Help - ReadOnly access (1.5TB MBWE) - Windows Only Network (MioNet never installed)

Summary:

From the posts it appears that read-only access is a problem that has plagued many MBWEs. It has hit me. I only have Windows computers (XP and Vista) - no Linux computers on my network (and I know nothing about Linux). Unplugging and restarting hasn't helped. Any ideas/recommendations? Or should I just return to WD for another one (happened the first night I got it after transferring about 100GB of videos to it - now I can't transfer any other files).

Help - ReadOnly access (1.5TB MBWE) - Windows Only Network (MioNet never installed)

Walter3 01 May 2008 20:11

I bought a 1.5TB MBWE earlier this week (from www.zipzoomfly.com - great price of $277 if you're interested).

Put it on the network without any problems. Chose not to install Mionet because of the reviews I had read. Started moving 750GB of DIVX videos overnight. Woke up the next a.m. and found only about 110GB had moved over and then "something apparently went wrong".

My MBWE now has read-only access. Can't delete any of the 110GB; can't create any other directories; can't rename any of the files alredy on it; can't copy any new files to the MBWE. I have copied the 110GB of files back successfully FROM the MBWE to another computer on the network, but can't copy TO the MBWE.

I turned it off and restarted. No change. I turned it off, unplugged it and let it sit for an hour. When I plugged it back in, no change.

I did do some searches and read some postings where others have this problem, but the solutions seem to apply only to those who have a linux computer on their network (and I don't). Is there anything else a Windows-only user like me can do? Or, should just return the drive to WD for another one? Will re-formatting via the webpage interface solve the problem? Will "re-setting it" (I see a reset hole on the back of the unit) have any effect?

In case it might be relevant, I should note that I have another WBME (1TB) on the network that has not had this problem. Is it possible that you can only have one MBWE per home network?

You guys are great. Thanks for any assistance.

Re: Help - ReadOnly access (1.5TB MBWE) - Windows Only Network (MioNet never installed)

Walmir 28 May 2008 14:16

I have the same problem. someone could help me?

Re: Help - ReadOnly access (1.5TB MBWE) - Windows Only Network (MioNet never installed)

Walter3 10 Jun 2008 11:57

My problem was ultimately fixed by turning it off, removing the power cord for a couple of minutes and plugging it back in. While I think I did that once without success, now I'm not sure. Anyway, it worked the second time I did it.

Re: Help - ReadOnly access (1.5TB MBWE) - Windows Only Network (MioNet never installed)

ETMegabyte 19 Jun 2008 13:19

This is a fairly old post, but since I don't see a solution, I'll throw in my 2 cents…

I'm assuming by now that you've returned the drive and got it replaced. If you haven't, then I'm assuming you've fixed it?

Having only windows computers isn't really a huge problem. I've restored a bricked MBWE2, as well as modified and hacked a second MBWE2 using an Ubuntu Install CD. The Ubuntu install CD is what's called a "live cd", meaning it loads linux and gives you a linux desktop that you can use to fix a botched installation. Just disconnect all of your existing hard drives, and connect the Hard Drive(s) from MBWE to the PC, and boot from the Ubuntu install CD (ISO Image can be downloaded from about a million places, which you can then burn to a CD and boot from). So, having only windows machines doesn't really hurt you too much.

However, not having linux knowledge could. There are a number of possible causes of losing the ability to write to your shares. The most likely (in my opinion) is that there was some sort of corruption (or possibly hardware failure) that caused the MBWE to remount the data partition Read-Only. Connecting it to a machine and mounting it will allow you to view the logs, which will go a long way to telling you why.

The other option, if you don't want to go through the hassle, is to install the SSH Hack (http://martin.hinner.info/mybook/sshaccess.php) to enable SSH login to the MBWE. Even if you don't have write access to the data partition, you should still be able to apply the hack. Then you can SSH into the box and read the logs from there. Though technically the SSH hack will void the warranty, if you're going to just return it to the store, then they'll have no way of checking it, so it shouldn't be a problem.