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Can anyone beat the WD My Cloud for sheer unsuitability?
What it should do:
Be like dropbox, but with an actual physical box on your desk so it's quick enough to seamlessly work as a NAS whilst at home.
What it actually does:
Infuriates the user by popping up a browser user interface rather than an actual file manager whenever you click on it, occasionally redirecting to "Twonky server" which fills you with confidence. Be almost* impossible to actually transfer files to it from your phone. Auto backup files/photos from your phone (nope, you've guessed it, it hasn't).
FFS, it's supposed to be a simple consumer product. I just want to setup a folder for each person in the house that they can drag and drop shit into. But noooooo.
I'd actually be quicker just uploading everything to dropbox, then manually transferring it into an external hard drive, then whenever I needed to access it drive home, hook it up, print out glossy photos, then drive back to wherever I was to show them to someone.
*I've achieved it in the past, today it's not working
Haha. Got one of those as well. Can never remember how to get stuff onto it any more. Almost everything just goes to Onedrive now
Every printer ever made ever. Bastards, the lot of them.
Printers.
I had one of those wd my cloud things. It went in the bin.
It utterly refused to ‘actually’ work.
It would say it had achieved its job, but when you checked, it hadn’t.
I avoided any warranty issues by using a hammer to pack it back in it’s box.
I’ve taken the same approach with everything since, life is too short to **** about with stuff that doesn’t work.
Printers are the work of the devil, when they don't behave.
Haha. Got one of those as well. Can never remember how to get stuff onto it any more. Almost everything just goes to Onedrive now
Having been burnt by Flickr reducing it's capacity, and Facebook only storing low res copies I really like the idea of having the originals on an actual physical drive that I own. But an online backup for photos and just sticking SSD's in a case is looking like a better option than this unusable POS.
Roughly every 6 months I seem to set it up again and it seems to be working as it should, then just doesn't.
Every printer ever made ever. Bastards, the lot of them.
Our printer currently works over WiFi from my OH's work laptop, I've been unable to recreate this feat via any other PC, laptop or phone without enduing up with 3 identically named printers on the list and none of them working. Surely the manufacturers at least test their user-friendliness with windows, or do they have a special version of Drac's iPad running an obscure distro of Linux that it's ddeveloped for?
Central heating timers.
I share both the printer and WD app pain.
They are both shit!
GoPro
End of thread
I have a WD NAS. It took me nearly a month to get it set up so it would talk to my TV. It turned out that WD had licensed an old version of Twonky that wouldn't talk to my TV. Yeah really useful, release a product that is meant to talk to TVs but which won't work with the products of one of the largest, if not the largest, TV manufacturer in the world.
Took ages to figure out the problem as WD were no help at all. So I had to buy my own license to upgrade the SW (it's reasonable SW to be fair) and then install it by mounting the NAS as a drive, stopping the Twonky daemon, installing the new version, updating the symlink to that and restarting the daemon. Not too hard when that's the sort of thing you do weekly but for your average consumer the Linux command line isn't the friendliest of places.
Once I'd done that then it worked OK - I could simultaneously stream movies to the TV, my computer, my wife's laptop, an iPad and an iPhone without problem. All a bit OTT since there's only the two of us in the house.
So, yes. The WD NAS drives are a royal pain.
Wi-fi SD cards. Just won’t work.
Lego ****ing Mario, the temperamental four ****ing inch tall ****
windows 10
Yet another vote for printers. I fail to see how something ostensibly fairly simple can be specifically made to be so complicated, requiring wi-fi connectivity, specific apps, bluetooth and god only knows what other assorted crap.
Cable - plug in - print.
Our office manager worked out the cost savings of all of us WFH so not being in the office and ordering in reams of printer paper and ink cartridges and having the engineer come out every week to fix yet another broken bit of it. It was a LOT of money!
thegeneralist
Free Member
Quote
GoProEnd of thread
See I work with them for a living. I think their downfall is not having simpler "Go" an "Pro" options when you first switch it on.
99% of people would be better served if you could just click go and it went into 1080i and auto-everything.
1% of people would quite like a slightly more manual menu that doesn't need forcing quite so much (the only way to make it manual used to be to set the max/min settings to the same value i.e. max iso 400, min iso 400, max shutter 1/60, min shutter 1/60 etc).
We've got a set of these and they're really quite capable bits of kit once you get the settings dialed and fit a decent lense to it.
I'm still baffled by the fact you buy computer games (Switch in our case) and the games has zero instructions in the box.
I give up and just let my 9 year old play until he gets to a level where he's figured out enough controls for his level of interest.
Would it be so hard to print a simple set of instructions saying which button does which action...
I have two WD drives. I made the mistake of thinking they must have improved things in the few years between buying the first and second.
I was wrong. Every few months I forget this and try to use them again. I soon give up. Lucky I just use OneDrive which works fine for everything across several pc's and phones.
Don't have any problems with printers.
far more basic than any of these, the USB plug / socket.
Chance says that 50% of the time I'll get it the right way round.
Experience says every f'in time I try, then have to flip it over.
Even the times I do get it right first time, because I'm like Pavlov's dog, so attuned to be getting it wrong I encounter the tiniest bit of resistance and I flip it over anyway. Only to then have to flip it back. So it's never right first time, only second or third.
Mac user here.
Printers. Just work
GoPro. Just works
Garmin. Just works
Android phone. Just doesn't work easily enough.
Hah you amateurs. I got a 3D printer for Christmas. An "entry level" model which means in other words it's barely developed.
Lezyne smart head chuck thing.
Absolute hateful, useless, less than useless, finicky pile of utter garbage.
I've not even owned a pump with one on but a mate did and just the experience of having to use it a handful of times made me want to go round to house of the Lezyne designer that came up with such an immeasurably shit item and make them swallow it!
Hah you amateurs. I got a 3D printer for Christmas. An “entry level” model which means in other words it’s barely developed
Pffft, I have an Ultimaker at work, cost £3k+. I've told my boss it's broken and I can't fix it as I just can't face troubleshooting it again! Something is broken and I can't figure out what. To be fair they're pretty simple bits of kit really, the slicing software all output the same file format so it's that which does most of the heavy lifting. The printer is just 4 stepper motors and a thermostat following the commands of the slicer software (which is why they've gotten so cheap).
Software not hardware but...Zwift.
Want to change setting, check badges, progress etc? Don't go to our website, open the app (it'll need updating I expect) start and ride, change stuff, cancel ride.
Wanna ride then pick another route? Close the app and reopen.
Want to see check who's riding a race, see full results which filter out sandbaggers. Ah, you need a third party app for that.
Want to checkout route details? Hey, try different website altogether.
Oh and unless you have rock solid broadband, good luck.
When it works its great though;)
molgrips
Hah you amateurs. I got a 3D printer for Christmas. An “entry level” model which means in other words it’s barely developed
What is it? My Creality Cr-10 Mini is about as basic as they come and once the bed was levelled it has pretty much just worked.
The trickiest bit is getting your slicer settings dialled in for specific prints and what your printer requires. The other thing is learning how to model things to suit 3hD printing and handling support material etc.
tinas - we've got an Ultimaker 3 Extended at work and certain things about it are great, but other things are complete crap and very poorly developed. Not worth the money IMO, although people with very little knowledge or experience have had good results with it.
I clicked on the thread to say something along the lines of "Garmin software - end of thread", but I've got a WD my cloud - my word is it truly horrible. There is a website with details of how to bypass some of the worst features and make is useable but even then it's awful. I can't think of a single piece of tech I've ever used that's worse.
I bought a WD my cloud couldn’t get it to work they way I expected for month’s
Then over lock down given I had the time I finally sussed it out , if works pretty well now to be honest
It only has one disk so I still back up important bits elsewhere
If anyone wants to give there a good home let me know
far more basic than any of these, the USB plug / socket.
Chance says that 50% of the time I’ll get it the right way round.
Experience says every f’in time I try, then have to flip it over.
Even the times I do get it right first time, because I’m like Pavlov’s dog, so attuned to be getting it wrong I encounter the tiniest bit of resistance and I flip it over anyway. Only to then have to flip it back. So it’s never right first time, only second or third.
Agreed on USB Type A:
Life is too short to deal with WD. Online service and/or synology NAS.
iPhones. Horrible things.
I gave up on NAS drives totally after yest another Synology update meant I had to rebuild the library on mine. Total POS. An It mate advised me to subscribe to OneDrive.
That Lezyne chuck head is the bike equivalent of Satan's ringpiece. A malevolent hoop that causes immense pain. I hate it with a passion. Pump consigned to dusty shed corner.
Fridges and freezers. Does a bigger number on the dial mean higher or lower temperature? THERE IS NO WAY TO KNOW WITHOUT RUINING A LOAD OF FOOD.
It’s not even consistent between different fridges.
Every printer ever made ever. Bastards, the lot of them.
I think you've forgotten about SCSI interface scanners
windows 10
I think you mean Windows 8 Windows 7 Windows Vista Windows XP Windows 2000 Windows 98 Windows 95 Windows 3.1.
Win3.1 was the first version I used. Each version was easier to use than the previous (with the exception of Millenial Edition, which was warmed over Win98). Win10 is amazingly simple and reliable compared to the old XP and 98 days.
The old programmable VCRs. Nothing like working through a 200 page paper manual to work out the codes to video Coro St. for my mum every day. Jesus, the salespeople must have laughed their arses off every time one of those went out the door based on the demo of "look, you can set it to automatically record all your favorite programmes."
I’m still baffled by the fact you buy computer games (Switch in our case) and the games has zero instructions in the box.
I give up and just let my 9 year old play until he gets to a level where he’s figured out enough controls for his level of interest.
Would it be so hard to print a simple set of instructions saying which button does which action…
Stopped years ago due to there always being an in game menu > options > controls or similar. Saves paper too!
I’m with central heating or any other type of timer. Had a fancy pants towel heating radiator thing fitted that has a separate thermostat and timer. Only ever comes on when the heating does as I can’t figure out how to set the timer and the display is so tiny that, even if I could set it, I wouldn’t be able to tell what I was doing.
Modern cars I'd say. When something goes wrong you basically have bo chance of being able to fix it yourself as everything needs a sensor now and needs programmed (you cant even change the battery yourself in some BMW) and half the time the dealer cant or wont because you dont really have much comeback against them.
USB-c
solves the problem of
Chance says that 50% of the time I’ll get it the right way round.
introduces the problem of a plethora of power demands and data rates with nothing on the device, lead or charger to indicate what their requirements or capability is.
The old programmable VCRs.
Following on from that, DVD players. You know how, when you press a button on a computer or phone and you expect it to do something? Right there and then.
DVD players managed to introduce a complete new time zone between you pressing the button and (much whirring and clunking later) actually carrying out the command you told it.
Sometimes via 4 or 5 sub-menus offering language and subtitling and aspect ratio but never letting you skip the adverts or anti-piracy warnings.
Can I join the WD My Cloud app misery, Utter utter shite software.
Ok, maybe shouldn't be in the 'non user friendly category but..
Don't get me started on WD crap. I bought a 1TB external hard drive a few years ago, can't remember what I paid for it but I duly 'saved' a load of photo's, did this about 3 or 4 times & had it stored in a drawer. Went to use it after it was about 3 weeks out of warranty & It's basically Fubared, just won't work. I've had it to 4 different places to see what's wrong but It's just knackered.
Pile O shite.
Modern cars I’d say. When something goes wrong you basically have bo chance of being able to fix it yourself as everything needs a sensor now and needs programmed
Sure, but they don't stop on the side of the road if you drive through a puddle. Jesus, try driving some old 70s cars. They had carburettors, so to start them up you'd have to apply the choke and stamp the accelerator several times to pump gas into the engine (generally three stomps on the accellerator, but it depended on the car, if you over did it, you'd flood the engine, and then you were ****ed). Then, once you got it to fire up, you'd have to monitor the engine temperature to make sure you didn't flood it before you disabled the choke.
On top of that, in wet weather, drum brakes would fill with water and not work until the water got squeezed out and the brakes get up to temperature. So, if you drove through a puddle, the brakes on one side of the car wouldn't work and you'd change lanes if you stomped on the brakes.
That was all considered normal BITD. Just part of learning how to operate a car. Modern cars are amazing. They just start up when you turn the key and stop when you mash on the stop pedal. No drama, just boring start, do, stop without any randomness thrown in.
Sure, but they don’t stop on the side of the road if you drive through a puddle. Jesus, try driving some old 70s cars.
Agreed, but that was 50 years ago. I'm thinking back to maybe 20 years ago, lots of cars from then are still around now and running as well as the day they were bought. By then they were well past the kind of issues you describe.
We bought an Echo Show. Terrible bit of kit. Will only respond if we say “echo” in a northern accent and has yet to show anything of remote relevance to any question.
Better.
The leisure centre chain, Better.
Specifically their website. It’s just hard to use. It should be simple, but *somehow* it’s just baffling. Easy things like ‘when can I swim’ take thousands of clicks and dead ends and irrelevant asides. It should be easy, I’m a web-literate human. But it’s awful
Couldn’t it just be, erm... ‘better’
Meh....my WD mycloud works great still after 4+ years. Granted the mobile app is pretty shocking though.
GoPro software. Absolute shite.
The new sky guide. It used to work well. Now it doesn't.
Wireless printers. Ours works for a few months then needs setting up again.
WiFi bulbs that aren't from the major brands. Instructions were to switch on/off repeatedly until the bulb started flashing.
Stood ther for 15 minutes turning lights on and off and still didn't connect.
Nextbase dash cam. Must be on the 6th one in 12 months. Every so often, it just locks up making an annoying pinging noise and none of the button respond. Response from nextbase? You need to format the SD card.
1. I can't, the ****ing thing is unresponsive.
2. Why does it need formatting every two weeks? Can't it just overwrite? Or failing that, give me a warning message that it needs attention rather than just locking out.
I'd also like to give an honorary mention to every single IT system at work. Everything needs a password, but each set of password criteria are different so you can't use the same one and none of the systems talk to each other.