Writing access to files of My Passport Wireless Pro?

WD External Drives My Passport Wireless
1

Hello,

I just purchased the My Passport Wireless Pro external hd. The reason why I bought it, is so that I can make daily backups of the documents of my laptop, without needing to have an external hd with cable attached to it every time. I want a backup that just copies files, without any compression whatsoever.

Unfortunately, this has been one big disappointment so far. I have succesfully installed the WD My Passport, installed the related app on my phone, which backs up files just fine. But on my laptop, for which it’s primarily needed, I am stuck.

There’s no drive letter/label appearing, like it would for an external HD connected with USB.
After much trial & error, I was able to make my Windows 10 find it as a network drive. So now I can access some files on there (not everything, as it should be the case), but I am unable to modify anything, not even create a new map.

I have tried installing a few WD programs, such as MyBackup and WD SES. My Backup doesn’t work: I can only select Dropbox, where I don’t even have an account, so can’t do anything. WD SES does absolutely nothing at all. So I uninstalled both programs.

Preferably, I want to use FBackup by Softland to make my (uncompressed!) backups, but can’t do that if I can’t select a drive letter where my documents should be backed up to. So at this point, other than backing up my phone (which I didn’t buy it for), it has been of no use to me yet.

Can anyone help me out with this problem? Please no “this is how you enable SMB 1.0” suggestions; it leaves your network vulnerable, and after every major Windows update it’s disabled again, so that’s useless.

I hope an actual, permanent and safe solution exists for this. Thanks.

2

Sounds like the drive is OK but it is not getting mounted on your Windows computer in USB connection. I would check a couple things:

  • See if the drive shows up under Windows Disk Management. If it is then see if it just needs to be assigned a drive letter
  • Try a different cable and Windows computer. Sometimes it may be a USB bus power issue depending on the motherboard & cable. Make sure to use the cable that comes with your My Passport Wireless Pro
3

If I connect the HD with a USB cable, then everything works as it should. But it defeats the purpose of a wireless HD. I might as well keep using the external HD with cable I already used before for backups.

The idea is I don’t need any cables connected to my laptop to have automatic backups made, and that’s what I can’t seem to figure out with the My Passport Wireless Pro external hard drive.

4

USB connection and wireless connection are fundamentally different.
When on USB. . . .the drive is a standard run-of-the-mill external hard drive.

On wireless. . . .this device acts like a network drive.
You would think this would show up as a drive under windows file explorer network section. . . but like most WD linux based devices (i.e. their NAS units); it doesn’t with any repeatability.
I access the drive by typing the drive name or ipaddress (with double slashes) in the address bar. Works like a charm. (you want a fixed IP address on the unit)

If that works (it should); you should be able to map the WD device to a drive letter like any other network drive not on your PC.

I am a drag-and-drop guy. I can’t offer any advice regarding backup software.

5

Hello,

Yes I can access it with IP or device name in a browser. But then I go to a control panel of My Passport, not to a list of files or anything. How can I map my WD to a drive letter in Windows 10?

If I can drag & drop files to the wireless HD, then I’ve got what I need and backup software should not be an issue anymore. Thanks!

6

In the address bar; forward slashes yields the web interface (what you called the control panel). Backslashes yields the files in file explorer. (I may have that backwards)

To map a network drive: In file explorer, in navigation pane; right click network. Select “Map Network Drive”.

Note: the MPWP basically works like a NAS. The firmware has a strong family resemblance to WD’s NAS products. HOWEVER;

  • Fundamentally, the connection is wireless; so speed is not the GB speeds one expects from a NAS.
  • The hardware is not designed for 24/7 use (unlike a NAS) I use my drive a few hours a week. . .and it’s fine.
7

Thank you for your reply.

I tried with the slashes and backslages. The // slashes gives the control panel/web interface. The backslashes \ doesn’t work. I tried both the IP and the drive name. It just says file not found.

When I try to map a network drive, I choose a letter, but when I do “browse” next, all I see is my actual laptop and it’s D drive (not even its C drive) with submaps. Nothing else is there to select (not even another external HD which is connected with USB cable). So I’m not sure where to go from here.

I don’t intend to use the MyPassport Wireless 24/7, in that I mostly just need it to store daily backups. Backups are just made automatically once a day, and only changed/new/removed files are updated in the existing backup once the first one is made. Other than that, I’d only need it if I needed to retrieve a backup.

8

If you can’t see your own C: drive. . . you may have other issues related to accounts, users and workgroups.

Sorry I can’t be more helpful here.

9

In all other instances, I can see and access my C drive (and other external HD’s attached with USB) just fine, just not there. I have no idea why. But if I can’t map the wireless HD, then I can’t do uncompressed backups and it’s pretty much usless and a waste of money for me :frowning: