Enabling ssh on MyBook World Edition

I've had my Western Digital MyBook World Edition for a couple of months now. Basically it is a mini-computer with a small footprint linux distro. The disk is shared on the network using samba and mionet. Not exactly the best options for accessing from Linux. It works, well the samba does. But it isn't ideal. In fact, if I try to do more than one simultaneous file transfer with samba protocol, the whole thing locks up till I can remount the smbfs.

Oddly enough, the MyBook comes with a fully functional ssh server. WD just ship it disabled. Enabling ssh allows shell access which opens lots of possibilities.

Following the detailed instructions on Hard Forum: Hacking the WD My Book Word Edition II (NAS)

1. Shutdown
2. Remove rubber piping
3. Open case (took three pairs of hands) THIS STEP VOIDS YOUR WARRANTY
4. Unplug SATA cable
5. Plug SATA disk into host PC (managed to do this without removing from chassis)
6. Boot host PC using Ubuntu 7.04 DVD
7. Access linux partition.
8. Remove root password from /etc/shadow
9. Uncomment ssh line in /etc/inetd.conf
10. Shutdown host PC
11. Disconnect disk from host PC
12. Reattach original SATA cables
13. Close case
14. Refit rubber piping (fiddliest part of the whole lot)
15. Reattach to network and boot
16. Open ssh connection to MyBook as root (no password)
17. Create group wheel
18. Added your user to the group wheel
19. Create symbolic link at /usr/bin/vi to /bin/vi
20. Add entry for wheel in visudo
21. Set password for root user
22. Disable services you're not using (e.g. mionet, samba, lighthttp)
23. Change mount point from /shares/internal to /home
24. Change file ownerships
25. Upload your ssh public keys to ~/.ssh/authorized_keys2
26. Mount your sshfs (nautilus Connect to Server)