I’ve started several backups and the BU quits at random places unexpectedly. I can restart the BU but this is a pain given that Smartware works slowly already. I’ve had MyCloud for a few weeks now and have yet to backup even half of my files. This is mostly the result of several days going by before I realize that SmartWare is no longer backing up files. I’ve restarted a dozen times or so.
I have uninstalled/reinstalled the software at the advice of community member “Hamlet” but the software continues to stall frequently.
How can I “set it and forget it”, then come back in a week or so and find that the backup is complete??
How much do you have to backup? It is going to take a while for the initial backup.
What do you mean by stall?
If you understand how your information if moved through your computer and onto the My Cloud then you might understand why it takes a while for everything to be backed up. Some books that help with this are, How Computers Work and Technology in Action.
By stall, I mean that I check on status and the Backup tab is grayed out and the status bar showing x GB copied of 821.38 GB is missing. When I click on Backup it again asks for the target, which I select to restart the backup.
I don’t really understand exactly how information is moved through the computer, and I’m not aware that that level of knowledge is a prerequisite to getting the software working properly.
I do understand that for good transfer speed you need a gigabyte router and a USB 3.0 port - both of which I have and are connected. I am concerned that when I look at Task Manager the SmartWare software is using very little resources, < 1% CPU and only about 25 MG RAM - even though I have 32 GB available. I have set details/priority to “high”.
I don’t have the books that you cite but I do have “Windows 10 Inside Out” which is a comprehensive guide to software operation.
I can live with the slow transfer rate - what I’d really like to know is how to keep the backup continuing without the need to continually check on it and restart it frequently.
When you say USB 3 port, what do you have connected there? Have you looked at the User Manual for your version of My Cloud? How is your computer connected, wifi or cable?
Good point on the USB 3.0. That has nothing to do with MyCloud as currently configured. I did have MyCloud connected directly to the USB port a week or so ago because I read somewhere (maybe this forum) that connecting directly to USB will speed up file transfer. I had some other problems with the direct hookup so went back to the typical configuration
3 TB MyCloud → Router via Ethernet
Netgear 3700 gigabit router → computer via Ethernet cable
MyCloud → tethered Backup to Seagate 2 TB USB HDD.
The Seagate is selected as the target for backups.
I looked briefly at the link to the Best Buy. I haven’t seen that specific promotion material but it appears similar to other ads that I read prior to purchasing MyCloud. Basically, the BB site just says what MyCloud will do for you - not what to do if it doesn’t deliver as advertised.
Additional info. Smartware seems to default to another USB HDD (a WD smaller drive) and claims no writeable partition on my BU target (the Seagate). After about 5 minutes Smartware finds the Seagate and I’m able to resume backup.
Apparently stalled again. Info that 14285 files backed up hasn’t changed for about 15 minutes. Also, strange that this number of files is lower than the 14347 in the previous screenshot in the “Files saved” category.
If I load the MyCloud I get a brief session where it is apparently loading some files from the Public part and then crashes with the indicated error messages.
Help with this problem would be very much appreciated, as I unfortunately have exactly the
same problem:
Backup process quits unexpectedly. I can restart the BU but at random intervals it stalls again.
Smartware defaults to another USB HDD (a WD smaller drive) and not to my WD MyCloud 3T connected
via Ethernet.
I have had my WD MyCloud 3T for one year now and it had been working OK. But since the end of
April it has not backed up properly. I discovered this by chance, since I just wanted to check out a few old versions of my documents a week ago, sice then I have updated and reinstalled Smartware but nothing helps
Wish I could help. I’m still having problems with the SmartWare.
After stalling again I decided to remove the second (750 GB) USB WD drive since Smartware defaults to that or Dropbox when restarted. Following removal of the smaller WD HDD and restarting Smartware I still couldn’t get the backup out of stall mode. I uninstalled/reinstalled SW again and finally got the backup going again. Fortunately, It ramped up fairly quickly (an hour) from zero files backed up to most of my pre-stall backup.
I started a spreadsheet last week to keep up with the backup progress so that I could determine what’s going on. The image below is a screenshot of the spreadsheet with the current SW report superimposed. Column B is number of files backed up. Column C is GB backed up. The large difference following 5-28 is because in desperation I reformatted my target drive, reset MyCloud, and reinstalled SmartWare to begin with a clean slate. That didn’t work.
As you can see, the backup has progressed in very minor increments since 6-6-2016.
I plan to call WD support tomorrow to hopefully get some support.
I contacted WD support at (855) 842-5370 and spoke with an agent who was very helpful, even though his accent (Spanish I think) was heavy. In general, the session was very beneficial. The support wait was minimal and once connected the agent was very knowledgeable and helpful.
I will say that MyCloud/SmartWare is definitely not plug-and-play. There is lots that needs special configuring that is not explained well in the quick start guide or documentation. First, my hookup of my USB Seagate backup drive tethered to MyCloud and then MyCloud hooked to my router was not the best way to go. That configuration will result in extremely slow for large backups. The agent suggested that I hook my Seagate directly into my computer (USB 3.0 preferred). Then keep MyCloud hooked to my router.
The backup will be to the Seagate, and also to the MyCloud through the “SmartWare” option from the drop-down list. The agent said that accessing files remotely will be through the networked MyCloud which will be synced to the Seagate. He explained (but I didn’t totally understand) the syncing process which is performed using WD MySync software, which I fortunately have installed on my computer.
The agent connected to my computer remotely and performed the necessary changes to my configuration and set up the syncing process.
A couple of questions still remain but I’ll wait until my new configuration completes backing up my data and then will play with the syncing process and get help from this forum or WD support if I can’t figure out what to do.
Will I have redundant backups (Seagate and MyCloud)
After backup is complete can I then tether my Seagate to MyCloud? I believe that he said that I could and that my total capacity will then be the combined capacity of the two HDDs. But I don’t totally understand this.
I am attaching a couple of screen captures to show the current configuration.
