New Person Here - Need Help with Basics on accessing my two 4tb Hdds from File Manager

I’m hoping someone here can help—I was recommended a ZimaCube for my design-related work and was told it would be fairly user-friendly to set up. I’m finding that hasn’t quite been the case for me.

Here’s where I’m at currently:

  • The ZimaCube itself is fully updated to the latest OS version.
  • When I connect using the Zima Client, I can see two storage locations:
  • ZimaOS-HS
  • A storage pool I created using two HDDs
  • In the Zima Client, I can:
  • Checkmark both storage locations
  • Set the HDD storage pool as Quick Access

However:

  • In my computer’s file manager, I can only see ZimaOS-HS
  • The HDD storage pool does not appear
  • In the Zima Client, the HDD pool shows up in Quick Access but is greyed out, and I can’t actually open or use it

At the end of the day, all I’m trying to do is:
Save files locally on my computer and have them automatically sync to the ZimaCube storage**

I feel like I’m very close but clearly missing a step. Any guidance would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Could you show us some screenshots or screen recordings? That would be even better.

Sure thing, Ill pace them in order of my process.

So you could see the M3 Storage doesn’t show in my file manager, and Its greyed out and click on it via the the ZimaCube client on the bottom right.

You have to create a folder on the storage drive and share it in order to see it on your network. You cant just see the drive itself.

From dashboard click on the gear on in Storage.
Click on the folder in your storage drive section.
click anywhere in the white space of that page, create new folder.
Mouse over the newly created folder box, click the three dots on the upper right.
Click manage share, make sure your name and have read & write as the user and click save, in the who can access section.
It even shows you the server address for Mac and Windows.

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Thank you so much for everyone’s help. That did work, but unfortunately I am now running into other issues. I think its best that stick to using my online cloud service with Box since its user friendly enough for types such as myself. If anyone is interested, I have Zima Cube available. I’m in the Boston, MA area if someone’s lucky enough to be in the area.

First, some reassurance

You’ve chosen a very capable and well-designed NAS platform. ZimaOS is intentionally built to be easy to run, low maintenance, and hard to break, even for new users. On top of that, the Zima community forum is extremely active, and most questions like this have already been seen and solved by other users, which makes getting help much easier.

What you’re running into here is not a limitation, just a small learning curve.


What you are trying to do

At the end of the day, your goal is simple:

Save files locally on your computer and have them automatically sync to your ZimaCube storage.

This is supported, and with the Zima Client, it already happens automatically.


How Zima Client changes things

With the Zima Client installed on your computer:

  • You do not need to manually map a network drive
  • You do not need to use a third-party sync app
  • Zima automatically exposes selected ZimaOS folders to your PC
  • Files saved locally are synced to the ZimaCube in the background

This is why you are seeing folders like ZimaOS-HD appear directly in your file explorer.

In simple terms, the Zima Client already acts as the sync layer.


Why the folder selection matters

ZimaOS still follows one important rule for safety:

Only folders you explicitly select or share are exposed to your computer.

This is why you see a choice like:

  • ZimaOS-HD
  • Safe-Storage

Once selected in the Zima Client:

  • The folder appears locally
  • Files saved there sync automatically to the ZimaCube
  • No manual mapping is required

Nothing else needs to be configured.


Why ZimaOS works this way

This design:

  • Protects the system disk
  • Prevents accidental deletion of OS or app data
  • Keeps updates, backups, and restores reliable
  • Matches how modern NAS systems separate system and user data

It may feel different at first, but it is actually what makes ZimaOS stable and easy to maintain long term.


Summary

  • Yes, this issue is addressed
  • Zima Client already provides automatic local-to-NAS syncing
  • No manual drive mapping is required
  • You just choose which folders to expose
  • Your setup is working as intended

Once this clicks, ZimaOS becomes very straightforward to use day-to-day.

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