Personal Cloud Storage

[Eaglenest608]

I have to say thx for this post. It has made me rethink the way I store my stuff. I actually went out and got the pogoplug series 4 and it has been awesome thus far. I have moved a ton of stuff to the cloud a well as have my networked drives. This has given me a ton of free space on my ipad!

 

[Gabriel1]

I have to say thx for this post. It has made me rethink the way I store my stuff. I actually went out and got the pogoplug series 4 and it has been awesome thus far. I have moved a ton of stuff to the cloud a well as have my networked drives. This has given me a ton of free space on my ipad!

That is great to hear......if you feel like it, why not start a new thread in this section and post a review of the pogoplug as I'm sure it would be useful for other members who are interested in NAS drives.

The Archangel

 

[blurij]

It's been fascinating reading of your Cloud experience Gabriel. You helped me earlier with a question about adding apps and files to an iPad I am gifting to someone. I have given up on that idea pretty much, but your Cloud experience has piqued my interest. I know my niece cannot share apps with me, but I assume she can watch movies or view pictures from a setup like you set up on your Cloud Time Machine hard drive.
I am sending her the iPad and an Apple Extreme Base Station.

I assume my niece sets up a Cloud account on her iPad and I give her my Cloud ID and password and then she can access my Cloud - is that it?
I have read that a Cloud account allows you 5gb free. What does it cost beyond that? And is there a reason you bought a Time Machine hard drive as opposed to any other hard drive.

I've been reading other options like the Airstash and the GoFlex, but your system sounds the simplest way for her to access photos and videos from me.
What exactly does a pogoplug add to the use of the Cloud ? Thanks again for your help in the past.

 

[Mini_mi]

Just got the CloudFTP device and gotta say this thing is great! Took me all of 2 minutes to open the box, connect my drive and hook up with my IPad. Almost makes my IMac irrelevant.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

[Gabriel1]

It's been fascinating reading of your Cloud experience Gabriel. You helped me earlier with a question about adding apps and files to an iPad I am gifting to someone. I have given up on that idea pretty much, but your Cloud experience has piqued my interest. I know my niece cannot share apps with me, but I assume she can watch movies or view pictures from a setup like you set up on your Cloud Time Machine hard drive.
I am sending her the iPad and an Apple Extreme Base Station.

I assume my niece sets up a Cloud account on her iPad and I give her my Cloud ID and password and then she can access my Cloud - is that it?
I have read that a Cloud account allows you 5gb free. What does it cost beyond that? And is there a reason you bought a Time Machine hard drive as opposed to any other hard drive.

I've been reading other options like the Airstash and the GoFlex, but your system sounds the simplest way for her to access photos and videos from me.
What exactly does a pogoplug add to the use of the Cloud ? Thanks again for your help in the past.

You should be able to use any NAS drive to do what you want, I chose the the WD as I have always had good experiences with their hardware and as it has iOS apps it plays really nicely with the iPad. It comes set up with a shared folder (you can make private folders) and you can generate a code to give her access for sharing your files, if she uses the WD apps she puts in the code once and is then set up for eternity unless you choose to change the set up. To access your NAS she doesn't need a cloud account, just the access code for her app, iCloud is Apples propriety system, there is little difference except that Apple is in control of iCloud, with a NAS drive you have complete control of how you use it.

For iCloud fees check out this link http://www.apple.com/icloud/includes/lightbox-storage.html

My Time Machine was purchased because I got a good deal on it. All of my computing hardware is Apple and it plays nicely with my set-up straight out of the box, also I wanted to use its dual network capability.

Remember that Airstash, Goflex, etc. are more akin to my CloudFTP device rather than my WD Cloud, they are great local storage devices for iPads rather than NAS drives.

I think I got it all there but it's early here and I haven't had any caffeine yet so feel free to badger me if I have missed anything.

The Archangel

 

[blurij]

Thanks Gabriel. I'm glad that this will work. After you've had your morning brew would you mind elaborating on what a pogoplug is and where it is beneficial ?

Assuming you have used Apple's Cloud and your WD Cloud - which one would you say works more smoothly and simply ?

And I assume that once I give her access to my WD Cloud she can access it using her iPad ? Are there Apple apps for NAS drives to make this access easier for her?

Thank you again.

 

[Gabriel1]

Thanks Gabriel. I'm glad that this will work. After you've had your morning brew would you mind elaborating on what a pogoplug is and where it is beneficial ?

Assuming you have used Apple's Cloud and your WD Cloud - which one would you say works more smoothly and simply ?

And I assume that once I give her access to my WD Cloud she can access it using her iPad ? Are there Apple apps for NAS drives to make this access easier for her?

Thank you again.

Pogoplug is similar to my WD NAS Drive except it doesn't have a built in hard drive so you would have to add an Ext HD to it. I haven't used one of these but it is on my list of devices to try in the not to distant future.

If drives don't have specific apps then there are others such as FTP Apps that can be used. I use GoodReader to connect to my CloudFTP and it works really well.

I think that iCloud and WD Cloud are two separate entities but with similarities. ICloud is good for what it is, I like it but it is, as you would expect, more prescriptive than having your own cloud. My personal opinion is that both can work in unison as you can never have too much backup capacity. I am, however, after this exercise a firm believer in everyone having their own NAS drives, or if not their own then a household/business NAS drive. The benefits are clear yet it is hard to see any downsides but I would still recommend that any drive, NAS or otherwise is not to be considered a standalone backup, I would suggest that two backups as a minimum should be maintained.....if the information you are backing up is that valuable to you that you can't afford to lose it then don't risk it, storage is cheap these days, lost information/memories can be priceless!

As far as access, most drives do have their own, really simple apps but if not I'm sure we can provide assistance here.......I'm no expert, I have only just started doing this, so if I can do all this with no prior knowledge or help then I'm sure others can easily do this......and we are always here to help!

The Archangel

 

[slayda]

Problems with Windows 7 (64 bit) & Western Digital's My Book Live

Some additional (hopefully helpful) information on the Western Digital My Book Live;

I have two Windows 7 computers in a home network. Both running Windows 7 Home Premium. One has the 32 bit version and the other has the 64 bit version. I don't seem to have any compatibility problems between the My Book Live and the 32 bit Windows 7 computer. However there are some 'nagging' problems with the 64 bit computer & My Book Live. Specifically the 1.6 version of the WD SmartWare software would not work right with it. After spending several hours with two different tech support levels, we backed up to the version 1.5 of the software. This worked, mostly. It still is not as easy and straight forward in it's operation as the software running on the 32 bit computer. And there are some minor problems that I haven't fully traced down yet.

Their Engineering Department is working on the problem so it should eventually get fixed. This is just a word of warning if you only have the 64 bit version of Windows 7. Also this is not the first time I've had problems with drivers and software not working properly with the 64 bit version of Windows 7.

 

[blucente]

Great thread folks! I also purchased MyBookLive but mainly for back up purposes for a handful of laptops and my main desktop, the personal cloud is definitely a bonus while using my ipad. The one piece I just don't understand is having a file, document or photo on my iPad and wanting to save it to my personal cloud, is it only one way? I mean, I can pull down documents from my personal cloud but I can't seem to figure out how to move a document back onto my cloud from the iPad. Any thoughts or comments? Thanks...

 

[dhewson777]

Great thread folks! I also purchased MyBookLive but mainly for back up purposes for a handful of laptops and my main desktop, the personal cloud is definitely a bonus while using my ipad. The one piece I just don't understand is having a file, document or photo on my iPad and wanting to save it to my personal cloud, is it only one way? I mean, I can pull down documents from my personal cloud but I can't seem to figure out how to move a document back onto my cloud from the iPad. Any thoughts or comments? Thanks...

You will need an app like Goodreader or FileBrowser to assist in moving a file from your iPad to the share/cloud.

 

[blucente]

You will need an app like Goodreader or FileBrowser to assist in moving a file from your iPad to the share/cloud.

Ok great, I have Goodreader. Thanks so much, I"ll give it a try

 

[johnanthonyhurst]

cloud storage

I am using ICloud to backup my files and sync devices, but there are other problems i encounter with the ICloud. I tried to use other services like dropbox and box.com. Box.com for me is a little better for its has a wide range of supported applications including that of microsoft and other third party programs. For those who are new in cloud storage, check this link for a guide Edited by Moderator - no external links, please read the forum rules

 

[Goavs18]

I have been thinking about getting a Personal cloud but not sure which one to get I have looked at the WD my book live or the Iomega Home Media Network Hard Drive, Cloud Edition. I have read mixed reviews on both. I saw that there are people in this thread that have both. I was wanting to get some actual users reviews on these devices now that you have had them for a while.

 

[Gabriel1]

I have been thinking about getting a Personal cloud but not sure which one to get I have looked at the WD my book live or the Iomega Home Media Network Hard Drive, Cloud Edition. I have read mixed reviews on both. I saw that there are people in this thread that have both. I was wanting to get some actual users reviews on these devices now that you have had them for a while.

Well as an update, I am still as pleased with the My Book Live as I was when I first got it......I have some more testing to do when I can get myself motivated but I have no adverse comments. It's also nice to see that WD have updated all their IPad Apps for this as it shows that they are still developing them......too many companies throw reasonable apps together but don't really support them.

The Archangel

 

[Sargon]

Thanks for the information about the WD2go. I just set one up and it works but seems a bit slow. The question I have is how to transfer music using the WD2. I can open the folders on my iPad and get access to all my music but it seems the only way to transfer music is via iTunes. Here is the challenge, my iPad is synced to a laptop which connects via the internet to the MyBook drive and trying to transfer files seems interminably slow. Is there an easy way to transfer music directly via the iPad app or am I stuck with molasses.

Your help is much appreciated