back to article Western Digital has cloudified the NAS and shoved it in a trendy box

WDC has released a home NAS that syncs with devices for storing, streaming and sharing wherever there's an internet connection. It comes in a single-disk version called the My Cloud Home or a dual-disk version called My Cloud Home Duo, which uses a RAID 1 scheme to copy data from one disk to another for safer keeping. The …

  1. Mage Silver badge

    But

    Can it be 100% NEVER connected to the Internet?

    Can I sync via ethernet, USB or WiFi WITHOUT the Internet? If you can only sync via the Internet it's a failure. If it needs a 3rd party server (=Cloud) to sync to your devices and/or a subscription it's a total failure.

    Security, privacy, exact functionality seem vague?

    1. Dan 55 Silver badge

      Re: But

      Well, you could use your own sync software and point it to the SMB/NFS share on the LAN.

  2. Dan 55 Silver badge

    Deja Vu

    My Cloud already replaced My Book in 2013. I guess this My Cloud is still the same inside but with a nice new case.

    WD used the launch of My Cloud as an excuse to drop firmware updates for My Book. Hopefully they haven't just done the same for 2013 My Cloud owners.

    1. Rafael #872397

      Re: Deja Vu

      I have one 4T My Cloud. You can disable Internet access to it, and use it as a NAS.

      Performance sucks hairy camel balls, though. Once they had a firmware update that required access to it from a local network, at that time I was on the other side of the world and didn't return for weeks.

      WD people were "aware of some issues" and "trying to solve them", but I lost interest. Won't buy this one.

      1. TFL

        Re: Deja Vu

        Wow, you got an update? (OK, one that was terrible, but I digress). I never did for my My Book, perhaps I bought it too late in its intended product life span. The box still works, but it's always been a shit show for internal VA scans I've run. I think the next will be FreeNAS or something that at least I can support myself.

        1. Dan 55 Silver badge

          Re: Deja Vu

          I had two or three + the obligatory Heartbleed update. I've never connected it to the net.

          When it finally dies I think Synology will be the way to go.

          1. Danny 14

            Re: Deja Vu

            +1 for the synology. using a pair of rs815+ here as cheap backup storage. they work well enough and iscsi has been very stable.

  3. Randy Hudson

    RAID 1? If the DUO has double capacity, it sounds more like RAID 0 to me. Do they even make a 20TB drive?

    1. Sorry that handle is already taken. Silver badge

      You are correct, of course, they've quoting the capacity in RAID-0 and JBOD modes. It does have a RAID-1 mode available.

  4. 2Nick3

    Need separation for backup data

    "What we would really like to see is this product instantiated as a software app integrated with macOS or Windows and making its data part of the host's file:folder system so that apps there can work on the data as locally stored content."

    Um, no, not if it is being used for backup. Too easy for ransomware to get to your backup data as well as the primary copy on the host machine. You need some level of separation between primary and backup data for the backup to be safe.

  5. Mint Sauce

    A massive, steaming

    turd. That is my experience of the WD My Book world edition. Ess aitch one T performance & reliability.

    It fought me to the end, even as I ripped it apart to re-purpose the disk. Thankfully I finally managed to reformat / repartition the b'stard and cleansing flames devoured the rest..

    ok, I was not a fan ;-) Subsequently would not trust them with your data, let alone mine!

    Cheers.

  6. thomas k

    Ugh! Does it come in black?

    I like my My Book, it's been very reliable. The only problem I have is that occasionally Windows loses file access (in Computer) and I have to reboot it using IE to access admin (in Storage).

  7. Pete 39

    Advetorial

    Maybe I missed it what's special about this kit?

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    What we would really like to see is this product instantiated as a software app integrated with macOS or Windows and making its data part of the host's file:folder system so that apps there can work on the data as locally stored content.

    Are they saying it doesn't have an SMB or NFS server? That's ridiculous.

    And why are NAS boxes now called "personal clouds". WTF? Please shoot the marketing department.

    1. 404

      And why are NAS boxes now called "personal clouds"

      Same reason server farms are 'The Cloud'... <cue 'Ride of The Valkyries'>

      1. Richocet

        Re: And why are NAS boxes now called "personal clouds"

        I have finally got mine up and running, and it seems to me that the answer is that WD apps and software attempt to upload the data to the device via the INTERNET.

        Hopefully I am wrong, or I can mod this device to just be a NAS. Because I was shocked that a device that is physically in my house and connected to my LAN would work by uploading the files from my PC to a 'who knows how secure' WD cloud drive so that it could be downloaded onto the NAS that is located 1m from the PC.

        Why?

        Is this an NSA sponsored project?

  9. Len Goddard

    Linux

    And no linux support? Not that it matters, I'd rather have a proper NAS. No, wait, I already have a proper NAS ... made by Synology. And it supports linux.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Linux

      When I completely ditched Windows last year I reformatted my "My Books" as Ext4 and not had any problems with them since. I also have a Synology NAS running NFS which is fine but a tad slow, due to the PCs using Wifi to connect to the network.

  10. dmacleo

    and in a year they will stop supporting it then few months after that it won't even be mentioned on their products page.

    just like the wdtv hub/live series

  11. dmacleo

    admittedly I am sort of soured on wd stuff. while I still use my 2 wdtv hubs and my 1 wdtv live I physically tossed a wd nas unit in trash alongside multiple buffalo nas units (could not see myself foisting them onto someone else especially the buffalo crap, I mean they were bad. end of times bad.) and replaced them with netgear readynas units.

    world of difference in the nas units.

  12. bombastic bob Silver badge
    Meh

    the average US household has 4l.5TB of data spread across 14 digital devices

    or so says the article, quoting WD

    I think this is another "steaming pile".

    data does not equal "all of those downloads" for system updates and the OS itself. Data is things like cat videos, photos, e-mails, and so on.

    in fact, their largest is only 20TB from the article.

    I really doubt the 41.5TB claim. that's like they're trying to sell you WAY more than you actually need.

    (And of course 99% of that would be CRAP anyway)

    with all of the crap I've got stored, including an IMAP server [with regular backups], SVN repository [with regular backups], company history [like documents and YEARS of accounting system backups], cakewalk bundle files and the resulting music I created, downloaded videos, a few DVDs I imaged locally, a bunch of MSDN DVD/CD images that I use occasionally, and a WHOLE BUNCH of VirtualBox VMs of various operating systems and configurations, I _STILL_ haven't filled up a couple of 2TB drives [on 2 different machines, that cross-backup one another, and replicate MOST of that in one form or another between the two machines] that BOTH use ZFS [and in some cases, with replication enabled].

    So how in the HELL do people accumulate 41.5TB of "data"? More like 1-2TB of "data" and 39.5TB of *CRAP*. I just don't get it, really. It makes NO sense.

    It's just another example of "ass-pull statistics", aka "rectal extrapolation". They should at least spray it with Fabreze before announcing it like it's 'fact'.

    1. gsf333

      Re: the average US household has 4l.5TB of data spread across 14 digital devices

      I think they have simply added up all the storage of every device, including Tivo, Xbox, PS4, Tablets, Computers, Phones etc. There is no other explanation to get such a high number.

    2. Jason Bloomberg Silver badge

      Re: the average US household has 4l.5TB of data spread across 14 digital devices

      I was thinking the same. If I add-up all my CD and DVD backups going back years I think I would still miss the "average US household" target.

      MP3 320kbps rips of my own and friends music collections haven't hit 1TB. Maybe if I ripped all the video DVDs I have I might get some way close, and ripping BluRays would jack that up. But I can't believe the "average US household" is actually doing that.

      I suppose, if I had 40TB, I could backup what I do have multiple times, then whinge about lack of disk space.

  13. gsf333

    I've had a My Book Live now for many years and it still works as it should. However, there are lots of reports of people only getting 2MB/sec or lower so either there are a lot of lemons out there or something conflicts on their PC's. By way of example on large files and via a network cable I get between 75-78MB/sec read and around 35-40MB write speed. Over wireless this drops to about 20MB/sec read, not sure write as rarely do that over wireless.

  14. mycloudfan

    The new mobile app sucks. It looks pathetic compared to old one. On some screen even android back key never works. Desktop app and web are better compared. NAS has newer look and app has 2012 look... guys hire some decent mobile guys to design app.. gone are the days of same app running on ios and android....

  15. katrinab Silver badge

    Doesn't sound right

    "WDC says the average US household has 4l.5TB of data spread across 14 digital devices, and this is only going to grow"

    I've got about 30TB of data at home, and I'm pretty sure I'm way above average. Maybe not above average for an El Reg commentard, but compared to the general population.

    1. 2Nick3

      Re: Doesn't sound right

      Parts of the 180GB of music on my laptop is copied out to 5 devices, so that's easily consuming 600TB of space. I bet that's the number they are using. Or call it 4TB if you use the uncompressed size of the data on the original CDs.

  16. Tim99 Silver badge

    WD MyBookLive

    I have used the unclouded product for 4 years now. It was very handy for backing up 7 Windows PCs and a MacBook and providing a simple public share across the network. We never opened it up to the internet.

    It is very slow so we had to do a couple of tricks like rename folders on the NAS and robocopy new ones from the PCs as copy of the original across the network could take hours. With Windows 10, Windows7 backups across the network were feasible but also very slow. I am waiting for it to die, and probably won't replace it - For light and domestic use a USB drive is OK. For Apple iOS users a way of loading and playing user content from outside the iCloud environment onto a network drive would be handy...

  17. Secondrule
    Thumb Down

    Complete garbage

    I have had this device 24 hours and I already want to throw it down the stairs. I have had a WD MyCloud NAS for two years and it was brilliant. A little buggy, but Im a geek with advanced Linux skills and hacked it to make it do what a NAS is supposed to do. But this is neither an upgrade or an enhancement. It is poorly coded, the interface is non-communicative and the documentation is unintelligible. You have to use the web app or the smart phone app. There is no official tablet support. You cannot SSH into this device to put stuff on it, you have to use the apps, which keep dropping out. There is no bulk delete on the portal .. so god help you if you took 4000 photos on your holiday and the majority were all garbage. I currently stream the videos from my WD My Cloud directly to the TV, using a WD device. That's why I decided to "upgrade" to the new My Cloud Home device. I was shocked/disappointed to find the dumbed down product does not support DLNA and as mentioned previously read/write seems slower than the My Cloud. So I installed PLEX to stream to my smart TV using the LG Plex app. However, streaming is terrible. I am really not sure why PLEX is the go-to solution for WD and it is surprising how un-useful it is considering it's all they specialise in and they've been around for so long. This is entirely my fault as I should have researched. I guess I have an 8TB back up store, not a fully functional NAS, as I wanted. AVOID.

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