In this tutorial, I will guide you on how to map your WD MyCloud Drive to your home network directly, without any need for web access.
Before we begin, you need to set up your drive and connect it with a wire to your router. Once it boots, take note of the MAC address as you will need it shortly.
To ensure a stable network link, your MyCloud drive needs to have a static IP address. You can do this by either changing the default setting of the drive from dynamic to static and assigning your own IP or by reserving the IP address already assigned by your router for your drive within your network. We recommend the latter.
To reserve the IP address, access your router settings by inputting the IP address provided on the back or bottom of your router into your browser and logging in with the credentials provided. Look for the list of all connected devices and find your hard drive using the MAC address you noted earlier. Copy the assigned IP address and find the DHCP server settings, where you should see an address reservation option. Reserve the IP address and MAC address there.
Once you have reserved the IP address, make sure your drive is visible by checking the network folder and ensuring that network discovery is turned on. Connect to your drive online through the Twinkie server and ensure that you can see the folders on your drive. You can set up a separate login and password to make it more private.
To map your drive, decide on the folder you want to map and create a main folder where you will keep subfolders of your stuff. You can add as many folders as necessary in the Twinkie folder settings or map each folder to your network as individual network drives. You can also add new folders through the main web interface.
Once you have decided on the folder to map, go to the This PC folder on your computer under the Computer tab. Click on the option to map a network drive, pick an unassigned letter for your new drive, add the drive name after a double backslash, then add the folder name that you want to act as a drive after another backslash. If you have added login credentials on the Twinkie server, it will prompt for these credentials.
And there you have it! A fully connected network drive with direct access and reserved IP address for stable connection in the many years to come. If this video helped you, please hit the like button and subscribe to see more useful stuff like this.
There is another and better (in my opinion) way to map a WD My Cloud Drive. If you want to know what it is, check it out HERE.
