Cloud storage is a thing today but a lot of people still worry about it since accounts can be deleted or services can be hacked; the whole matter would leave you frustrated with irreplaceable and lost files. Yet there is a solution to this, and it is by having a cloud copy of all the files with of course, the advantages of sharing, accessing, and having a personal cloud that you can easily and readily control.
That’s what the Western Digital My Cloud Home is all about, and today, we’ll be focusing on this personal cloud that you can keep right in your home. You can utilize this as a multimedia NAS device, as well as for synchronizing your cloud stored files and data. The new My Cloud Home storage is an easy, quick, and convenient storage device that can be plugged straight to your home’s Wi-Fi router. This will allow you to easily save, manage, and organize all your digital files in a single central area, and lets you wirelessly access these anywhere.
If you think that this is something that you’d need, then let’s look further and learn more about the My Cloud Home from Western Digital; but before anything else, let’s check out what’s inside the box to give you a better idea of the contents and accessories included when you get your hands on this device.
Western Digital My Cloud Home Review – Whats in the Box?
We got hold of the My Cloud Home 3 Terabyte storage device and once you come face to face with the box, you’ll see that the front portion of this features a large photo of the drive, as well as a sticker located at the bottom right-hand corner of the package. The sticker displays the device’s capacity and support for iOS and Android devices, backing up, and high definition streaming.
Check out the box’s rear portion and you’ll see a couple of bulleted marketing details in multiple languages that show information about the package’s contents and its system requirements. Additionally, there is also a bundle included with the My Cloud Home 3TB and this includes an 18 Watt power adapter (APD-WB 18-L 12-R) a setup guide card, Gigabit Ethernet cable, and warranty information.
There really isn’t that much to see outside and even inside the box, but we really did appreciate how Western Digital packed all of the accessories and the device itself in a secure manner to prevent it from acquiring any damages during the delivery of the cloud storage.
The Product
Western Digital My Cloud Home Review – Network and Cloud Storage Made Easy!
Now let’s talk more about the My Cloud Home 3TB storage; it actually sports a new design which obviously moves away from the typical curved, single-color units and instead, features a dual-color theme with a much sharper edged look and feel. The top-half portion of the device features a plain white and clean finish while the bottom half portion is patterned out with a silver shade. Overall, the appearance of the My Cloud Home is quite stylish, and its minimalistic approach makes it aesthetically attractive with its solid and striking white, combined with a classy textured silver design. This style can also be seen in the company’s latest range called My Passport which consists of numerous portable hard drives.
We also described My Cloud Home as a device that is quite elegant, making use of high quality plastic that features a vented bottom and top for adequate airflow. Not only is the device physically attractive, its body is also made to be durable so you won’t have to worry about it breaking or acquiring dents and cracks which is what we’ve already seen on other similar devices today. Additionally, Western Digital has also mounted a NAS drive inside, as well as a sufficient ARM-SoC technology to be able to drive the hardware via custom Linux distro.
Two finishes eventually merge right at the front portion of the unit, and from there, you’ll find a white LED indicator strip that determines your activity. Western Digital’s branding on their My Cloud Home 3TB is generally suitable since it is just a little embossed WD logo that you can find right at the top white half of the device; the rear panel features the My Cloud Home’s name, as well as the url of the company’s My Cloud Page.
As for the rear panel of the storage, it is generally just a Gigabit Ethernet port and one 3.0 USB port which primarily works for importing files and data. Once you get your hands on the device, don’t worry about not being able to find the power switch or button since the company did not provide one for this specific cloud storage.
Interesting enough, if you look at the back portion of the My Cloud Home 3TB storage from Western Digital, you will see a USB port where you can readily plug any of your existing hard drives, as well as USB sticks for backup. Just remember that this cannot be done using the desktop application, and instead, you will need to utilize the mobile application to do this.
Once you insert an existing drive to the My Cloud Home device, you will automatically receive a notification on your mobile application; here, you will be asked if you want to back up the data and information to the Western Digital My Cloud. The company also made sure to provide a lot of vents for the My Cloud Home storage, and these are mostly located at the bottom portion of the device; moreover, all the top panels of the My Cloud Home are provided with vents to continuously keep the device cool while being used for long hours.
The WD My Cloud Home 3TB storage device is a portable, network-integrated hard drive with a 1.4GHz quad-core RealTek processor and 1GB RAM. The device features a Gigabit Ethernet interface and it lets you manage your own personal cloud. The WD My Cloud Home that we have is the 3-Terabyte version which is sufficient for keeping a lot of photos, videos, and other important files.
For the WD My Cloud Home’s dimensions, it has a width of 53 millimeters, height of 175.5 millimeters, and a depth of 140 millimeters; for its mass, it weighs a total of 1.03 kilograms. The device’s system requirements are Windows 7 (64-bit only), 8.1, or 10; for Mac, this will require the Mac OS X Sierra, Yosemite, or El Capitan. When it comes to the system requirements for mobile, you will need iOS 9 or higher and for Android, you will need 4.4 or higher. Western Digital’s My Cloud Home also comes with a two-year worldwide warranty.
Product Features
Western Digital’s My Cloud Home 3TB has a lot of great features and we’re going to make a list of this to better help you determine if this storage device is something that would be necessary for your various needs. Generally, the My Cloud Home storage features a central area to keep and manage all of your files; plus, there’s also a ton of space to keep things like videos, photos, and other data from all your other devices like PC’s, tablets, smartphones, and even your external storage devices. You’ll just need to plug the storage device to your Wi-Fi router then use your smartphone or other gadgets to set this up. What’s great about this is you don’t have any monthly fees required to use this to your advantage.
Another excellent thing about this device is that you can utilize the My Cloud Home mobile application and can access all your files while on the go. Aside from the mobile app, you can also download the desktop application for your PC, or instead, get on MyCloud.com to access, upload, and share all your streamed videos and important photos that are saved on your My Cloud Home device; and when it comes to your files, you can continuously sync all of your important folders on your PC using the storage device. So basically, My Cloud Home is very convenient especially when you’re someone who constantly needs to access their data while on the go. Just make sure that you have stable internet connection and you’re good to go.
We also liked the fact that the device has a very smooth video playback feature, which means that you can readily stream your videos anywhere by just using the My Cloud Home mobile, the desktop application, or by getting on MyCloud.com. If you have new data or files on your cloud accounts, these can be easily and conveniently downloaded to your My Cloud Home device and these include Box, Facebook, Dropbox, Google Drive, and a lot more.
The My Cloud Home device from Western Digital also provides you with a massive capacity and it also lets you plug right into your network to effortlessly backup your computer and other devices to a central storage area. It’s a great storage device since you can use it with the Time Machine and Windows Backup software. Lastly, it also thoroughly protects all of your data and content by letting you set a unique password for your personal My Cloud Home account. You will also be required to enter your touch ID and passcode for the My Cloud Home mobile application.
Product Specifications
My Cloud Home Capacities
- 2TB – 8TB
My Cloud Home Duo Capacities
- 4TB – 16TB
Interface
- Gigabit Ethernet
- My Cloud Home – (1) USB port for importing
- My Cloud Home Duo – (2) USB ports for importing
- LED indicator light
Package Includes
- My Cloud Home or My Cloud Home Duo
- Ethernet Cable
- Power Supply and Cable
- Quick Install Guide
How it Performs
Of course, we had to test the device to see if it performs well, and we can actually say that this cloud storage was able to carry out the job adequately, especially when dealing with large file transfer tests. However, you should keep in mind that whenever you are uploading your files or data to the My Cloud Home 3TB drive via the web, then the whole transfer process will depend entirely on the speed and excellence of your internet connection.
If you are uploading using your home network – basically your PC while the drive is linked to the same router – the process of transferring files will decrease slightly; yet don’t worry about it since this is a common outcome when transferring files in this scenario. If ever you have a large drive that has files which you need to backup, the best option is to actually connect this to a USB; after this, we actually suggest that you update it using your internet connection with individual data or files once the setup has started to take place. We were actually able to backup over 1 Terabyte of files in just a couple of hours via this specific method.
As for the mobile application, it is actually very user-friendly and easy to understand since it lets you readily access all your files that are stored in your smartphone or tablet. Not only that, but you can also utilize the mobile application to immediately backup your phone which is something that we consider a great and convenient way to make sure that your photos on your smartphone are always kept safe.
We also attempted to upload a variety of files with different sizes; of course, some took slightly longer than others but the wait was fine and we were quite surprised that it didn’t take longer than expected so we really like how the My Cloud Home worked. Overall, once you’ve manually linked and configured the device, it performs adequately and we give the My Cloud Home a thumbs-up for this.
How to Use
When we installed the My Cloud Home device, it was actually a very easy process and that’s all thanks to the very convenient card that the company bundled with the drive. The card actually walks you through the initial arrangement of the device. Basically, you will just have to plug it into a Wi-Fi router or a switch linked to one before connecting this to a primary power source. The next thing that you’ll have to do is to access the official website of My Cloud which is http://mycloud.com/hello and you can access this via PC or your Android / iOS phone to setup and manage your My Cloud account.
Included in the My Cloud Home software is Plex and IFTTT along with the sync support for OneDrive, Dropbox, Google Drive, and a lot more. The mobile application of My Cloud Home helps you view files and data on your smartphone; plus, you can also setup the automatic backup for photos on your phone to your My Cloud Home. Additionally, you can also share various content by sending out invitations to people who will be prompted to sign into their accounts or create a My Cloud account for themselves. Once done, you can connect your USB drive to your My Cloud Home device so all the contents of your drive can be backed up to My Cloud.
We actually liked that you can invite other people like your friends or family to become a user of your My Cloud drive, and it’s also useful especially for co-workers who need to share the same drive. Just remember that the process can only be done via the My Drive mobile app, so once you’ve invited your selected individuals, they’ll be asked to make their own account so they can use your device as their personal cloud server as well. Don’t worry since these people won’t be able to access your important files or vice-versa; the only way for this to be possible is when links are shared between the users. But since you’ll be the owner of the My Cloud Home storage, you have access to remove any other user via the mobile application but they won’t be able to remove you.
Conclusion
The launching of Western Digital’s My Cloud Home brings a new feel and look for the range of products under My Cloud. They’ve changed the style of the usual rounded book-style and replaced this with a much sharper and edged design that makes it even better with the two-toned color scheme. We were already impressed with My Cloud since its launch a couple of years back, but with the new My Cloud Home storage, it definitely builds on all the capabilities and strength while also making the mobile application’s interface much easier to use.
For the hardware of My Cloud Home, its style and design are really top-notch and we didn’t experience any issues with it so we’re definitely giving it a thumbs up. Its underlying platform is effective and solid – something that Western Digital’s hardware engineers did a great job with. It’s also cool that the My Cloud Home can also give you DLNA storage to readily access a personal cloud solution or even a smart TV.
As for the installation process, it’s very quick and easy to setup, and it also works well with a lot of capacity options that are suitable to suit your budget. So overall, we give two thumbs-up for Western Digital’s My Cloud Home 3TB storage, and would definitely recommend this as well.
Where to Buy
If you want to get yourself a Western Digital’s My Cloud Home, and we highly suggest that you should, you can purchase the device at My Cloud Home’s official website.
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