[MacUnited]

I don't usually look at the flyers that cover my driveway every weekend, but it was the boxing week and I was curious. I opened the Futureshop one and saw the Western Digital MyBook Live, a 2TB external Drive that promises to work to Time Machine to wirelessly backup the mac, also works with windows AND what really sold me on it was the ability to create your own cloud service. All nice and dandy until I went and bought it. connected it to the router and tried to install, the MBP won't even see it.
I tried the windows laptop, and the install was done in 2 mins.
I tried everything with the MBP and it won't see it. I connected it directly through the Ethernet cable. it was there. but utility disk won't recognize it so I couldn't formatted for mac, I took it back and the futureshop guys couldn't help.
Now my question is, anybody had any luck with this particular product? or any NAS for mac?
I really don't like using dropbox or box or any cloud service that I don't know where the data is stored and who "actually" has access to it..
input will be much appreciated..
and a happy new year!!

 

[John Clay]

I'm quite happy with my Synology. What I have may be overkill for you, but they have plenty of less expensive models.

Products - Synology Inc. Network Attached Storage - NEW NAS Experience

 

[jamesB]

Synology has worked well for me, been online now for 4+ years with a DS107e.
Handles my Time Machine backups for 4 Macs plus my media libraries.
Good support for apple computers, also I notice a lot of new models since I purchased mine.

 

[simon]

Another +1 for the Synology NAS. I have the DS212j which has worked flawlessly for over 8 months as a media server for the house and as a time machine backup for my multitude of Macs.

There are more programs on there than I'll ever use, but I'm just starting to play with the web server tools, seems a logical thing to try next

 

[jezzy]

in order for me to use a non apple time machine (NAS) I've always had to put the following command within a terminal screen. afterwards time machine will see the non-apple hd available as a backup device.

sudo defaults write com.apple.systempreferences TMShowUnsupportedNetworkVolumes 1

 

[MacUnited]

do I have to format the Synology unit to be able to use it on a mac or is it mac ready??

 

[John Clay]

do I have to format the Synology unit to be able to use it on a mac or is it mac ready??

You don't format a NAS for Mac or PC - it's a Network Attached Storage device, so it connects like you would to any other fileserver.

 

[MacUnited]

You don't format a NAS for Mac or PC - it's a Network Attached Storage device, so it connects like you would to any other fileserver.

but that was my whole struggle with WD MyBook Live, they say it uses time machine, but my MBP wouldn't recognize it as a storage option.

 

[John Clay]

but that was my whole struggle with WD MyBook Live, they say it uses time machine, but my MBP wouldn't recognize it as a storage option.

What OS is your Mac running? As mentioned, you may have to run a Terminal command to get Time Machine working with a network drive.

 

[MacUnited]

Mountain Lion 10.8.2

so here's what happens, I connect the NAS to the router.. the MBP will not recognize it as a disk, only as a shared drive.
I connect the NAS directly to the MBP, and only if I turned it off then on after it's connected, it is there and I can use the Time Machine backup.
You think the only thing missing is that terminal command??
I might have to run back to futureshop to get the NAS! lol

 

[John Clay]

Mountain Lion 10.8.2

so here's what happens, I connect the NAS to the router.. the MBP will not recognize it as a disk, only as a shared drive.
I connect the NAS directly to the MBP, and only if I turned it off then on after it's connected, it is there and I can use the Time Machine backup.
You think the only thing missing is that terminal command??
I might have to run back to futureshop to get the NAS! lol

It doesn't show up as a disk because it isn't one - it's a NAS. You have to enable Time Machine to work on network drives, as it isn't directly supported without proper server-side functionality.

 

[pm-r]

There are lots of sites and hits of success with a Google search on 'Mac Mountain Lion Western Digital MyBook Live'.

And mention that the supplied software isn't even needed.

Apple OS Mountain Lion and My Book Live - Page 2 - Western Digital Community

My Book Live and Mountain Lion - Western Digital Community

 

[jezzy]

I still recommend recycling an old apple or windows machine, put in a ton of drives, and share it on the network, cheapish, yes may suck more electricity, but atleast upgradeable without magical proprietary software. did it with my quadcore pc, created a hackintosh and voila..!

 

[MacUnited]

Sounds like a lot more complicated and expensive than the $150 one spends for a 2TB NAS these days hehehe