Connecting External Drive to with Time Machine

WD Legacy Products Other Network Drives
1

For years I’ve been using WD hard drives so I just bought the MyBook World Edition thinking it would solve my problem of a too many computers and files, but after reading many of the posts on this forum, it sounds like I’ll have more problems than I do now. 

Currently I have a desktop (iMac) and a two laptops (an LG netbook running Windows XP and a hackintoshed Dell Mini 10v netbook perfectly running both Snow Leopard and Windows 7 (though not at the same time–you either boot up into OSX or Win 7).

What I want to do is to transfer all my files currently on the iMac (documents and photos at least) to the MyBook and access all of these files from all the other computers (and possibly another iMac too). I’d also like to do automatic backups like I do now with Time Machine. So . . .

a) Is that possible and EASY with this hard drive?

b) Will I be able to use Time Machine to back up the Mac WITHOUT having to enter the terminal?

c) If I return this unit and get the 2TB one with the mirrored RAID hard drive that’s supposed to automatically backup every changed file, will it automatically backup my Mac-based files and my Windows files?

d) Can I just add another hard drive to the MyBook via usb or ethernet (which?) and use IT as the Time Machine backup?

Since I haven’t opened the box yet, if it looks like I can’t do the basic things that WD advertised, I may just take it back to the store and continue using a cloud-like system for sharing the files.

Thanks in advance to anyone who can help.

2

   My setup consists of three Windows 7 Pro 64-bit machines.  There’s Linux and Windows XP machines on the network, but I don’t intend to back them up on the My Book World Edition II…yet.

a) Is that possible and EASY with this hard drive?

   Tentative yes.

b) Will I be able to use Time Machine to back up the Mac WITHOUT having to enter the terminal?

   No idea.

c) If I return this unit and get the 2TB one with the mirrored RAID hard drive that’s supposed to automatically backup every changed file, will it automatically backup my Mac-based files and my Windows files?

   The Windows ones, yes, works like a charm.

d) Can I just add another hard drive to the MyBook via usb or ethernet (which?) and use IT as the Time Machine backup?

   USB it is.  I have a drive hooked up but not turned on yet.  I’m looking forward to that.

   Now, our MBWE II has had intermittent hang problems, but this may have been solved with a) the upgrade of the WD Anywhere Backup software to version 4.50.6554 (must be done manually, upgrade check fails for no known reason) and b) a simple edit of an MBWE II script file to prevent MioNet from starting up despite it being marked as inactive (the likely cause of the freezes), documented elsewhere on this board.

3

Thank you Urhixidur for your reply.

Your answers to my questions a) & b) are definitely a concern. I don’t buy consumer-level products to have to hack them. They should work out of the box as far as I’m concerned.

Regarding your answer to c) that the MBWE mirrored RAID hard drive backs up Windows files like a charm:

Do you mean that it will NOT backing up the Mac files? In other words, is Time Machine the only way to automatically backup Mac files these days? I hardly ever use the Windows partition on my Hack. It’s mainly only there in case I have to use Windows software when I’m away and as a backup for my LG which I’m likely selling as I rarely use it. (Can’t stand Windows for some reason).

And regarding your answer to d):

USB it is.  I have a drive hooked up but not turned on yet.  I’m looking forward to that.

Please advise what you find out. 

  Now, our MBWE II has had intermittent hang problems, but this may have been solved with a) the upgrade of the WD Anywhere Backup software to version 4.50.6554 (must be done manually, upgrade check fails for no known reason) and 

I don’t know what you mean “a manual install of the upgrade”. Do you mean going to the WD site, finding the upgrade download and clicking on it–or something more involved?

 b) a simple edit of an MBWE II script file to prevent MioNet from starting up despite it being marked as inactive (the likely cause of the freezes), documented elsewhere on this board.

If this step is essential, then this is where I draw the line and I will return the unit. I am not a programmer, I write, I design, I educate. In other words, I like to drive my car, not get under the hood and start tinkering with the engine, you know? WD should realize that. If a product won’t work seamlessly with a Mac, then don’t even put the Mac OS logo on the box. That’s why we Macusers USE Macs–we like things to be EASY.

Thanks again for your response.

Dendran

4

Your answers to my questions a) & b) are definitely a concern. I don’t buy consumer-level products to have to hack

them. They should work out of the box as far as I’m concerned.

   Out of the box: once the usual minimal set up is done, and the client software on the computers is updated (both procedures are more or less standard with any such product), I can report it works for my Win 7 machines except that I’ve had to reboot (unplug power, count to five, replug power) four times and five days.  None of the reboots has apparently affected data integrity, but it is a major unresolved concern.

Regarding your answer to c) that the MBWE mirrored RAID hard drive backs up Windows files like a charm: Do you mean that it will NOT backing up the Mac files? In other words, is Time Machine the only way to automatically backup Mac files these days? […]

   No, my answer is that I cannot say because I have no Macs on my network.  I’ve heard it does work, but I’d rather let you investigate on your own.

And regarding your answer to d): > USB it is.  I have a drive hooked up but not turned on yet.  […] Please advise what you find out.

   Soon.

I don’t know what you mean “a manual install of the upgrade”. Do you mean going to the WD site, finding the upgrade download and clicking on it–or something more involved?

   Had to download it from the WD support site (a little harder to do than it should be).  Bottom line is that it did not auto-upgrade nor advise me of the availability of (let alone essential need for!) the upgrade.

 b) a simple edit of an MBWE II script file to prevent MioNet from starting up despite it being marked as inactive (the likely cause of the freezes), documented elsewhere on this board.

If this step is essential, then this is where I draw the line and I will return the unit. I am not a programmer […]

   So far this manipulation has not resolved my intermittent freeze problem.  I’ll have a definite answer in a few days.

   I’m afraid the current situation is such that I would advise you to return the box and try something with better customer feedback.  As for me, I’ll stick it out a bit longer.

5

Well, the good news is that the complete fix worked: the unit no longer freezes, and everything works smoothly now.

The bad news is that one has to do this kind of intervention at all.  A step-by-step guide could be easily produced, but still…We should not need to do this at all!