What software am I suppose to use?

[VeeDaub]

I just picked this up yesterday, I’ll try to give a little background for my use case.

I used to use Google Drive with Backup and Sync, I could make a cloud backup of everything, so all of my files are on my desktop, all my files are on the cloud, and on my laptop I only sync’d specific folders, and then had access on my phone to everything if needed.

They upgraded to Google Drive for Desktop and broke the option to select folders, so now it’s all or nothing and my laptop doesn’t have the capacity to have an offline back up of my entire Google Drive. This basically renders the entire thing useless to me so I’ve just canceled Google Drive, and bought this WD My cloud EX2 Ultra.

I set it all up, had OS3 on it, tested the WD SmartWare software which does exactly what I want, so like, great, don’t have to do anything, right? Well aside from the part where the SmartWare software constantly crashes on Windows 10, and doesn’t even install correctly on Windows 11 on my laptop. The app for Android rarely connected so after a few hours of pulling my hair out, I upgraded to OS5 (big mistake).

I tried the included subscription to Acronis but that only makes a backup, and I can’t access my files on my phone or laptop, I have to manually restore those back ups on my laptop, to get access to the files so that entire program is completely useless for a “cloud” since that’s more of a NAS or External HDD application, so why it’s included with a cloud I have no idea but that software is basically a waste of time.

Next is GoodSync which actually works perfect, the setup was a little tricky but after figuring it all out, it works exactly how I wanted, but I can only sync one folder (I need to sync everything at once in a all or nothing type deal which is exactly what Google Drive for Desktop is, and why I canceled), and it requires a $40 a year subscription to be able to add more folders (documents, pictures, videos, music, downloads, etc, which makes it exactly like Backup and Sync which worked perfect).

Now, that’s all good, $40 a year isn’t bad, but I feel like buying this product so I can own my own cloud and then having to pay a subscription fee to just to use it is kind of stupid considering I could have just moved over to OneDrive or Sync.com for $80 a year, and this thing cost me $180 and there’s the $40 a year fee on top of it, which ends up being an up front cost of $220, when I could have just paid $80 for a cloud service…

I started looking for alternative software, found Syncthing, but that requires OS 3 for the .bin to be installed. Tried looking at NextCloud, again, requires OS3 from everything I found in order to install it correctly.

So, what are my options here? How am I suppose to actually use this thing? The included software doesn’t do what I want, and the other option cost money which defeats the purpose of buying this at all, and the third party options all seem to be for OS 3, and I can’t find a way to downgrade.

I found a few threads about basically deleting the kernel and it forces it into SafeMode which will restore it’s factory firmware of OS 3 but the guide on how to do that seems to have been removed because the OP isn’t the same text from what was quotes by a few replied later on so it also seems like WD removed the info for how to force a safe mode recovery to OS 3.

Any suggestions here? Sync software that will work for free with OS 5, or how to install NextCloud on OS 5? Downgraded back to OS 3? Cause if I can’t figure something out, I’m just going to return this cause as of right now, I can’t even use it, I have no way to put files on it other than using the browser, and at that point, I might as well have just kept using Google Drive since that’s the identical function.

[Cordorb]

as for GoodSync some of the NAS vendors have special deals for a lower cost version.
and I may be thinking more of the Synology version as that was the last one I tested ?

Acronis I have used from over 10 years but only as a holder of backup systems for windows.
OR system cloning but only the windows version.

WD apps store: item I tried

The USB Backups for backup to external USB disk - Which can be network visible if you want
Internal Backup
Goodsync

[VeeDaub]

Okay that makes more sense to issues with OS 3 and why you took it down. As for my use case.
I do video editing for Youtube, and just like having a personal backup on the side.

So basically how I had Google Drive setup before with Backup and Sync was that my desktop computer which had 16TB of storage (almost 8TB being used), and I had the 10TB plan from Google Drive to make a full backup of all files online so I can access anything from my phone or make quick alterations if needed on the go.

I had Backup and Sync mirroring the exact setup on my laptop, but without the videos folder due to capacity restrains as the laptop only has 2TB, so it only synced the videos projects folder for videos I’m currently editing, not the entire archive.

So, Desktop, everything to the cloud, on laptop, everything except videos archive, everything is accessible across both computers through the file explorer with the default library locations being moved to the Backup and Sync locations.

Example, I start a video project on my desktop, save it, it goes to the projects folder, which the location was changed to be the in Backup and Sync folder, Google Drive sees a new file, uploads to Google Drive for a cloud backup, my laptop sees a new file was created in Google Drive and downloads this new file. I can make alterations to the project because the computer sees all the same local files that are on the desktop, save updated project, changes are uploaded to Google Drive, desktop sees the new version, downloads the latest version.

Especially good for traveling when I had a slower laptop, I could go traveling, do a video shoot, import the footage to my laptop, hotel wifi to Google Drive using Backup and Sync on it’s own in the background, I can edit the entire video and get it ready for render, and then remote into my desktop at home, and open the completed project file to render on my more powerful computer without having to manually transfer any files, it’s a wonderful system.

It basically makes one storage solution for two computers with cloud access from any device so I can manage all files from either computer.

This GoodSync program does exactly that, but it’s a paid subscription, the free included version is an all or nothing type deal where I can only sync everything at once across both computers, which, the laptop doesn’t have the capacity, and that’s exactly what Google Drive for Desktop turned into which is why I canceled. So I’m trying to find a free alternative to the paid GoodSync software because that operates exactly like Backup and Sync where I can make a full backup from one, but only sync specific folders to another.

So far, the only options I found was Syncthing but requires OS3, installing NextCloud but haven’t figured out how with OS5, or an alternative software to GoodSync paid subscription for free.

[VeeDaub]

Yes basically, considering that WD offered WD SmartWare for free with OS 3, and now it’s a paid version for OS 5 with Goodsync, trying to find another free version.

[NAS_user]

@dswv42

The OS3 reversion thread is mine, but I removed it because I can no longer reccommend downgrading back to OS3 due to serious issues I discovered with the OS itself. Long story short, my shares vanished, and I very nearly lost 40 TB of data. Fortunately, I knew what to do, but the fix was not something an average user should attempt.

Tell me more.
I did the reversion process a few weeks ago . . . .easy-peasy.

Is this related to the V2 Rescue firmware? (at this point. . .I am mostly curious; because I am happy with OS/3 and have no intention to jump to OS/5)

[ysquare]

@VeeDaub

They upgraded to Google Drive for Desktop and broke the option to select folders, so now it’s all or nothing

Actually, you can use it just as before. The only change is the sync-orientation:
Before: you choose what to sync (or you can say what should be uploaded from your computer to Google Drive).
Now: you decide what is available for offline use (or you can say which should be downloaded from Google Drive to your computer).

And it perhaps even costs less storage on your computer than before. Bec Google now mapping the whole Google Drive as a virtual drive. Before, in order to access some rarely used files, you still needed to keep them on your hard disk, otherwise, you needed to open your browser, link to Google Drive, and down these files. After modify, uploaded them back to Google Drive again in the browser. Now you don’t need to do it anymore. They are just lying in the virtual drive.