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Personal cloud storage my cloud. Detailed test of WD My Cloud. WD My Cloud Home Duo is a NAS

Hard drive manufacturers have long turned their attention to external drives based on hard drives, which allow them to expand the range of products offered to the market and provide additional profit.

In the home devices segment, WD previously offered two models with one and two hard drives, respectively. It’s interesting that they turned out to be real “long-livers” - the My Book Live review was published by us three years ago, and we tested the two-disc My Book Live Duo a year later.

At the beginning of 2014, the company decided to significantly update this line, and today we will get acquainted with one of the three new products. Note that the changes affected both the hardware platform of the device and the built-in software.

WD My Cloud is available on the market in versions with a 2, 3 or 4 TB hard drive. The device has a white body color and a design familiar from previous models. It uses dual core processor and there is a USB 3.0 port. In terms of firmware, the company tried to simplify the work with the drive and implement simple remote access setup.

Delivery set and appearance

The device comes in a beautifully designed cardboard box in blue tones. It’s a pity that there was no place for a plastic handle for easy transportation. The packaging contains a photo of the drive, specifications, system requirements and delivery set. Note that in our case, only a short list of device features was Russified.

In the box, the user will find the drive itself, an external 12 V 1.5 A power supply with replaceable plugs, a network patch cord, warranty service conditions, a getting started leaflet and a description of the process of transferring data from the user’s existing one. USB storage to a network device.

On the company's website you can download firmware updates, utilities for Windows and Mac OS, and an electronic version of the user manual. The device has a two-year warranty.

The drive is compatible with Windows XP and Mac OS 10.6 and older operating systems. To access data you can use all popular browser versions, including FireFox, Chrome, Internet Explorer, Safari.

The case in its design and dimensions (49x140x170 mm) differs little from its predecessors. It is designed for vertical installation only. For this model, white plastic was chosen as the main material. The surfaces of this color are glossy. The top, back and bottom surfaces are light silver and matte. Note that they are covered with passive ventilation holes. There is no fan inside the case.

Four rubber feet provide stability to the drive. On the front side there is a small silver insert with a logo, model name and a multi-color status indicator, which glows blue when in working order. Interestingly, there is an option to turn it off in the settings.

On the back there is a hidden reset button, a USB 3.0 port, gigabit network port with built-in indicators, power supply input and Kensington lock. Note that there is no power switch, and the case does not allow user access to the disk. But if you want or need to, you can open it.

Design and hardware characteristics

The drive is based on the Mindspeed Comcerto 2000 platform. It uses SoC M86261, which has two ARMv7 cores operating at 650 MHz. Volume random access memory is 256 MB, a 512 MB flash memory chip is provided for the firmware image. SATA controller, network adapter and USB controller 3.0 are included in the main processor.

All components are assembled on one printed circuit board. The processor has only a metal cover. There is no obvious console connector on the board, but there are many unlabeled pads. We note that there is space for installing a miniPCIe connector; perhaps the manufacturer plans to use it to install a wireless module.

The board is fixed to the hard drive and this “sandwich” is installed in a plastic case using rubber inserts. Our copy was equipped with a WD20EFRX hard drive of the WD Red series with a capacity of 2 TB. Thanks to the cold nature of this series, the drive uses passive cooling. Unfortunately, the Web interface does not provide an indication of the temperature value, but, judging by the documentation, in case of overheating the user receives a warning. Testing has shown that at room temperature and high load, the hard drive does not heat up above 45 degrees.

The data partition uses the EXT4 file system, and the operating system is located on a separate 2 GB hard drive partition.

The most significant difference from its predecessor is the presence USB port 3.0. In addition, it is worth noting the higher performance of the platform, although you need to look at the real speed numbers, since it also depends on the firmware.

The last drawback noted in the previous article - the lack of a power switch on the case - has migrated to the new product. Of course, network drives do not require frequent power off, however, in our opinion, it was worth implementing this feature, since it is not always convenient to use network access from a PC or mobile device.

The drive was tested with firmware version v03.04.01-219.

Assembly and configuration

After connecting the network cable and turning on the power, the device automatically receives an address from the router and becomes available on the network under the host name wdmycloud. Access to data by local network works immediately without any settings. But to fully use the device’s functions and access settings, you will need to register and create an account in the appropriate service. However, the process is as simplified as possible - you just need to indicate your first name, last name and address Email, open the sent link to confirm your e-mail address and create a password. A similar procedure can be carried out through a Web browser for Android or iOS. In addition, you can use special utility WD My Cloud Setup for Windows and Mac OS.

Additionally, the company offers the WD Discovery program for Windows, which can help with searching for a device on the network and performing some operations with it (for example, opening shared resources) and a similar in function, but slightly outdated, WD Quick View for Windows/Mac OS. In general, the use of external utilities is not required to implement device functions.

The web interface for setting up the device has changed compared to previous models, but in general its organization remains similar. The quality of localization is not bad, although errors do occur. Many items have built-in tips and a general help system. The interface works on standard ports 80 and 443 (HTTPS); unfortunately, they cannot be changed.

On home page the user has access to basic information about the status of the drive, including free space, generalized diagnostic results, data on the number of users and shared resources. From most points there are links to the corresponding pages with extended data (for example, the distribution of recorded files by type).

At the top of the window there are icons for going to settings for users, resources, cloud services, Safepoints and system settings. The drive allows you to program the required number of users. The lack of group support and domain integration for the home model is not significant. The automatic creation of a resource with a username and full access for all.

By default, the drive has Public, SmartWare and TimeMachineBackup shared folders; in addition, the administrator can create new ones. All these resources are initially configured for access without restrictions. If necessary, you can disable this mode (except for the Public folder) and grant certain rights to each user. The folder options also have a switch to include files from them in the indexing of DLNA and iTunes servers.

Since the device has only one hard drive, the question of creating a backup copy of it will be of interest to many users. For this, the company has provided Safepoints technology - creating copies of data from the device on local USB drives or shared resources on a local network, such as other network storage devices. In this case, not only user data is recorded, but also the settings of the device itself. The service has the ability to create several copying tasks, in each of which you can select a recipient and set a schedule (manual mode, daily, weekly or monthly). But you cannot select only part of the source data. The first copy is complete, and subsequent copies affect only changed files. Please note that no special formats are used to store data, so if necessary, you can refer to copies using standard methods and get the necessary files.

All other, less frequently used system settings are collected in the “Settings” section. The “Basic” page allows you to change the device’s network name, set the built-in clock, disable support for cloud access and the Time Machine service, configure the disk to turn off when there is no user activity, and turn off the LED indicator. However, it is worth noting that if the hard drive is turned off, there may be problems with remote access from mobile application- the disk does not always turn on.

Settings network connection standard - there is DHCP support and you can switch the device to manual IP address assignment mode. The device does not support Jumbo Frames. On the same page you can change the name of the working group, enable support for the FTP protocol and access to the console via SSH. Note that FTP server works only with authorization, anonymous access is not provided. Note the support for passive mode and UTF8 encoding. Unfortunately, there is no way to change port numbers.

It is worth noting that the system supports not only SMB/CIFS and FTP protocols, but also AFP and NFS. The first will be useful for users of Apple computers, and the second may be useful for Linux supporters. True, there are no settings for them; in particular, NFS access works immediately to the entire drive without any restrictions. According to information from the company, the ability to configure this protocol is implemented in older models of the series.

The traditional set of system options includes resetting, saving and restoring the configuration, turning off and rebooting the drive, updating the firmware (from a file and in automatic mode). There is also a device diagnostic function. Most likely in this case we're talking about about using the capabilities of S.M.A.R.T. technology, but you cannot view the current state of the parameters from the Web interface.

The drive does not provide for storing a complete and detailed event log, but you can see a list of recent notifications by looking at the bell icon at the top of the page. You can use email to send messages to the administrator. You can add up to five recipient addresses to the list and select the same warning level for all. Conveniently, there is no need to configure a server to send messages - the device uses the manufacturer’s own services.

Remote access

To implement remote access to files from a PC, the wd2go.com portal is used, through which you can see all the devices registered in your account. Interestingly, the actual work with documents is done by mounting folders to local computer via the WebDAV protocol, rather than directly through the browser. The advantage of this solution is their direct accessibility from any program on the PC. However, in our opinion, this option still does not allow using a remote disk with the same load as a local one. Perhaps it would be worth implementing the version of a file manager in the browser or special clients familiar from other devices.

As another remote access solution, there is WD My Cloud proprietary software for operating rooms. Windows systems and Mac OS. It is a file manager for a network drive that works with both local and remote connections. There is no need to change settings when changing the connection type; you can use most standard operations, upload new files to the device using Drag-and-Drop, and create direct links to download documents for quick information exchange. Additional options include the option to turn off the drive's power.

If the router has an external address and supports UPnP for port translation, the speed of remote work with the drive is determined only by the capabilities of the user’s Internet channel. If these conditions are not met, then the device works through the company’s servers and the speed is significantly lower. In tests we saw numbers up to several megabits per second. So if you plan to intensively use the device remotely, we recommend trying to implement the first option. The connection status can be checked via the Web interface.

It is also worth noting that the model in question does not have the standard ability to access device settings via the Internet. Despite the configured port translation rules and the functionality of the cloud service, the Web interface remains inaccessible.

To solve the problem of access from mobile devices to Android based and iOS, the manufacturer offers two proprietary programs - WD My Cloud and WD Photos. You can add a new device to them in another way - create a special temporary code of a dozen digits through the drive’s Web interface and then enter it in the program. When you create a code, it is automatically linked to a specific user, so that he does not have to use any accounts to work from a smartphone or tablet.

The first utility is interesting because it supports not only WD network drives, but also cloud services Dropbox, Google Drive and SkyDrive. They can participate on equal terms in most document transactions. For example, in WD My Cloud you can copy files from your cloud Google service to your network storage. It is also possible to exchange data with the local storage of a mobile device.

The program supports opening multimedia files directly from cloud storage. To do this, programs installed on the device are used, and for unsupported formats, you can first try downloading the file to local disk and then use external utilities. There is also an operation for downloading documents from a smartphone or tablet. In the case of Android, you can use this operation for any files, and for iOS, only photos and videos from the standard gallery are downloaded.

WD Photos is generally similar to the utility described above, but only works with photos. It is possible to download files from the mobile device gallery to the device, but the program selects the download folder itself. At the same time, for the platform Android utility It also supports automatic sending of new pictures and videos to the drive.

To work on the platform Windows Phone The WD 2go program can be used, but we did not have the opportunity to test it in action.

Please note that the performance of remote access services depends on the state of the manufacturer’s servers. Without their participation, the described utilities do not work. So, to increase the reliability of the connection, it is worth providing backup options, for example, through a VPN server in the router or an FTP server in the network storage device.

External devices

The drive is equipped with one USB 3.0 port, which significantly expands its capabilities compared to its predecessor. This port can be used to connect external drives to expand the available capacity or implement Reserve copy data. There is no support for printers or other devices in this model. Together with an active USB hub, you can connect up to seven external drives.

Disks can have multiple partitions. File systems supported are FAT32, NTFS, EXT2/3/4, HFS+, XFS. After connecting, each section is published on the network under its own name and access for all users without restrictions. It is also included in the media server indexing. This can be changed if necessary. After reconnecting the disk, the rights are retained.

To safely disconnect external drives, there is a corresponding item in the Web interface.

Additional features and enhancements

The network storage device has built-in DLNA servers and iTunes. The user can select the folders required for indexing, as well as disable services if they are not required. Scanning of new files is performed automatically, but manual launch of this procedure is also possible.

The DLNA server is provided by TwonkyMedia 7.2.6. Note that the user has access to his settings interface, which can also be used to access media files from the browser. The list of indexed formats includes jpeg, bmp, tiff, png, mp3, m4a, aac, flac, avi, m2ts, m4v, mkv, mov, mp4, mpeg, ts and other popular options. For different types content is indexed by date, album, tags and folders. Testing together with an LG smart TV showed that this service can be used to watch high-quality FullHD video, including BD-remix format. The iTunes service uses music recordings in mp3, m4a, aac and other formats. WITH current version programs on the PC, the service was quite functional. The server settings have the ability to selectively block client access to files.

The drive supports work with standard Windows 7/8 and Mac OS (Time Machine) backup systems. Additionally, for Windows operating systems, the WD SmartWare program is offered, which has two options for selecting source data, scheduling settings, and a mode for constantly tracking changes, similar to Time Machine. Note that My Cloud buyers are provided with three licenses for the professional version of the utility, which features DropBox support and an expanded range of compatible external hard drives.

As in its predecessor, the network storage model in question provides access to the built-in console operating system via ssh. If you have some experience, this allows you to expand the set of functions of the device, for example, install a transmission module for downloading files from p2p networks.

Performance

Network access speed testing was carried out using the Intel NASPT program. We used our standard templates and a standard WD20EFRX hard drive. The client was a modern PC running 64-bit Windows versions 8.1 and network card Intel I350-T2. The devices were connected via a D-Link DGS-3200-10 switch. Additionally, the graph shows the performance results of the WD10EFRX hard drive adapter connected to the drive via USB 3.0-SATA with file files. NTFS systems and EXT4.

Working with an internal hard drive is expected to be faster than working with an external one, but the differences are relatively small. All options provide single-threaded read speeds of 80-90 MB/s, which can be considered an excellent result for this class of models. Sequential recording is slower - at a speed of 40-60 MB/s. However, these figures are also typical for the initial segment of network drives with one or two hard drives. Patterns involving random writes are significantly slower, but in home use cases they are rare enough that this won't be a big problem.

Additionally, we checked the operation of the FTP server. Apparently this service has a lower priority, so you can write data to it at a speed of about 25 MB/s, and read files at a speed of about 45 MB/s. Similar results were obtained in the test of working with a computer running Mac OS X.

Compared to the previous generation of devices, performance has increased significantly. However, you need to understand that in single-tasking test scenarios only one processor core is running, and the second will help cope with multitasking load more efficiently.

conclusions

Network storage entry level WD My Cloud is a successful continuation of the popular series and may be interesting in several respects. First of all, it is worth noting the relatively low cost of the device. If we compare it with the hard drive itself, it turns out that at the time of writing, on average, an additional 1,400 rubles were asked for a “box” for 2 and 3 TB models, and for a 4 TB modification, the difference is less than 1,000 rubles. Like its predecessor, the reviewed drive boasts a beautiful and practical case, the quality of which has no complaints. By the way, it is worth noting that there is no fan, which is the key to quiet operation.

The hardware platform received a new dual-core processor, which increased the speed of work in scenarios for reading and writing files over the network. But a more significant change seems to be the USB 3.0 port installed on the device, which allows, if necessary, to increase the storage capacity and expand its capabilities.

The new firmware version supports SMB/CIFS, AFP, FTP and NFS network access protocols. In addition, it implements a new way to remotely work with the device from computers and mobile devices. Branded software clients also play a significant role in this. We haven’t forgotten about DLNA and iTunes media services.

Despite the relatively small set of features compared to more expensive devices in the home segment, WD My Cloud can be useful for the mass home user who requires affordable storage for work files, backup copies and multimedia library. Wherein easy setup Remote access allows you not only to use the drive remotely with mobile devices, but also to share files with friends.

We thank the company and agency 2L
for the network storage device provided for testing

We thank the company
for the equipment provided for testing

We thank the company
for the switch provided for testing

WD My Cloud 2TB is a 2000 GB personal cloud drive with a Gigabit Ethernet interface and cloud server software. My Cloud allows you to get rid of wires by connecting your cloud drive to home network and giving him access to the Internet. This unique device will give you the opportunity to store all your photos, videos, music and other files at home in one place with plenty of storage capacity, without paying for a cloud service subscription. And access the content on the disk both from your home or office local network, and from anywhere where there is Internet.

The stylish Western Digital My Cloud case will fit well into any interior design, becoming, in addition to a file server, also a decoration for your workplace or room. You just need to connect My Cloud to your home router and a reliable centralized storage for your entire family collection of files is ready for use. And thanks to applications for mobile devices and desktop computers You can not only access and add files stored in My Cloud, but also create backup copies of the OS or files. Files can be protected from unauthorized access with a password and the creation of personal user profiles.

The high-speed Gigabit Ethernet interface and dual-core processor of the cloud drive allow you to directly work with files stored in My Cloud, such as processing images in iPhoto or editing videos. Large internal volume hard drive will allow you to expand the built-in memory of your smartphone or tablet and not limit yourself in storing copies of films or music library. To access all this, you only need the Internet. And by connecting WD My Cloud to popular cloud services like Dropbox, you can easily share files between your personal cloud and cloud services.

WD SmartWare Pro automatic backup software provides reliable backup and storage of important data, system backups and other files. It also supports automatic saving of a second copy of My Cloud content to another device on your home network for complete confidence in the safety of your files. The USB 3.0 port on the cloud drive itself allows you to connect additional external devices and expand the storage capacity or copy files directly, such as photos from your digital camera.

Peculiarities:

- Backup of all files and storage in the cloud
- Stylish design and discreet connection
- Access files from anywhere with Internet access
- Save photos and videos from mobile devices
- Expansion of internal memory for smartphones and tablets
- Streaming via DLNA/UPnP
- Possibility of memory expansion via USB 3.0
- Complete backup software
- Access to cloud backup storage
- Fast file transfer over the network and direct operation
- One reliable place for storing file collections MOSCOW ARKHANGELSK ASTRAKHAN BALASHIKHA BARNAUL BELGOROD BRYANSK VILYUCHINSK VLADIVOSTOK VLADIKAVKAZ VOLGOGRAD VOLZHSKY VOLOGDA VORONEZH GROZNY DERBENT DOLGOPRUDNY EKATERINBURG ZHELEZNOGOR SK ZHUKOVSKY IVANOVA IZHEVSK IRKUTSK YOSHKAR-OLA KAZAN KALININGRAD KALUGA KACHKANAR KEMEROVO KINESHMA KIROV KOGALYM KOMSOMOLSK-ON-AMUR KOROLEV KOSTROMA KRASNOGORSK KRASNOYARSK KURGAN KURSK KURCHATOV LIVNY LIPETSK Lyubertsy MAGNITOGORSK MAKHACHKALA MURMANSK MYTISHI EMBERED CHELNY NAZRAN NALCHIK NIZHNEVARTOVSK NIZHNY NOVGOROD NIZHNY TAGIL NIZHNYA S ALDA NOVOKUZNETSK NOVOMICHURINSK NOVOROSSIYSK NOVOSIBIRSK NOVOTROITSK OBNINSK ODINTSOVO OMSK OREL ORENBURG PENZA PERM PETROZAVODSK PETROPAVLOVSK-KAMCHATSKY PECHORA PODOLSK RAMENSKOYE RZHEV ROSTOV-ON-DON RYBINSK RYAZAN SAMARA ST. PETERSBURG SARANSK SARATOV SAROV SEVASTOPOL SEGEZHA SERGIEV POSAD SKOPIN SMOLENSK SOCHI STAVROPOL STARY Oskol STERLITAMAK SURGUT SYKTYVKAR TAGANROG TAMBOV TVER TOGLYATTI TOMSK TULA TYUMEN b UGLICH ULAN-UDE ULYANOVSK UFA UKHTA KHABAROVSK KHIMKI CHEBOKSARY CHELYABINSK CHEREPOVETS CHITA SHUYA ELISTA YAKUTSK YAROSLAVL

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Almost the namesake of WD My Cloud's home cloud, Duncan MacLeod, didn't have the luxury of a second head. Because of this, he often had to worry about trifles. Even after walking along the bottom of the sea, sticking your head out was a risky business: after all, they might chop it off, and then that’s it, hello.

WD engineers did not equip My Cloud Home Duo with artificial intelligence with a powerful instinct of self-preservation worthy of Duncan MacLeod, but this is not because they cannot, but because it is not necessary: the “head” of My Cloud is hidden in a reliable self-sufficient case cleaner than Koshchei’s death, and it’s also duplicated to the heap. The data from there will not go anywhere, nothing will be forgotten.

Historical background: My Cloud is descended from a storage facility called My Book. At the time when My Book entered the market, this device looked very strange, like an oversized portable storage device with not very clear functionality. Even today, the public does not very well understand what a NAS is, what a bunch of everyday problems it solves and what kind of money it can save, but in those days the first home or personal storage with specialized software was literally ahead of its time. This is probably why WD employees responsible for communicating with people prefer to call My Cloud devices a home or personal cloud, avoiding the words Network Attached Storage.

Fortunately, our readers know what a NAS is, since devices of this type constantly appear in our reviews and thematic materials. We sincerely believe that today the home cloud is the ultimate the best way data storage, if, of course, it is organized wisely and without excessive cost reduction, which is unacceptable for a single archive.

NAS WD My Cloud Home Duo front and back. Western Digital Press Office Illustration

Many My Cloud models, reviews of which you can find online, look very attractive due to their incredibly low prices. However, they have one problem: they are single-disk. Storing all the data on a single hard drive is still a risky business. Even taking into account all kinds of additional software and backups on external storage. Raid array of the 1st level remains the most in a simple way protect your data from being lost along with the drive, and along the way, RAID 1 also speeds up working with files, allowing you to carry out all sorts of sorting and loading data via Gigabit Ethernet or wireless network with a much shorter period of time. In general, please love and favor WD My Cloud Home Duo, a two-disk Network Attached Storage from Western Digital.

My Cloud Home Duo arrived to us in a box made of thin cardboard in white and aquamarine colors (forgive my color blindness, if anything :)). The box is small and easily fits into a regular-sized bag that you take to the grocery store. The weight of the device is noticeable, but not so much as to dry out your hand or tear the plastic handles of the bag, so you don’t need to worry about any special carrying conditions.

The device body is fixed inside the box in “pads” made of shock-absorbing material. In the gap between the pads there is free space, and although there is a decent distance from the wall of the box to the wall of the My Cloud case and the cardboard is durable, some particularly active grandmother could pierce the box with an umbrella on the subway. In short, it is not recommended to treat My Cloud Home Duo carelessly on the road.

In the box along with the device there is a power supply with an adapter for an American-type outlet, a meter-long Ethernet cable good quality(the best thing to do is to attach the NAS to a wireless router), and documentation. The presence of the cable is good - if the user has not thought through this point, there will be no need to go to the store a second time.

The WD My Cloud Home Duo turns on simply like any floor lamp: directly into the outlet, without any switches on the power cord. Therefore, the installation process looks like this: we connect a de-energized NAS to the router, then plug it into a power outlet, and after you have heard the noise of the fans and seen the light between the two halves of the My Cloud Home Duo case, you can go to the browser and connect to the cloud service mycloud.com. register and connect with WD My Cloud Home. The installation process, or rather the initial setup of the device, is so simple that it comes down to melancholy clicking the “Next” button while viewing very obvious help.

After the initial setup and account creation (which takes a couple of minutes), you can start using My Cloud Home Duo. You can connect to your personal cloud in two ways: through the MyCloud cloud service or through a network environment from a PC. If there are shared Windows folders 10 detects a device on the local network; in this case, only the Public folder will be available. There is little point in a local connection; it will only be needed if there is no access to the Internet.

NAS WD My Cloud Home Duo on top. Western Digital Press Office Illustration

In the usual case, the connection will occur through the cloud service mycloud.com. You can connect using an Android or Windows application, or via a web browser. The last method is the most convenient in my opinion.

The web interface looks the same in mobile browser and in normal. Files on the disk are displayed to users in the form of a tree structure or sorted by type. On the left and right there are two menus. On the right are actions with files, on the left is the choice of how data is displayed, the action log, settings and services. The latter significantly expand the functionality of the device.

The most useful service (app within an app) is the Plex cloud media center. There are also support services such as voice control audio player, synchronizing multimedia content from social services with a personal cloud, searching for music by meta tags, synchronizing files with cloud Internet services such as Google Drive or Dropbox.
In the settings you can manage user records and rights, select the type of raid array (Jbod or Raid 1), reboot or shutdown the device, as well as the function of destroying all data on the disks.

The application for Windows is essentially not much different from Windows Explorer: Visible files and folders on the WD Cloud device's logical drive, as well as on portable drives connected to the file storage via USB. Interestingly, the Services menu here houses other applications such as Norton antivirus software and Acronis True Image. Since these programs are paid, the benefit of their presence in the application comes down to the fact that Western Digital guarantees their compatibility with My Cloud Home Duo.

The Android application is equipped with additional functions due to the specifics of this OS: the inconvenience of file managers, the tendency of users to lose and break smartphones, etc. Even during installation, the application offers to synchronize the smartphone’s multimedia files with the user’s cloud; in the settings you can also enable the use cellular network for backup, use smartphone tools such as a fingerprint scanner for additional protection, reset the cache. Otherwise, the application is not much different from the mycloud.com web interface.

The described functionality is more than enough for a home NAS: access to various data can be organized and limited for a large number of users and devices. Actually, this is all we need: when we come, for example, to a management company or passport office, send a photocopy of the required document to the secretary by mail, access working documentation anywhere and from any device at any time, securely store a personal collection of media files, and also be able to view any photo or video at any time. Plex provides additional options for organizing your home media library - the cloud media center goes well with cloud home storage.

About speeds. In real conditions, the speed of exchanging files with cloud storage will mainly be determined by the speed of the local network or Internet connection (for externally connected devices). However, if you use MyCloud with the Plex media center or often upload large amounts of data to it, such as rough videos, it is quite possible that the speed of the drive itself will be important. A situation may also arise when several users simultaneously access the drive over the network, copying large files to it. In general, based on these considerations, we decided to measure the speed of the device; they amounted to about 100 MB/s for reading and about 70 MB/s for writing. This corresponds to 800 Mbit/s and 560 Mbit/s; thus, when reading, the speed will be close to bandwidth Gigabit Ethernet, which means TVs and media players will not have problems receiving content at high speed. As for recording: perhaps it could be faster, but we must remember that My Cloud Home Duo has Red series hard drives, which are optimized primarily for uninterrupted operation 24/7 and thus ensure high reliability of data storage.

Four years ago we were introduced to a dual-disk network drive. This solution was remarkably original appearance and an equally original software component that allows you, without any special knowledge of network technologies, to organize a file server at home with access to the data stored on it via the Internet. For a long time in model range WD My Cloud devices had only two NAS, which differed in the number of installed hard drives(two or one) and, accordingly, the possibilities of organizing disk space. But last year, this family was replenished with two more new network drives.

The WD My Cloud Home and WD My Cloud Home Duo models also differ from each other only in the number of pre-installed drives (one or two, respectively), but there are much more differences from the previous generation products. The new models have a more productive hardware base, and also, according to the manufacturer, improved software. Looking ahead, we note that the manufacturer has generally revised the ideology of using network storage, greatly simplifying not only the process of connecting and configuring the device, but also its use. Moreover, he names new products personal cloud storage, but at the same time never mentions the generally accepted abbreviation NAS, emphasizing their originality. We will study a new approach to the design of network storage devices using the example of the two-disk WD My Cloud Home Duo model, which we will begin to get acquainted with.

⇡ Contents of delivery

The device comes in a very compact cardboard box that easily fits into a plastic bag - taking it from the store to your home is no problem at all. Inside, in addition to the drive itself, you can find accessories:

power adapter with two removable plugs of different standards;
network cable;
A quick printed guide to getting started.

The package included with the device is the same as most other network drives. The software required for operation can be downloaded from the manufacturer’s website, and hard disks already installed in the appropriate slides. The WD My Cloud Home Duo model comes with a total disk capacity of 4, 6, 8, 12, 16 or even 20 GB for the user to choose from. Our copy was equipped with two WD Red WD20EFRX drives with a capacity of 2 GB each, adapted for working with a NAS.

⇡ Specifications

WD My Cloud Home Duo
HDD	2 x 3.5" SATA
RAID level	JBOD, RAID 1
Network interfaces	1 × Gigabit Ethernet RJ-45
Additional Interfaces	2 × USB Host 3.0
Clients	Windows 7 and later (64-bit only); MacOS/OS X 10.9 and later; iOS 9 and later; Android 4.4 and later
Systemcooling	1 × fan
Dimensions, mm	179 × 160 × 102
Weight, kg	2,3-2,4
Guarantee, months.	24
Price, rub. (for 4/8/12/16* TB)	22 000 / 26 000 / 36 000 / 45 000

* AveragepriceBy"Yandex.Market"onmomentwritingarticles

While all the parameters of previous NAS could be easily found in open access, for WD My Cloud Home Duo, the manufacturer’s website and the user manual provide only the most basic characteristics of the new product. No detailed information about the hardware platform or network protocols, alas, is not given. In the instructions you can only find information on the type of RAID array used. WD My Cloud Home Duo model hard drives are assembled in a mirrored RAID 1 array by default, but you can also use JBOD mode.

Unfortunately, it is not possible to disassemble the new product without damaging the thin locks of the plastic case. We did not break it, and therefore the hardware component of the device remained unknown. The manufacturer does not provide any data. The only thing we can say with confidence is the presence on board of the drive of a gigabit Ethernet network controller and two USB 3.0 interfaces for connecting external storage media.

Appearance


Appearance of WD My Cloud Home Duo

The new product is made in the form of a parallelepiped with sharp edges and right angles without roundings. Its modest dimensions allow you to place the device almost anywhere. For example, this could be a desk, bookshelf or window sill. Visually, the plastic case is divided into two halves - white lacquered and silver, with a characteristic waffle structure. On the front panel of the device there is a narrow transparent strip between them, behind which the LED operation indicator is hidden. There are no interfaces on the front panel of the WD My Cloud Home Duo.

The back panel is more interesting. There are two USB 3.0 ports, an RJ-45 network port, a connector for connecting an external power adapter, and a reset button recessed into the body. Between the parts of the case there is a narrow power control button for the drive, and the entire upper half is given over to ventilation holes. Behind them is a cooling system fan that blows air through another radiator grille, located not at the front (like other models of network drives), but at the bottom.


Hard drive bay

Access to the hard drive bay of the WD My Cloud Home Duo is not from the front, like other network drives, but from the top. There, the device has a removable flat panel. It is held on by four dense rubber bushings and can be removed using a screwdriver, wrench, ruler or any other object that can be used to carefully pick it up by the edge. Under the cover there is a compartment for hard drives, which in this case occupies almost the entire internal space of the drive.

The disks in the compartment are placed in plastic slides of the simplest design. The discs are held in them not by screws, but by small metal axles secured in soft rubber bushings. This solution has a positive effect on ease of installation and on reducing vibration during operation. Well, inside the drive housing the slide is secured with a simple plastic lock. However, there is definitely no need to worry about the discs accidentally falling out during operation or moving the drive from one place to another. When placed vertically, you still need to manage to accidentally pull the slide out of the body.

As we already wrote above, unfortunately, we were unable to disassemble the body of the new product. But if it is impossible to determine the hardware component without opening it, then the principles of the internal structure of the device can be understood without disassembling it. Inside, the WD My Cloud Home Duo case has a metal frame, which can be seen through the ventilation grilles and through the disk compartment. Motherboard The device is mounted vertically along one of the walls of the housing. Apparently, she is quite small. In general, the WD My Cloud Home Duo model is not very different in design from a regular NAS - except that the compactness of the new product causes admiration and even surprise. Otherwise, this is a quite nice classic network drive.

⇡ Working with the device

Unlike a regular NAS, which can be configured over a local network, you cannot connect the WD My Cloud Home Duo without access to the Internet. The drive does not have its own web interface, so communication with it is possible either through the Internet service MyCloud.com, or using installed special software, which can be downloaded both for a desktop PC running Windows or MacOS / OS X, and for mobile devices with Android or iOS.

When connecting via the web interface, the device should be detected automatically. If this does not happen, the Internet service will ask the user to enter the device code indicated on the case. Note that when testing with one of the Internet providers, no connection problems arose, but with another the device flatly refused to be detected. Moreover, the network equipment and its configuration were the same in both cases. Unfortunately, we were never able to find out what this is connected with.

The drive is configured completely automatically, without user intervention, who only needs to register on the portal by entering a name and password. In the future, when working with the device, the owner of WD My Cloud Home Duo is also freed from any network settings- the device operates in fully automatic mode and does not require control. For some, this feature of working with the drive can be a real gift, because not all users like to customize the system to suit their needs. Some people just need to store data in one place and access it via the Internet, without turning their personal cloud storage into a full-fledged server. For everyone else, it’s better to pay attention to other network drives.

Access to data through the MyCloud.com web service, as well as through installed applications My Cloud Home, does not require too much detailed description. It's pretty simple file managers, which displays all file structure drive. When installing software for a PC, the drive is detected by the system as a regular, permanently connected network drive.

The mobile version has several differences from the PC version. Thus, this application allows you to automatically backup photos taken from your smartphone camera. Also only mobile version My Cloud Home makes it possible to copy data to the drive from flash drives connected to its USB port. In addition, both applications allow you to synchronize data, and through the web interface it is possible to synchronize data from some popular cloud storages: Dropbox, Google Drive and OneDrive.

In general, working with the WD My Cloud Home Duo NAS is extremely simple and does not require instructions. Some confusion is introduced by a slight difference in the capabilities of the web service and installed applications, but you can get used to it. In terms of communication with the user, this model can really be called the simplest NAS, if such an abbreviation is generally applicable to this network drive.

⇡ Testing

If you access the WD My Cloud Home Duo via the Internet only, device performance will be entirely dependent on your ISP and router. If you also use the installed My Cloud Home applications, then in this case you can achieve much higher speeds for reading and writing data, since these operations will be carried out over the local network. It was in this use case that we tested the performance of the new product. In this case, standard WD Red WD20EFRX hard drives were used. The test bench for checking performance had the following configuration:

CPU Intel Core i5-2320 3.0 GHz;
systemic GIGABYTE board GA-P67A-D3-B3 Rev. 2.0;
RAM 16 GB DDR3-1333;
video adapter ASUS GeForce 6600 GT 128 MB;
SSD-drive Intel SSD 520 with a capacity of 240 GB;
Gigabit network adapter Realtek PCIe GBE;
OS Windows 7 Ultimate.

Native read and write speeds test bench were about 200 MB/s, so the stand will not limit the performance results of the network drive. During testing, the device's disks operated in RAID level 1. Testing was carried out using ATTO Disk Benchmark and Intel NAS Performance Toolkit.

Test results indicate that the NAS performance when connecting one client is less than the throughput of a gigabit network, but at the same time it is quite sufficient for comfortable work with the device - that is, for transferring large files over the network. For the main scenario of working with the WD Red WD20EFRX, that is, when exchanging data with it via the Internet, the demonstrated level of performance is even excessive. We also tested the device with direct data transfer. Three video files ranging in size from 2.5 to 3.5 GB were used as test data. The average write speed was 71 MB/s, and the read speed was 96 MB/s, which is fully consistent with the data from previous testing.

As for noise, the new product makes noise only when turned on. Then it quiets down, and the sound of the fan is not heard even during active operation. In general, active testing of the device did not reveal any shortcomings in the operation of the WD My Cloud Home Duo. The device worked stably, without failures.

⇡ conclusions

Without a doubt, of all the network drives that we tested in our test lab, the WD My Cloud Home Duo model can be called the easiest to use. To organize a personal remote data storage, the user of this device will not need any specific knowledge at all. You don’t even need to configure anything: connect, register, and use it! I was a little puzzled and upset by the failure when connecting to one of the providers, but it is possible that in this case we did not take something into account, especially since technical support We did not contact WD with this issue (perhaps this has something to do with the large number of blocked Amazon IP addresses).

The device cannot be called slow - its speed will certainly be enough for all those who will be satisfied with its capabilities. All this suggests that WD My Cloud Home Duo has a clearly defined target audience - these are those users who do not need to turn remote storage into a full-fledged file server with many capabilities and dozens of different functions. This device is intended for those who require constant remote access to your files from any part of the world, as well as a point for backing up data from mobile and other devices. If you don't need anything else, then the WD My Cloud Home Duo is your choice!

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