Where to put pdf,doc,txt or any other data question

Hi all, Apart from the “Shared Music” “Shared Pictures” “Shared Videos” where could I copy files such as pdf’s, doc, and txt files, and also some program files I might want to keep on the mycloud. Is it as simple as creating a “My Data” folder… A Silly question maybe… but one I cannot seem to find an answer to. With my USB router attached HD i can create whatever I want and I can get kodi/xbmc to see whatever I want it to by pointing it to the correct folder,… but It’s not as easy with the mycloud. It would just be nice to be able to keep certain files in particular folders. Any advice would be great…

Mount the MyCloud in your computer’s file system, then you can use it just like any attached disk, and use your computer’s file browser to create folders to your heart’s content.

Have you read the manual?

Thanks for replying cpt_paranoia, Yes I have read it mate… but I assumed that to be able to use kodi / xbmc one had to have files in certain folders only. I know I can create sub folders within … say, “Shared Videos” such as folders like “TV” and “Movies”,… but I was not to sure about a folder for simple data… that could be seen by kodi - xbmc. Also, yes it is mounted, … and I have twonky turned off, also itunes turned off as well,… and it still reboots itself whenever it wants to,… usually just after I’ve copied 5 or 10 mb of photos to the “Shared Pictures” folder. or worse still it just disconnects itself from my network,… but that’s another story.

Firstly, don’t store any files in the “Shared Video” “Shared Music” folders. I know the manual says this is what you should do, but I think we have established in this forum that this advice is wrong. You were correct in thinking that you can set up folders like “My Data” where you can store anything you like. However you need to set this up as a Share through the WD Mycloud dashboard. You then define who has access to this share and whether or not you require media serving. If the Mycloud is only for your own use, I would suggest you create shares named My Data, Music, Video, Photos. You can then map these shares as drives, then proceed to copy over your stuff to these folders as if they were folders on your PC.

However, we need to sort out the disconnections and reboots before you start to copy any more data. Have you set a fixed IP address for the MyCloud?

You need to log into your router and set up a reserved IP address for the MyCloud. This should prevent it disappearing from your network. The IP address that you choose should be outside the range of the DHCP server of the router.

Firstly, login to your WDMC dashboard. Under Settings - Network - select Network Mode - DHCP.

Next login to your router dashboard. Under LAN settings look for the DHCP pool settings. The DHCP start / end range is probably set to something like192.168.1.2 to 192.168.1.255 (I’m not sure about your router). Set the end IP address to 192.168.1.199. Then manually reserve an IP address above 192.168.1.200 for the WDMC, e.g. 192.168.1.201. You will need to specify the MAC address of the WDMC in the router interface so that the router knows which device to assign the IP address.

Also, I’d recommend that you make sure that automatic firmware update is disabled. And don’t be tempted to update the firmware or you will find yourself in a world of pain.

Once you have a stable MyCloud you can disable the scanning services following this guide.
http://community.wd.com/t5/WD-My-Cloud/Hidden-wdmc-directories-created-by-mcserver-and-photodbmerger/m-p/682091/highlight/true#M7765

Sorry to ask the obvious, but so many people ask questions without looking at the manual.

I view my media using the Twonky server and UPnP/DLNA with XBMC; I don’t need to point XBMC to any non-media directories.

I have created a number of subdirectories under /Public, for Music, Pictures & Videos, and I point Twonky to these. I have other subdirectories under /Public to store my other, non-media data. I don’t see the need to create shares for this if there’s just you using the MyCloud, and I don’t want or need XBMC to see them; I don’t view these files with XBMC, although I suppose there are add-ins that would let me…

I’ve just played with XBMC to see if I can add the NAS file system directly, and yes, I can, if I wanted to. I assume this is what you have done; mount it as an SMB drive (add music/Windows Network (SMB)///Music). As far as I can tell, XBMC will allow you to add as many sources as you like.

 Firstly, don’t store any files in the “Shared Video” “Shared Music” folders. I know the manual says this is what you should do, but I think we have established in this forum that this advice is wrong.

I’m not sure I’d go as far as to say ‘wrong’; I don’t understand why the manual recommends this locations, and I know that if I do use them, Twonky isn’t happy, and those folders are used by Twonky to store ‘aggregated media’ from other libraries. But my guess would be that the majority of users follow this advice without problem, as we don’t see tens of thousands of complaints.

I just know that the purpose of those locations confuses me, so I don’t use them…

Thanks for the info dubie… Yes mate, first thing I did was to disable internet before I loaded the ui,… to make sure I could turn off the auto updates.

Router in question is a linksys e4200.

It’s setup at the moment to use OpenDNS servers.

I did read somewhere that I could,… if needed use the IP address given by the router and have that one as fixed.

Wish I had asked about the folders question here first,… because I’ve already copied over 300gb worth of mkv’s and mp4’s. That in itself felt like a world of pain… the speed is abysmal… If I’m lucky I might get 25-30mb a second… but that’s only after a few hours once I’ve finished copying files on to it. during the initial copy it’s more like 3 to 6 mb a sec.

WD Tech told me that’s perfectly normal, but because I’ve had the unit in storage,… (aka boxed and sitting on a shelf for 6 months)… that the unit may well be leaking corrosive liquid inside the unit…

He also told me that once twonky and Itunes was turned off the unit no longer does any indexing… what a **bleep**… I know full well the thing is still indexing. I asked him if he had read any of the WD forums about issues with the unit and the response was… “first I’ve ever heard of any problems”… So I asked him about looking at amazons purchase page for a wdms and the amount of 1 stars the unit has. He said he wasn’t aware of any issues. I’m seriously concerned about wd tech’s, as he sounded strangely robotic… almost as if he was reading from an auto Q. lol

My main use for this is via xbmc on an ATV2,… jailbroken.   also xbmc on 2 ipads both jailbroken,  and also on a firetv with sideloaded kodi / Helix. Hence the reason for not needing (widow Twanky) Twonky and any of the Itunes guff.

I use the IP addresses allocated by DHCP, and set my router to ‘always use this address’. For a small network, this won’t cause a problem for DHCP and guest devices.

WD Tech told me that’s perfectly normal, but because I’ve had the unit in storage,… (aka boxed and sitting on a shelf for 6 months)… that the unit may well be leaking corrosive liquid inside the unit…

The only things I can think of that might leak corrosive fluid are cheap electrolytic capacitors. They can leak, but IME, it’s age-related, and much longer than six months. It’s easy to imagine a unit sitting on a warehouse shelf for six months after manufacture. If WD really are using such low quality components that they leak that quickly, they should be ashamed; capacitors are by far the most likely cause of failure of electronic goods, but, even so, I fear this support monkey was talking BS.

He also told me that once twonky and Itunes was turned off the unit no longer does any indexing… what a **bleep**… I know full well the thing is still indexing.

Indeed; Twonky is pretty quick to index. It’s the thumbnail services that take time.

WD Support don’t really engage with this forum. Which is a shame, as there are experienced and knowledgeable users here.

If you need to move stuff you’ already got one the NAS, it’s probably quickest to login via SSH and use Linux mv command, which should only need to change the disk indexing. File operations local to the disk are pretty nippy.