Western Digital EX2 2-Bay 8TB My Cloud NAS Review

Final Thoughts

Pricing

Since Western Digital brought the single bay My Cloud to the market late last year (followed by the EX4 a couple of months after), there has been a strong impression placed on the drives especially after the My Cloud TV advert was released. The pricing of these two systems since then has held fast and this again is another indicator that it’s popularity is on a continual rise. As we would expect, the EX2’s price bracket is set between the other two family members with a disk-less system starting at around $190 or £160, rising up to around $560 through Fry’s and Newegg.com or £425-445 in the UK through Scan, Dabs and Amazon.

Additionally I will point out when comparing the price an empty system with drives bought separately and one that is populated out of the box, there is no advantage in going down the path of separate components (WD’s 4TB Red drive used in this case), as there is only a few odd dollars / pounds difference.

Overview

Now that cloud storage and the understanding on how it works more widespread and understood, Western Digital’s staggered product launches have proven to be very successful. Over the older My Book Live ranges of products, the My Cloud range has seen a ground up rebuilt with components that are more suited to the task in hand along with a better price point, but most importantly, it is all encompassed in a user interface for both desktop and mobile environments which takes away all the worries and concerns of any first time user.

What we have to remember with the general consumer market is that the system has to be approachable and easy to use – not everyone has sufficient knowledge or the willing to work through the steps needed to set up and operate a full-blown NAS, let along setting up remote access. The means that it has to look good (you’ll be surprised how many users will feel uneasy about using a product that built for performance and not style) in order to draw in the attention.

If you’re more of an enthusiast come prosumer user, style can still be a factor to look at, but performance both in the home and out on the go is key. When out and about the speed at which you can view and transfer files is going to be limited to what your internet connection is able to handle. Even though I’ve mentioned this before, I will reiterate that an upload connection greater than 2Mbps is ideal – the faster it is, the better. There is also a note about the data usage on your smartphone. If you’re planning on accessing a ton of media from your phone, take note that you are likely to chew up your data allowance quicker than normal – even more so if you are listening to music or watching a film

In the local network, the EX2 is about average for a two bay system. Unlike dedicated and purpose-built products, the EX2 is optimised for remote connections so even though there are some notable speeds on offer, don’t be surprised when you have to sit waiting for larger files to transfer across the network.

Feature wise I’m impressed with the build quality and the attention to detail that has been put into the hidden fabric that makes up the EX2. Little things like the rubber mounts between the drives and the outer shell, bring the vibration levels right down to almost nothing – in fact I did not experience any real noise coming from the system during testing. The fan is another surprising addition; running only when needed, the 35mm size may be small, but even when it is running it is once again silent – I was only aware of the fan once I opened the product up to take a look inside.

Over the single bay My Cloud, the biggest advantage in moving up to the next level is not just the flexibility to utilise your own drives, the two-disk design offers RAID1 redundancy right out of the box, so should one drive fail, your precious data is not at harm. Naturally I will stress that anything critically important should be backed up to an off-site location, but for what it is worth, the EX2 is a key addition to WD’s Cloud storage range of systems.

Pros:

• RAID1 protection out of the box
• Low power consumption
• Stylish design
• Easy to set up and manage
• Cost effective
• Remote access from anywhere in the world
• Near-silent operation

Cons:

• Local network performance not as high as purpose-built solutions

“Western Digital’s My Cloud family of products over the last few months have been pushing the door wide open for the everyday user, giving the freedom to access their data quickly and easily from anywhere in the world. The EX2 is a key product in this line of systems as it ticks all the boxes for the entry to mid level user; simplicity, style, security and speed.”

Thanks to Chillifish PR for providing us with this review sample.