Question Suggest alternative to current plan WD Home Duo 16TB NAS (kind of rant)

[DrWho345]

Got gifted a while ago from my dad, a white 16TB WD Home Duo NAS. He needed extra storage for all of his photos (he uses photoshop and tiff files are massive). He refused to believe me when I told him, before he purchased it, that all drives are not the same (despite us having two Synology NAS drives at the time) and was not accepting that a NAS has to be connected to the internet for it to work, so it would not work if he was travelling overseas.

He didn't listen, brought it (because money doesn't mean anything to him) and when it arrived with the help of a local computer repair shop, set it all up and registered it.

When he finally realised the drive was not going to work the way he wanted it to, (he is now 70 by the way) he did not have the time or energy to be F'ed taking it back so he gave it to me.

I have been using it happily for ages, but anytime there is anything wrong with it examples
1. It is reaching capacity (I think it is set to having 5TB's or less)
or
2. It shuts down because it is too hot
It phones home
Like I mentioned he registered it, forgot to cancel, and anytime it does the above, it "phones home" it sends him an email, and I get yelled at.

Now I understand I don't want our house to burn down either, but he just overreacts, especially to something that isn't his anymore.

TLDR
Current plan
I have purchased another 16TB external hard drive (I saved up for it) non NAS, plain normal drive.
I will clone the Duo, use the new one instead, and remove the drives from the Duo, erase them, thus giving me two brand new 8TB external drives, so technically 3 drives for the price of one.
I have not found another way to stop it "phoning home" I even tried blocking WD sending my dad emails via his computer, but I guess WD found a way around it, and he keeps getting emails.
I even, a few years ago, swapped the fan out for a brand new one, because it started rattling around.

Problem solved, no more emails (it can't send emails if the unit doesn't work)

Unless there is another strategy I have not thought of or considered

Any help would be greatly appreciated?

 

[USAFRet]

Got gifted a while ago from my dad, a white 16TB WD Home Duo NAS

Link to this particular device?

(and being 70 years old is NOT a definition of Fail)

 

[DrWho345]

Link to this particular device?

(and being 70 years old is NOT a definition of Fail)

Sure here

https://www.westerndigital.com/en-a...e/wd-my-cloud-home-duo?sku=WDBMUT0160JWT-SESN

 

[USAFRet]

Sure here

https://www.westerndigital.com/en-a...e/wd-my-cloud-home-duo?sku=WDBMUT0160JWT-SESN

OK...what are you wanting this thing to do?
You can almost certainly turn all of its included stuff OFF, and have it be an external drive or NAS as you see fit

 

[Ralston18]

@DrWho345

You posted "kind of rant". Agree.

As for "any help" here are my thoughts:

My sense is that the real issues are not technical and that they cannot be solved by "technical".

What I have learned through direct experience, family members, friends, and involved doctors is to simply and quietly do what needs to be done to keep the peace and reduce stress.

Example: My now deceased mother-in-law insisted that she had lived in X (not at all possible).

My sister-in-law fought and fought with her about that and many other similar claims.

My wife (listening to the doctor's advice) simply said "that was nice, what did you like about living there?'

Do you need to guess which conversations and end results were less stressfull to all concerned?

Agree: "being 70 years old is NOT a definition of Fail". I am, luckily and fortunately, somewhat older.

Recommended read:" Being Mortal by Dr. Atul Gawande

Tough book to read. Enlightening. Scary.

More and more people are living longer and longer with varying situations and consequences.

My suggestion is that it is now the time to start thinking about your Dad, his age, and his actions.

Seek professional help. Even if you believe that that is not necessary.

NAS issues may be the least of your worries.

 

[DrWho345]

@DrWho345

You posted "kind of rant". Agree.

As for "any help" here are my thoughts:

My sense is that the real issues are not technical and that they cannot be solved by "technical".

What I have learned through direct experience, family members, friends, and involved doctors is to simply and quietly do what needs to be done to keep the peace and reduce stress.

Example: My now deceased mother-in-law insisted that she had lived in X (not at all possible).

My sister-in-law fought and fought with her about that and many other similar claims.

My wife (listening to the doctor's advice) simply said "that was nice, what did you like about living there?'

Do you need to guess which conversations and end results were less stressfull to all concerned?

Agree: "being 70 years old is NOT a definition of Fail". I am, luckily and fortunately, somewhat older.

Recommended read:" Being Mortal by Dr. Atul Gawande

Tough book to read. Enlightening. Scary.

More and more people are living longer and longer with varying situations and consequences.

My suggestion is that it is now the time to start thinking about your Dad, his age, and his actions.

Seek professional help. Even if you believe that that is not necessary.

NAS issues may be the least of your worries.

Thank you for the mental health advice, I really do appreciate it.
I was writing looking for "technical advice" have I gone to the wrong forum? I am already in therapy and I am autistic, but if I have gone to the wrong place, please let me know.
Or if there was something else I could have done to remove the ability to "phone home"

 

[Ralston18]

This NAS?

https://www.westerndigital.com/en-i...e/wd-my-cloud-home-duo?sku=WDBMUT0160JWT-NESN

I found the following link which, in turn, has other relevant links:

https://support-eu.wd.com/app/answe.../steps-to-clear-and-remove-alerts-on-my-cloud

Note Answer ID 17203 and the other Related Answers.

The overall issue being manufacturers forcing device management via a central, manufacturer based website. You need to create and have an account, login, verify yourself, in order to manage the device.

In many cases you can log directly into such devices via your browser and the device's IP address. You still need an admin login name and password. Even if just the default values. Many User Guides/Manuals gloss over that option if mentioned at all.

As a result being end user's means that we may not have all of the controls etc. that we would like to have.

For example when WD or the NAS decides to send an email of any sort for any reason. Even if notifications are turned off and/or we have "unsubscribed", closed accounts etc..

At some point, if you have exhausted all of the technical solutions, and are still "getting yelled at" then the problem is not technical.

That is the way I understood your post.

 

[Misgar]

Got gifted a while ago from my dad, a white 16TB WD Home Duo NAS.

Interestingly, WD do not classify their My Cloud Home Duo as a NAS, despite the fact it can be connected to a network and used to store files:-

"Unlike a NAS, it's a simple centralized solution to back up your photos, videos and files, and have it stored in one place."

Perhaps they're trying to differentiate it from other NAS systems made by Synology or QNAP? It is after all a relatively unsophisticated device design for ease of use.

not accepting that a NAS has to be connected to the internet for it to work

I don't connect any of my NAS systems to the internet and they work fine. Instead I run them on a completely separate network with no physical connection to the internet. This is intended to reduce their susceptibilty to ransomware, but there's no guarantee of total immunity from virus attack.

Admittedly I cannot access my NAS when I'm away from home, but since I generate 600GB+ of files when on vacation, it wouldn't be practical to upload them all using slow hotel WiFi or local 4G.

(he is now 70 by the way)

I know someone in their late nineties who uses Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop on a daily basis.

he registered it, forgot to cancel, and anytime it does the above, it "phones home" it sends him an email, and I get yelled at.

Have you asked HP to remove the device from their registry? Maybe it's not possible.

If I was faced with this problem, I'd dive into my pfSense hardware firewall which sits between my broadband router and my home LAN and add a rule to block the My Cloud Home Duo from phoning home.

Alternatively, I'd log into my broadband router and see if I could set up a rule to block the NAS from talking to HP, but leave internet access open for my file transfers. Similar to Port Forwarding, but in reverse, i.e. Port Blocking. You'd need to find out what IP addresses or domains were being accessed by the NAS when it phones home.

Perhaps if you ask on the HP user forum, someone might respond with a fix.

I even tried blocking WD sending my dad emails via his computer, but I guess WD found a way around it, and he keeps getting emails.

Is there an option to create a rule in your dad's emails to classify HP's messages as junk or spam, so they're not seen any more (or as easily). I have to go looking for junk emails in a web browser, otherwise I don't see them before they're deleted by my ISP after 10 days.