upgrade? For example the current v4.x firmware discussion thread:

https://community.wd.com/t/firmware-04-04-03-113-discussion/164941

Only YOU can make the determination based on your needs if upgrading to the latest firmware, or a version later than 03.04.01-230 is warranted or needed. In almost every case new firmware versions fix certain issues but almost always introduce other issues. And sometimes, long standing firmware issues are not addressed or fixed at all. One can choose to manually update to any firmware version between 03.04.01-230 and 04-04-03-113 if they so desire. See the following link for an unofficial listing of firmware and links to download them.

https://community.wd.com/t/wd-my-cloud-v4-x-and-v2-x-firmware-versions-download-links/148533

One side note. If one has "unbricked "their My Cloud to a v3.x version firmware, some (including myself) have experienced problems with the Dashboard no longer being accessible when upgrading to a v4.x version firmware (usually jumping from the v3.x firmware direct to the latest v4.x firmware after unbrick). One can read the following thread where I discussed my experience (and solution that worked in my case) with this particular issue.

https://community.wd.com/t/unbrick-then-firmware-upgrade-equals-no-dashboard/136666

Good points Bennor, I did do a search but there wasn’t any thread about specifically 3.x to 4.x that’s somewhat recent.

I recall something about the firmware going to 64 bit blocks(?) and things being more limited in the 4.x stream. I was basically just wondering if there was a general consensus as to 4.x.

Some have bought their drives as native 4.x, but some like myself have had it from the 3.x strain. Have no brick issues.

So please people, do give your input :slight_smile:

V3 used a standard 4kB block size, so it was possible to install Debian packages from standard repositories (e.g. using apt-get).

V4 switched to a non-standard 64kB block size, so attempts to install from standard repositories are likely to brick the device.

If all you’re doing is using it as a local file server, with no external access, and it is working fine, I’d be tempted to leave it alone. “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” comes to mind…

The general consensus with v4.x is the same as with all other single bay My Cloud firmware, there are problems of one sort or another with it. You can read the Change Log (http://support.wdc.com/download/notes/WD_My_Cloud_Firmware_Release_Notes_04.04.03-113.pdf) for the firmware to get an idea of what was fixed in each firmware revision. Unfortunately it won’t tell you what was broke.

If you are never going to use any of the remote access features (outside of FTP) and never will expose the My Cloud to to the Internet, and are not using it as a media server, then why update the firmware if all one is doing is using it as a dumb NAS? If it ain’t broke, why fix it? Leave it be if its working fine.

As the previous poster indicated somewhere along the way WD change the page file size in v4.x which means you cannot use standard Debian programs/services. One has to use programs compatible with 64K page size file format. As we’ve seen time and again people using the v4.x firmware do an “apt-get” hoping to update the packages on the My Cloud and brick (render unusable) their My Cloud because of the incorrect page file size.

The main reason to upgrade is to take advantage of the security updates/enhancements (if any) that WD has incorporated into the later firmware updates.

Thanks for your input. I will leave it as it is :slight_smile: