Setup my new wireless my passport 2TB drive with no real issues. Started a File History backup from Windows 10. Next morning, drive seemed to be turned off. When all was working again, Dashboard said I had some 7 messages saying “Device over temperature”. Expansion shows “The device temperature is above the specified maximum temperature. Please move the device to a cooler location. The battery capacity was automatically lowered to 80% to help maximize the life of the rechargeable battery.” and displays Code 2012. The drive is currently setting on top of a counter in a room with a ceiling fan and cooled to 75F. Restarted File History and got some more messages but worked. Went to copy another large set of files and got more of the same message plus complete network seemed to quit working. Another large copy, same results with messages and network down. Restarted from that latest problem and have received more messages.
Is this expected behavior or possibly a bad drive? Overheating with some of today’s batteries doesn’t make me feel too safe. The drive does feel warm to the touch at times. Running latest firmware version 1.06.06.
It appears you are copying files over to MPW, wirelessly. and not just connecting the MPW directly to a computer via the included USB cable.
Why? This is the SLOW way; and is likely why things are over heating. When I copy gigabytes of data over, or more than even one file, I just hook the two together with the cable and the task is done in no time. Suggest you do the same.
Plans are to use this as a combo backup external drive/media server. I want it wireless so it can be plugged in and used away from my normal computer/network stuff. In case of burglary, they will find that stuff but probably not notice the wireless drive. Made sense to me to check it out wireless as I didn’t care how long it took. With most electronics, my experience shows failure/problems will be pretty quick or probably not occur. This provided a stress test that it didn’t fair well in. If I add several movies are a season of a TV show to my laptop, file history would then be copying gigabytes to the drive wirelessly so this is not a onetime deal.
Sounds like you are implying the MPW is not designed for extensive wireless use.
I would not do so. In fact, I did when I first got it; used as a mini-NAS. But, keeping it plugged in all the time would not do it good, (many batteries have failed) so I got a “real” WD NAS, the My Cloud DL2100. Much, much better, as it is designed for the 24/7 job, and wired to network, too…
My MPW is used only as a portable drive when away from home for viewing media files on iPads, etc. So, lots of music and m4v video files on it. Dups from my other drives, NAS, etc. If I ever loose it I have lost nothing irreplaceable. Too many people have put themselves in a bad position by the MPW being the only source of the data on it.
So to summarize your responses…The device is unreliable and should not be used as a backup device but really only temporary storage. It should not be plugged in continuously. Leaving it plugged in can have a negative effect on the battery.
This seems counter to some of the information on the box and for the product when I purchased it. It basically says you can use it to save, access, and share your data on multiple devices including streaming to tv’s and other devices. If I was going to connect several devices to share data this would imply a continuous usage. Pointless to have to go to the device and turn it on just so I can stream a movie on my TV. I would then have to check with everyone in the household to see if they were using it to turn it back off.
Does WD support look at this forum or should I contact them directly about the overheat issue? Actually, went to do that initially but could not register as the register page kept telling me I had to enter a valid phone number even though I had and it was displayed.
The Knowledgebase article below should give you some idea of how the MPW needs to function. It should not be left plugged in for extended periods of time. The device was specifically designed for on-the-go wireless access to your data.
You need to know where the MPW Support page is, and first thing to do is to download the complete User Manual for your reference, because the MPW is a bit more complicated that a regular portable drive. The Start Guide with the device is only the Start.
Is the complete User Manual you suggest I download different from the one that came preloaded on the drive and that I have read? I understand it is a bit more complicated as I do have it set up on the network and have accessed it from multiple devices. BTW, the register link in the user manual takes me to the support page online. I had found that page which is how I conveniently found the community page. The actual registration page had an error that did not allow me to register. The community page did allow me to create an account.
You might want to look at page 32 of the user manual. There it talks of using the MPW for backing up a PC. I just decided to use File History from Windows to do my backup. Page 30 is where I learned about “Using a WI-FI connection to load content”. Actually I skimmed it quickly as it was pretty obvious.
Both are things I went to do that caused all the alerts.
Bill_S, the overheat alerts came the first night of my having the drive configured. It hadn’t even been plugged in for 24 hours. Is that an extended period of time? How can WD expect this to be used for backup with minimal minimal power up?
It lilely is the same manual, but thee is a way to tell; look at Properties in the PDF file if you are curious.
If you run the MPW hard and long, as you found out, it complains it is overheating. For any initial backup. I would hook the PC and MPW together wired. THAT is the big backup, and incremental ones would take much less time. You do what you want, but your MPW has warned you. Just so you know, you are the only person ever to say your MPW was overheating from use and got the warning message… Most people obviously don’t treat it so rough. Nevertheless, you likely will do what you want to do, and hey, it is your MPW, not mine! Good luck.
My MPW is running on FW 1.06.06 and this warning is coming up while creation of preview pictures (internal process).
no activity over WiFi
no activity over USB
It’s equal if it is used with the charger that comes with the product or running on battery.
The KB “Extending the battery life on a My Passport Wireless” is describing:
… The battery operates best with a ambient operating temperature between 5° to 20°C. …
Not sure, if such condition can be found. Not in summer neither in winter time.
I assume at least one of the electronic parts which is used at MPW is used very close to Pmax.
Temperature problem is seen at more than one device …
