NAS Questions (for Crippler)

[Rhino Chaser]

I had been holding out for a NAS setup w/ Raid 5 capability...blah....blah.

Every time I got close to dropping the $1000 some odd dollars something else caught my eye or I got wrapped up in something else.

Anyway, I haven't had a lot of time for toys lately, but we have a ton of data that is not backed up.

So I picked up a Wester Digi My Book 1tb for $199. I figured at $199 for 1tb it was a good deal. Plus these things look hackable.

Anyway, some of the software that comes with devices like this sucks and is just another piece of kludge cluttering my machine.

Edit---looks like I need the crapware afterall...it gathers personal data to boot. It shut down a transfer and locked me out, asking for my username and pw...it even turned on my webcam??WTF???

So getting to the purpose of this post. I have read about people assiging these things static ip's, etc...

All I did was plug it in, and map my laptop to the big folder on the drive and set it to reconnect at log in. Files are transferring, but after my experience with Linksys storage link this seems way too easy.

Should I be taking any extra steps? Some of these reviews talk about doing this that an the other thing, and it took me all of a minute or less....most of it was spent looking around at the various files on the install disk then ejecting it. I don't plan on using this (just yet) as a server to share outside of my network....

[Rhino Chaser]

Nevermind. DO NOT GET THIS POS!!!

Great price, but unless you are prepared to hack it don't get it.

I am now locked out of the drive unless I use the software which insists on booting on startup, and seems to slow my system down.

My msconfig stopped working and prompted an error until I restarted.

It stopped a file transfer in mid transfer, and won't let me access or delete the files. So I tried the stupid software which only made things worse.

I hate this thing and can't wait to return it.

The uninstall forced me back to their website, the install required personal info...like an email addy and name. The software was way to intrusive...popping up everytime I logged on even when it was turned off..

They could have made a great device...a networkable drive was all I wanted...not a headache.

[Crippler]

Oh man. Definitely sounds like you had some fun. I'll stay clear of that drive then.

I haven't put a NAS together yet. I was looking at the HP Home Server platform for when I do. There were some nasty bugs that popped up initially with that software but I think they (MS) got that shit all taken care of. I like the idea behind the Home Server setup. Throw the box in a closet, network it and just add storage. Shazam! You could look into that. I think it's under $1k.

Or you can build your own NAS from some drives and a DLink NAS housing or something. I haven't researched NAS in a while. So there is probably new and better options out there.

Sit down, grab a cold Brew and watch this:

[KEEZY]

Damn, thanks for taking one for the team Rhino! I was thinking of picking up a My Book. I'm glad I didn't!

[Quo]

Strange... I'll have to look at mine when I get home. I think it's a 1TB WD MyBook (World Edition). Are you talking about the Mio-net software crap? If so, that's about the only thing I don't like about mine and I was considering uninstalling it... hadn't tried yet. It won't load some driver. Oddly, you never use that software anyway, mine is just visible over the network like any other drive.

What it doesn't do is auto-backup, so I was thinking of just keeping it as a drive for a Home server like Supa has (and like Crippler's talking about). I need to do more research on that though...

[Rhino Chaser]

OK, I vented on some guy in india, called a local number, got some legit answers, and did some research on my own.

There are a few options:

1) Hack it by running a false firmware upgrade to allow you root access...basically you create your own linux setup on the box.

2)You can do what I did intially or type the name of the device into your internet browser. It will bring up an intranet portal that will allow you to do some limited config. The mionet folder (which could potentially be hacked from outside your network) can't be deleted.

I believe that the real issue was the fact that this thing uses samba, and there is a vista samba compatibility issue. Apparently running a firmware upgrade through the lan portal works.

A guy at work just gave me an old server....I may try that route instead.

All I want is NAS like you were saying. Vista has the ability to run backups so if I can set it up to run those at night and store media files I will be happy.

Media files are only getting larger...it would be nice to digitize everything and save it onto drives to free up shelf space.

After playing with the PS3 I can really see the benefit of having a linux box as a home media server that could network into my home entertainment center.

Bottom line:
MIONET=VERY BAD!!!! Me no likee. Why do companies need to f with things? A simple networkable drive is all I wanted!!

Thanks for the vid Crip. I will take a look at that when I get home. I have been looking at that Dlink myself, I just wanted something that was RAID5 capable, so I was leaning towards the promise 4 bay setup...but for 1tb in raid5 it got to the pricepoint that justified a whole new desktop pc.

[Rhino Chaser]

The knowledge base at WD is actually not bad. They shouldn't make you dig for it:

Limitations:
Answer

Connect w/ out Mionet (this was what originally froze up on me though):
Answer

[Stewii Griffin]

I bought a wd world book to have a nas but took it back because of mionet. I thought I read somewhere that they had to use mionet because of legal or drm or some kind of BS. I remember something about being able to get root and run samba but I wasn't prepared at the time to do all that. So are you keeping the my book? Is it a my book or world book? If it is a my book how are you running it on your network? Are you using a router or is the computer hosting it?


edit- Sarah Lane is hot!

[Rhino Chaser]

It is the My Book World Book. There is a samba work around if you log into it via an intranet web portal.

Basically type the name of your device into the address bar and a GUI admin portal will pop up.

Any info placed on the drive using Mionet will be inaccessible w/ out mionet, so transfer all data.

There is one folder that will be undeletable for the life of the drive.

There is a known samba/vista conflict. Supposedly the new firmware updates samba to work smoothly with Vista. If it works I plan on returning the drive getting a fresh one and trying it out.

Like I said if I can get 1tb of reliable NAS for $199 that is a good deal.

The mionet is mainly for sharing outside, but they try to make it seem necessary. I think that enough people complained that they created a workaround.

There are quite a few free linux nas solutions around. I have an old laptop that I may just wipe, install NAS software on and use it as a NAS box with USB drives.

[Rhino Chaser]

The My Book is very "hackable." I enabled ssh access, and using Putty gained root access.

However, a friend at work just hooked me up with an old Gateway server (w/ scsi drives)....so I may wipe the drives and install a new OS; it has a ton of PCI slots, I should be in biz....

[WormholeXtreme]

try the Bufalo NAS. I've had a couple of them(500GB units with GigE)) for the last 1.5 years and they work well.

Although earlier this year I bought an HP WHS PC and use that for my backups over my network now since the stroage space can easily be expanded.

[Quo]

Originally Posted by Rhino Chaser

Any info placed on the drive using Mionet will be inaccessible w/ out mionet, so transfer all data.

...

The mionet is mainly for sharing outside, but they try to make it seem necessary. I think that enough people complained that they created a workaround.

You know what's strange... I "installed" the drive using the directions, but I never even log in to mionet, and i access my data all just fine without every doing anything at all with it. I transfer all my data using windows vista... all my computers on the network, even those that have never even had a whiff of mionet, much less have it installed, can see the drive and copy to and from the drive.

Are you absolutely sure that you can't just use windows explorer, see and use the drive on your own? Because the instant I installed the drive, i said to hell with this mionet crap and just started doing it by hand and it's worked just fine. I'm sure i can't access my data from anywhere across the net, but for backup storage this works fine. And actually, you may still be able to access it over the net if you use something like Microsoft's FolderShare.

[Rhino Chaser]

Yeah I have mapped to the drive. But it froze me out....

I then used the web portal and set it up again.

I completely disabled mionet from ever starting again by editing the file.

Next I want to try installing MediaTomb or some other setup.

What I don't get is the fact that I can't seem to set up Vista to run backups to the mapped drive. That was the entire point of getting this...