WD MyCloud suggestions

My Cloud OS 3 Personal & Network Attached Storage My Cloud
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I got back from vacation a few days ago and was curious if there was any progression on all the MyCloud issues.

Happy to see that they released new firmware I thought that I would read about the experience of other users so far.   It didn’t take me long to find out that this new firmware does not resolve most or any of the (important) issues, in fact, from reading in several topics is seems to get even worse for many users.    As stated before I believe that WD does not know what they are dealing with and does not know how to get this device to work properly.    They should seriously consider to take their hand off of products like this and focus on their usual business.    Luckily enough mine is still up and running and does what it should do, although I only use is as basic as possible like video streaming.   I do not trust it enough to put critical data on it though.     So mine does the job at this point but I still feel angry and disappointed that so many fellow users have so many issues, I could have been one of them just as easily !!  

Anyway, after reading a lot of topics there is only one thing left to do for me, I suggest to each and everyone of you:

  1. If it works as expected and you are happy with your device, do not touch it, upgrade it or whatsoever, just let it do it’s job if it is stable.    Do not hang around here to much because it might encourage you to do an upgrade after all and as you might have read it only made it worse for many other users   So only get to this forum if you are starting to experience serious issues with your device.

  2. If it doesn’t work as expected and you still have the option to return it, seriously consider to do so and get a different brand, do not wait it out and expect WD to resolve it, that is the mistake I made besides getting this product in the first place.   My gut feeling tells me they won’t resolve it and by now I trust that feeling more than I trust WD.

  3. If it doesn’t work as expected and you do not have the option to return it then store it in the attic and get a different brand.   Go back to this forum in about 6 month (if your gut feeling tells you that they will resolve it eventually) and see if they have been able to resolve the issues.    If not, go back again half a year later if you still expect them to resolve it.    In the meantime just let it sit there in the attic and give your heart and mind some peace for a while, trust me, you’ll feel much better.

Sorry guys, that is how I look at it at this point.    Sell it or store it, work some extra hours and use that money to get yourself a better one from a different brand, it will be less stressful.

Best regards and good luck to ya’ll,

The Rambler

2 Likes
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Hello  Rambler67,

I have passed your case along to support. Please keep an eye on your private messages. 

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The problem (from my perspective) was caused by the Reboot and Rescan that MyCloud had to do after the Firmware 4 update. This made the boxes temporarily useless which confused many of us for quite a while.

Below is what I think is the technical explanation (and solution) for us users of MyCloud.

It looks like MyCloud now really hates multi-tasking and that, after you add new files to MyCloud, it has to Rescan the database - which renders the device totally useless until the Sanning is completed.

So if you leave your MyCloud alone after the update to firmware 4, for a while, it will all fix itself and you will be back in business - until the next time it has to rescan it’s database (i.e. until you add/remove files to your device)

The SOLUTION (if WD can’t fix this through another update):

Is to turn off automatic Rescan of the database (because the drive is useless while it is scanning your database), and to do it manually after you change your database and when you are not going to need the drive for any other purpose for a while (i.e. until the Rescan is completed). Then you can continue to use it at it’s maximum (best) performance potential.

THE PROCEDURE:

open the twonkey interface on port 9000 i.e. wdmycloud.local:9000
go to Advanced menu and click Clear Cache then

set Rescan Interval to 0 instead of -1 (This will effectively stop the software (Twonky) from rescanning your files.

then go to Dashboard (your admin web interace) and turn off Media DLNA server in:

Settings, Media, Media Streaming, OFF

then select Rebuild database (if you suspect database corruption)
or
select Rescan (To Search for changes to your files)

and wait for it to finish.

After that, reset Media Streaming to ON (so you can start streaming to your devices again)

and then either go back to Twonkey, Advanced settings and change the Rescan Interval back to -1 (to re-enable automatic file scanning)

OR

Leave it at 0 in Twonky (which is what I am doing) and use the Rescan option in Dashboard after you are done modifying your files. i.e. Dashboard, Settings, Media, DLNA Database, Rescan

BUT remember that your device will still be useless until the Rescan completes in Dashboard (also you won’t need to turn media streaming off and on again if you are not using the box until the Rescan completes).

THANKS to nabulaer (above) for posting his solution to this problem, which helped me in resolving my problems and to  try to explain it further and to help somebody else.

I have also passed this info to WD when they contacted me on the trouble call. It’s still a good device and keep enjoying this cool device.

1 Like
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Dumb question: How does that help us who have DLNA (Twonky) disabled?

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well, that’s not really a dumb question, what my point was that after the firmware upgrade the MyCloud box rebooted and it had to Rescan all the data on the drive. At that point the drive became unuseable until the Rescan had completed. The Rescan itself can either be used/triggered by Twonky or by the Dashboard program (which is the interface between your PC and the drive). So when you add/remove files to the drive it has to Rescan the database so that it can have up to date information.

You cannot manually turn off Rescanning once it has started (regardless of which program you use to control the drive) but you can turn Rescanning off, temporarily or permanently, through the Twonky interface. This will make the drive fast again (after the Rescan completes).