Media clouds
I currently have a 2011 MacBook Pro which is my pride and joy. I also have an iPhone 6 (128GB), and in order to save space I keep all of my media on an external Western Digital My Cloud 3TB drive. I can access files using the My Cloud iOS app and also by mounting it as a network drive on my Mac. I use it for UPNP to my PlayStation and to store my music media. I store my iTunes library and any apps locally on my MacBook but keep the huge amount of media on the external drive.
My question is two-fold. The first part is whether you know of any other iOS apps that can access the files stored on the My Cloud drive. The My Cloud app is all well and good but the UX isn’t all it could be.
My second question relates to an older external drive which used to be the home of all my media. It is at the moment a backup of all my media, but I would like to be able to plug it into my router and use it as a cloud storage device accessible as a network drive from my Mac and an iOS app so I can access, play, edit those files on the go. I have seen several services like OwnCloud and a rather nifty Kickstarter project called Lima. I don’t want my local Mac files to be synced, I simply want to be able to put my old hard drive to use and use it in the same manner as I do the My Cloud.
I would love a solution that brings the same Apple-like simplicity and sleek UI/UX so that this old drive can be dusted off and put to good use. Adam Martin Matt Bolton says: Does your My Cloud drive have a USB port on the back? If it does, a solution to your second question could be as simple as plugging your existing hard drive into that, and configuring it using the My Cloud interface. Alternatively, if your router supports it, you can plug it into a USB port on the router and either access it through FTP or use something like a Pogoplug to create your own server. Your success in doing this will depend entirely on what model of My Cloud and router you are using.
The My Cloud app is designed to work with the drive, and we’re not aware of any alternatives. Perhaps we can throw this one open to our readers…