WD My Book Live, Owners thread

Just purchsed a brand-new Western Digital "WD My Book Live" external hard drive for whole-house NAS implementation.

Didn't see a dedicated thread here on this forum, hope other owners could post their comments, details here.

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Share your media with everyone on your wired or wireless network with this network drive that is compatible with PC and Mac for wide-ranging use.

What's Included
Western Digital My Book Live 2TB External Home Network Drive
Ethernet cable, AC adapter
Software
Owner's manual
Product Features
2TB maximum storage capacity
For expanded file storage.
Ethernet chip technology
Delivers read speeds up to 1000 MBps.
Automatic backup
Via WD SmartWare for Windows XP, Vista or 7 or Apple® TimeMachine software for Mac. Back up wirelessly over your Wi-Fi network.
Compatible with Apple iPhone®, iPad and iPod® touch
For viewing your photo collection via Western Digital Photos (available on the Apple App store; additional fees may apply).
Stream digital media
To most DLNA/UPnP devices, including Blu-ray Disc players, game consoles, media players and more.
Apple, the Apple logo and iTunes are trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. iPod is a trademark of Apple Computer, Inc.

Warranty Terms - Parts3 yearsWarranty Terms - Labor3 yearsProduct Height1.9"Product Width5.3"Product Weight2.4 lbs.Product Depth6.5"Internal or ExternalExternalDrive Capacity2TBDrive ConnectivityEthernetData Transfer Rate to/from InterfaceUp to 1000 MBpsCache Buffer Size62MBSecuritySoftwareSoftware IncludedWD SmartWareSystem RequirementsPC: Windows XP, Vista, 7; Mac: OS X Leopard, Snow LeopardColor CategoryBlackPortable or DesktopDesktop

I purchased 2TB model from Best Buy. Plan to integrate this into my network as well as A/V system. Using Marantz AV7005 pre-pro with multiple disc players (ie. Oppo BDP-95, etc.,...). Also using LinkSys Gigabit router and AlienWare desktop PC running on WIN 7 Professional.

Hope to be able to run auto back-up's of PC data. Want to stream WinMedia, FLAC music and jpeg image files to Marantz AV7005.

Also will connect Oppo BDP-95 directly to etherNET, hope to access My Book Live archive for music, image and video files.

installing My Book Live. Seem to be having problems setting things up properly mapping drive (name) and configuring WDSmartWare software.

I'm using a LinkSys gigabit router, and an AlienWare PC with Windows 7 Professional.

After making all necessary connections I loaded the My Book Live software disc. I enable the setup.exe file, I get the MyBookLive set-up screen.

I select "Discovery" and it seems to immediately see the drive just fine on my network. I select a drive designator ("G" for example), then select "Continue" button. All of a sudden I get an error message explaining "Operation timed out", hmmmmm? WTF? And nothing happens, screen goes away.

After re-booting my machine I noticed it actually created and mapped the new drive name.

Now I install the WDSmartWare set-up file. It seems to load okay. However when I invoke this application it seems to come up okay and display my disc properties but it does not allow me to select the "Backup Files" tab, so I can't do anything with this stupid drive yet.

So I called Western Digital technical support. The representative did'nt seem too knowledgeable, and really could'nt seem to elaborate on possible reasons why this was happening. So he took the easy way out and requested for an "advanced Replacement". So they will send me another new unit to try. I hope it works (somehow I don't see it doing anything different?).

I'm thinking there is some system component or layer that needs to be turned-ON or configured? Maybe UPnP? I don't know?

thanks for your input. I just entered IP address into browser does'nt seem to attatch to this drive for some reason (does'nt go anywhere). I will play around some more.

Also noticed, when going through WDSmartWare installation (attempt), there is a link named "details" which pop's-up a small screen listing IP address and MAC address. It shows IP address but not MAC address, is this normal?


too bad SmartWare has not so good comments. I'm wanting to try it first (if I can get it working) and see for myself just how good/bad it really is.

I'm hoping to be able to use this My Book Live as a basic NAS, so I can stream files as well as back-up my PC data.

Never heard of "Boxee", interesting. I will be streaming files form the MyBookLive to my Oppo BDP-95 player as well as to my Marantz AV7005 processor (both DLNA capable).


hmmm, interesting, thanks for the heads-up on that

Well, I received an "advanced replacement" WD MyBookLive today directly from Western Digital factory.

I connected it to the original ethernet cable and A/C power adapter (
from first unit). The unit powered-ON as indicated by steady green LED.

I powered-UP PC. Waited a few minutes for everything to come up. Inserted the MyBookLive software CD. Stepped through the "Discovery" procedure. I can see the drive just fine. Upon selecting the "Details" link I can now see, both, IP and MAC address are present (good!).

I selected a drive name ("G"), selected "Continue". After several seconds it created and mapped the new drive name, and then switches to next screen displaying all selections to perform all functions (setting-up back-up's, etc.,..).

Good service

yeah, I noticed when my PC came up this morning (I re-boot my machine every morning, I power-OFF every night) a new drive is mapped and listed- ie. "Public (\\\\MyBookLive) (M)", and new folders underneath. Not sure if this is designed in software purposely or what? I guess this is the same behavior your mentioning here?

hmmm, this is too bad. I'm hoping this isn't a trend for these devices? I would contact technical support 800-275-4932 .

I have a few-year-old regular MyBook (250GB). It worked fine for the most part. However in the last few months it seems to not be recognized on my system. I'm keep getting a message asking me to re-format drive, but I'm scared of erasing all my data. It also gives me the following message : "volume does not contain a recognized file system".

I will have to contact technical support.

I just purchased a second MyBookLive. I want to dedicate one unit for backing-up my main PC data, and the second unit for archiving primarily DVD's and BluRay's.

I plan to use a new NetGear 5-Port Gigabit Ethernet Switch-GS105.

So when hooking things up I will plug both MyBookLive etherNET connections into the NetGear switch, which then gets plugged into my (crowded) 5-port LynkSys gigabit router. Should it matter which router port the NetGear switch gets plugged into?

Also when configuring two MyBookLive drives will the existing driver software license work for both drives?

Hopefully someone has experience with connecting multiple MyBookLive drives (guess it should'nt be different from connecting multiple drives of other brands/types?)

okay so I'm running a first-time back-up (47.98GB) of PC data onto my WD MyBookLive today. I started it approx 07:30am this morning, when I came back home later this afternoon (approx 01:30pm) the WDSmartWare content gauge shows that 47.97GB of PC data has been backed-up. A message displayed in upper-left corner of screen says "Partial Backup Completed". So now, like 12 hours later (07:30pm), it still displays "Partial Backup Completed", I guess the back-up process is still active? Also when I view actual MyBookLive file system (via-Explorer) it shows no data or files present.

I called Western Digital technical support, explained the situation, they replied that this behavior should be normal? That the drive is most likely generating the additional default version's of file(s) (in my case the default = 5).

Is it normal to take this amount of time generating first-time back-up (like 12 hours-plus)? For 48GB of data?

really enjoying a brand-new Oppo BDP-93 so far. I've been playing around streaming files from a WD "MyBookLive" network drive with sample WMA and jpeg files. I've navigated via my Denon AVR-2112CI receiver and BDP-93, separately, testing their diffferences in which they access and play files. Pretty cool.

I've loaded test files at various levels on the "MyBookLive" (directory structures) to verify they can be "seen" and read. At one point I deleted some WMA test files, re-loaded different (new) files, now I can't see them while navigating network connection via-Oppo or Denon. I can see other adjacent structures (ie. "My Photos", etc.,...), but can't see the "My Music" level now. Should something be re-cycled? I powered-OFF/ON the Oppo, still can't see "My Music" folder. hmmmmmm

Eventually I'm hoping to be able to load my complete (18GB) WMA music file structure onto this MyBookLive and go "live".

this is cool. I should have an RMA issued for my (2nd) unit, the LED does'nt seem to function at all as well. You never know what's really going on.

I've migrated my complete WMA archive (25GB) onto this 2TB WD MyBookLive unit for about two months now. It seems to stream beautifully throughout the house as I had planned. I'm using a Denon AVR-2112CI receiver in my living room system (along with an Oppo BDP-93). While in USB/NET mode I can navigate through my music archive (using the Denon remote) and select and play music (via-Twonky). It sounds very nice I might add. I prefer using the Denon instead of the Oppo BDP-93 to stream, I prefer the navigation