wd my cloud review

Is this a breakthrough product or too good to be true? The support for media streaming is also extremely limited: you can basically play back only the types of content natively supported by the mobile device. The name of WD's new Network Attached Storage (NAS) unit is an attempt to tap into the new-found consumer enthusiasm about cloud computing or, in other words, storing stuff online. Bisset, By Currently I manually backup various files to the MyCloud. For more NAS server options, including those with multiple volumes, check out this list. We tested the 8TB, two-drive My Cloud Home Duo, whicâ¦ Just create a user account for that person on the NAS server, create an access code, and give the information to him or her. The device is very compact, just slightly larger than a standard desktop internal hard drive. On the back are a Gigabit Ethernet port, a USB 3.0 port, and the power connection port. We recommend moving this block and the preceding CSS link to the HEAD of your HTML file. The fact WD has released My Cloud in white is not an insignificant factor. As the names suggest, the Public folder is for storing public data, and the other two are for backups of Windows and Mac machines, respectively. Follow this topic to get notifications about new stories. The latter is left to Gigabit Ethernet. The WD My Cloud is a compact, powerful NAS server for home users. The most obvious is being a single drive system means the My Cloud can back up your data, but not itself. The My Cloud range is a line of external 2TB, 3TB and 4TB hard drives determined to pick a fight with both traditional NAS and Cloud storage services like Dropbox and Google Drive. Our review unit featured a killer 16TB of storage spread across two 8TB drives. Find out more in our My Cloud Home Personal Cloud review. It ditches more advanced features to concentrate on core functionality like support for DLNA and iTunes servers, UPnP, and FTP (though the latter is disabled by default) plus multi-user support to set folder access and permissions. #mc-embedded-subscribe-form input[type=checkbox]{display: inline; width: auto;margin-right: 10px;} With this app, you can access the public share folders as well as the private share folder of the current user. As soon as the device is plugged in, all of these public folders are available to all connected devices in the home network. No data redundancy but excellent backup feature As a single-volume NAS server, the My Cloud has no real-time mechanism guarding it against the failure of the internal hard drive. #mergeRow-gdpr fieldset label {font-weight: normal;} Moving beyond backup services, the My Cloud has an onboard DLNA server and iTunes support, so it can stream media to â¦ And that's not all: if you download the My Cloud mobile app (available for iOS and Android), the app will see the My Cloud and connect to it as long as the mobile device and the My Cloud belong to the same local network. StorageReview.com is a world leading independent storage authority, providing in-depth news coverage, detailed reviewsâ¦ When something happens, you can restore the server. The My Cloud's Dashboard Web interface is very well-organized and should be easy to figure out even for a novice user. Itâs easy to add or swap 3.5-inch drives by popping open the latched top, unscrewing a retaining clip, and sliding the drives in or out. It also has a USB 3.0 port for storage extension or backing up data. In my testing, over a Gigabit Ethernet connection, the server offered a sustained speed of 67MBps for writing and 87MBps for reading, both being significantly faster than any of its peers. And even at its current stage, with a price tag of just $250 for the top capacity of 4TB, the My Cloud is a steal. Returning to hardware, WD claims an unspecified ‘dual core’ processor provides it with the grunt to turn the tables on premium NAS. Read honest and unbiased product reviews â¦ Easy to set up and manage, this two-bay NAS features hardware encryption, media streaming, remote access, useful apps, and solid data protection. The My Cloud Home Duo now features WD's Red drives, pictured here with two 8TB drives. The WD My Cloud (for desktop) app is available from WD's Learning Center site. Note that I tested the My Cloud and its apps prior to their launch, and things can be better in the final version of a product. They support traditional NAS features via a browser-based dashboard and DLNA support, while apps let you access your drive remotely via PCs, smartphones and tablets just like popular cloud services. 9.10 / 10. I wanted to test it out for myself and called up WD for a review unit. They willingly obliged â being a tech journalist has its perks! Except for the WD SmartWare backup program, which is only available for Windows (since Macs already have Time Machine), the rest of the software is available for both platforms. WD could probably sell even more My Clouds if the company gave you a price break on the actual storage; populated versions of the EX2 Ultra retail for the same price as buying one empty and populating it yourself with the same WD Red hard drives. Setup is a breeze The My Cloud is by far the easiest NAS server to set up that I've encountered; you literally just need to connect it to the power, hook its network port to a router (or a switch), and you're done. At 170.6 x 49 x 139.3mm and 960g it is less than half the size and weight of most NAS and no bigger than the My Book while the well vented mock-metal top and rear keep it cool and quiet. This is how we make money. For a low-cost entry-level network storage device, the WD My Cloud is very impressive both in performance and features, making it one of the best deals for home users. Macs will immediately see the My Cloud as an available destination for Time Machine backup and the My Cloud will also appear on Finder. The interface is well-organized, with six tabs on top for Home, Users, Shares, Cloud Access, Safepoints, and Settings that take you to more customizations. For example, when you're traveling away from home, even in a different country, then from a computer connected to the Internet you can point the browser to WDMyCloud.com and log in with the WDMyCloud account, and with a click you can quickly create a network drive linked to a share folder on the My Cloud NAS server at home. There is also a USB 3.0 port for connecting additional storage or initiating direct downloads from cameras but, perhaps surprisingly, this doesn’t support printers or network connectivity. The most interesting tab is Cloud Access, which allows you to sign up for a WDMyCloud.com online account for each user account of the NAS server, and to create an access code for the mobile device app. This worked well but make sure you use an external hard drive (or a second unit) that has at least the same capacity as the server. The WD My Cloud Home features the companyâs new two-tone, half-sculpted design motif that we first saw in the My Passport series earlier this year. The WD My Cloud delivers excellent file-transfer performance. This private share folder is only available to that user and nobody else. The device's only shortcoming is its mobile app, which could use some improvement, and I have no doubt that will happen via updates. Looks so 1990's, at best. WD My Cloud review: Best budget home NAS server to date - CNET This means you have a much bigger storage allowance than standard Cloud services, your data isn’t shared with another company and you only have to upload what you need with no monthly subscriptions. For the first time a single-volume NAS server offers a data rate rivaling that of more advanced, multiple-volume servers. But because of the unusual way drives are mounted (with bearing-head screws that fit in slots at the top of the bays), installing 2.5-iâ¦ Like our top pick, the higher-capacity WD My Book has a low, 6 percent reported failure rate (judging from Amazon reviews), and it performed the best of the three 8 TB options we tested. #mc_embed_signup{background:#fff; clear:left; font:14px Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; width:100%;} Â© 2021 CNET, A RED VENTURES COMPANY. This is particularly useful for any essential content you might want access offline since all My Cloud data is accessed on demand. To make up for this, you can easily back up its contents using the Safepoints feature. The WD My Cloud is Western Digital's answer to the Seagate Central, which came out five months ago. With 2TB, 3TB and (soon) 4TB versions My Cloud is as capacious as any single drive backup solution currently available. This is a single-volume storage device that houses one 3.5-inch hard drive, which, like the WD My Book Live's, is not user-serviceable. And only music can really be streamed; other content needs to be first buffered (temporarily downloaded) onto the mobile device before it can be played back. In this review I will talk only about the Setup desktop software and the My Cloud mobile app. The server also worked very well in my testing and remained quiet and cool even during heavy loads. Compare Item My Cloud EX2 Ultra 2-Bay Diskless Network Attached Storage (NAS)> Compare. WD says that in the near future, it will also release a new version of the My Cloud that comes with more than one internal hard drive on the inside to support RAID configurations. */ They are all very self-explanatory and useful. The good The WD My Cloud is fast, affordable, and easy to use, and has a well-implemented, powerful personal cloud feature. If you're looking for a fast, easy-to-use NAS server for your home, at the suggested cost of just $150 for 2TB ($180 for 3TB, and $250 for 4TB), the WD My Cloud is an excellent choice among single-volume network storage devices. An alternative that I found quite interesting, and more suited to my needs, was the WD MyCloud. When it comes to its NAS aspirations the My Cloud is also relatively simple. #mergeRow-gdpr {margin-top: 20px;} Read honest and unbiased product reviews â¦ It was actually much easier to do than explain. The WD My Cloud Dashboard has the same user-friendly, dark and modern UI that is consistent across Western Digital's latest line of consumer networking products including the My Net â¦ Curiously, it still thinks the app version is "0.0.0", which says absolute programming â¦ Only one part of your decision-making process in the Home Network backing up data browse for share! 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