WD 24TB My Cloud EX2 Ultra 2-bay NAS - Network Attached Storage RAID, File Sync, Streaming, Media Server, with WD Red Drives

Had this for only half a day so will update this as I go on if anything changes my opinion. So where to start well set up is easy when it comes to assembly (I bought diskless version) disk are easily insert into the very compact double drive bay. The whole thing is silent when in use though during boot up when it tests the fans etc it does get a bit louder but only briefly. On the software side I only had an issue setting up the Plex media server app but that resolved itself after a few attempts not sure what the issue was but I digress. I installed all the apps I wanted at the click of a button and configuration was painless. I strongly urge the use of the virus protection app and you set up an automatic scan schedule as it only takes a minute and protects you if you intend to use remote access as I have. I can't say I had any issues that another reviewer encountered as I am not that computer lierate but have spotted a lot they doing wrong and avoided the same obvious mistakes. All in all I have found to be fast and quiet and solidly built with some well chosen apps made available for installation on it. I have only tested the official supported apps but it does seem other open source ones are available but I urge you to use caution and only get from trusted sites if you want to add any of them as this is a reasonably expensive bit of kit to risk turning into a brick! All in all great to use very easy to set up and personalised and streamed all my test media copied to it to my TV my laptop and my phone both locally and over the internet would definitely recommend this to anyone wanting control over their data. The only thing I haven't managed to get it to stream with yet is my Google nest hub and Google home speaker group but I hope to have that sorted soon after a look online for more up to date method of doing so as it seems it is to do with Google changing things their end that is the issue preventing me from doing that and not a fault at WD's end.

My ageing Synology DS12 seemed to constantly tell me disks were bad, so I took the plunge and abandoned it. Not too flush with cash, this was a well reviewed and fairly priced alternative. My NAS needs are quite simple, don't get divorced if the laptop dies and all the photo's and home movies go with it! OK, and being able to server them up to the TV for some family nostalgia, along with RAID 1 just in case. This deals with those things very smoothly. A solid leap in performance from my old 7 year old device. The user experience is well laid out but no an on board operating system like other manufacturers. It's more like what you get from a Wifi Router. Still, lots of easy to configure options with a reasonable amount of depth. Ultimately, it was VERY easy to get up and running to setup shares, be able to stream to TV's, and also manage the device and content remotely over the web. I quite love that I can set my Iphone (8) up with the WD software to automatically push photo's and videos to a share, then manage the content directly on the NAS, rather than going via PC. The EX2 Ultra will also Email me alerts on issues or log changes. Power management is interesting. You can set a schedule for up and downtime, but there is no power button, so if you want to access it when you've scheduled it to be off, you need to pull the power cable and reinsert. I might be missing a deep sleep wake on lan option, but don't think so. Ultimately I guess this keeps the price down, and with disk sleep it probably is OK to leave on all the time. Just doesn't quite fit with a green message. Disk loading (compared to my old device) is also nice and simple. Spring loaded lid, unscrew the clamp, push disk in. Super.

The setup of this unit is an absolute breeze even with the firmware update it took about 10 minutes and is definitely designed with the novice in mind. This unit is slow to add data to but is super quick to access and stream data and media and that's the most important detail, Who wants data stream's that suffer with lags. OK so it took a full day to load my 1.6 Tb of music to the drive (I was not impressed by that) . So when all was in place I started my Marantz music Streamer/Amp and connected with ease and started playing my tunes... Perfect no lag... no loss of quality it was and is doing the job it was brought for with ease. So although I have a dedicated NAS just for films and TV series I chucked a few movies on to it on a share with remote access and asked a few friends and family to log in and view them with as many devices as possible and let me know how things went. Only one person could not connect but only because they were on a university network, Connections were made from behind VPN's using smart TV's mobile phones/tablets and laptops and base PC's. All reported that they had enjoyed perfect playback with no lag or sound drop and of the highest picture resolution Smart TV's will when on a slow network auto adjust the playback quality to avoid lags all had 4K straight down the pipe and on screen. I am aware that because I have the highest speed fibre that I have an advantage over standard broadband connections but I think this would have a only have a negligible effect on overall performance when accessing via remote access. So my view is that although its a pain putting large blocks of data on to it at the start once setup is complete it is a superb piece of kit and well worth the money. Be aware that after the initial set up e-mails for confirmation (required) WD will start to send you marketing e-mails (never saw a box to opt out) but just open the mail and click unsubscribe at the bottom and they stop.

REVIEW AFTER ALMOST 1YR OF USE Wanted a NAS for ages but always a little expensive for what I wanted. I 'needed' all the bells and whistles like iSCSI so therefore I need the Ultra version of the EX2. I also didn't want to be limited by the single drive bay systems. The hardware is great, looks clean and professional, blends in perfectly on a computer desk or just about anywhere in the home. I've always used WD hard drives and I trust them 100% and to this day [touch wood] I've never had a problem with any I have had over the years. The software UI is great and really easy to use, anything you don't understand is clearly explained and that goes for each feature and how to use them. So easy I think my girlfriend could set one up. With the MyCloud software you can easily set up RAID, partitions, iSCSI, user profiles etc. For example I have my NAS drives in RAID 0 configuration for performance (I can always back up to another NAS in future for safety) and using the full 4TB of hard drive storage. I have created partitions for movies and documents to be separated, I have an iSCSI partition for a large portion of my game library (yes you can actually run games from an iSCSI partition with this NAS, even though I could never find evidence of this anywhere on the internet and when I have asked multiple NAS drive manufacturers if it's possible none of them ever had an answer) just bare in mind that most games will load slower than normal but isn't a huge deal unless playing online multiplayer. I have created a profile for both myself and my girlfriend who also has her entire Mac backed up to her portion of the NAS, separate from mine and something I cannot see/interfere with [unless I really wanted to go into the settings and allow myself to do that]. The MyCloud NAS drives are so aptly named due to the fact you can create your own cloud storage service. So as well as accessing your files within your home over WiFi or ethernet you can enable cloud access, you create a login profile for yourself and anyone else using the storage and WHAM you can view/open/edit everything on your phone on the iOS/Android app or on the web from any computer. This review has been quickly written as I am tired and not in much of a mood for writing extensively so when I find time in future I will update this for a more in-depth analysis.

I bought this 2-Bay 12TB NAS two weeks ago to back up my numerous loose drives, which contain my family’s history. I’m reasonably computer literate so people would ask me for advice rather than the other way round. However, I’m a novice when it comes to NAS but its description as an external drive with access over the internet is a fairly simple concept. I expected to be able to set it up via an app, plug in my drives, copy them across to the NAS and access my files anywhere in the world using the app. And so I plugged in my largest 2TB external drive, via USB, to back it up. It wasn’t anywhere as straightforward as that starting with lack of instructions. The box contained a card with just three things to do to set it up. A manual was accessible on line though out of date. By trial and error I discovered that you have at least three means of communicating with your NAS. First is the My Cloud app which you would have expected to be the main source for all things NAS, but no, it’s just gives basic viewing and access to your files. To do anything constructive you need the Dashboard which is accessible from the app hidden under layers of sub menus, but the manual also refers to browser access. You can also access the NAS as a plug in external drive, but that needs setting up and I only manage it on my Mac but not iPad. You also need to log onto a cloud account which is accessed via the Dashboard. The Dashboard is desperately convoluted but is essential for configuring anything to do with backups and sharing. To log onto the cloud you click on the ‘Cloud Access’ button, but I couldn’t figure out how, when and why I was being logged off subsequently. No idea why directories are called Shares but it’s unforgivable that the Dashboard doesn’t show the drive map with directories and files. This is a problem because the destination directories do not follow the source directory structure but adds all sorts of sub directories before you get to the actual backup directory. On my Mac, the list of destination directories does not correspond with the list shown on the destination external drive in the app as it doesn’t show all those superfluous sub directory layers. Even more frustrating is the actual backup function which is hidden under the Apps button where you need to download another app - ‘USB Backups.’ To backup you need to click on ‘Configure’ which then asks you to ‘Create Job’ based on Source Folder and Destination Folder and a Backup Type, which for me was ‘Copy.’ Pressing ‘Create’ sets the backup in motion which is so slooooow. It gives an indication bar but no estimated time. On the basis the source and destination are plugged in, the speed is outrageously slow. A 2TB backup takes half a afternoon and over night. It tells you the job is complete so you can eject the source external drive BUT you can’t see what has been backed up because it’s still ‘indexing’. The My Cloud app presents you with three choices - the directory structure, albums which you need to set up and Photos. Photos seems to be show every single photo contained in all the backups in one directory sorted by various options including date - which isn’t very accurate as it listed photos back to 1970 pre digital. However, Photos does show that ‘Indexing’ is in progress - but nothing else - like how much progress - but it warns you that access and backup will be unreliable until it’s complete. The Dashboard also shows Indexing in progress under ‘Home’ under Cloud Access (?) stating ‘Connected (Indexing percentage ..%). So far it’s been indexing for literally days and it’s only up to 18%. There’s nothing I’ve discovered that explains what’s going on. Do I need the external source drive to still be plugged in and do I need to keep my Mac running to keep the cloud connection live - and why would I need a cloud connection for indexing of files already on the NAS???? No idea except it’s sloooow, and from the Dashboard I can see my CPU is running flat out for most of the time and the RAM usage is almost constant at about 50%. While all this is going on, access to the app and dashboard can take ages to log on and/or respond to commands for no apparent reason, though I guess it depends on CPU usage. There is no way of verifying the backup to the NAS is an exact copy of the source. When I did a check I found it wasn’t so that’s a serious issue if you can’t depend on the thing going what it’s meant to do. This has dented my confidence in the NAS and has become extremely time consuming double checking everything. So far it’s been far from straightforward, extremely sloooow and not that reassuring, and I’ve not yet tried Sharing or creating Albums. The jury is still out though I think it’s crazily slow and the software clunky and poorly integrated which is why I struggle to give it even three stars - update to follow. Update In three weeks I’ve uploaded about 3.5TB and the bl**dy thing is still indexing at 52% so far. What this means is you can’t see the files it hasn’t indexed in MyCloud. I can see everything on my Mac viewing it as an external drive which seems to be working fine but this not possible on my iPhone/Pads as Files only seems to recognise MyCloud. It’s possible that you need to be logged into your cloud account for indexing to continue but everything seems to be accessible without it. I still haven’t discovered why I keep getting logged out - it not connected to being logged into the Dashboard which is the only place you can see your cloud status. I have reviewed my intended usage of the NAS as I’m definitely not going to use as a live device to update my files as I work on them as its too slow. Instead I’m going to use it purely as a safe store for the original files with an updated distilled master copy for family access. All my day to day working through the 3TB backups will be done using my various external hard drives in the knowledge I have a safe copy on the NAS. The saga continues and my initial views still stand - clunky software - sloooow - not intuitive and poor instructions. PS April 2023 Matters have got much much worse as the access app has been offline for the last five days due to hackers - doesn’t give you that much confidence in WD if anyone can hack in and it takes them so long to sort it out PPS June 2023 Could it get any worse - well yes much much more. One of the Raid drives failed. Option one was to use the excellent Amazon customer service which immediately offered me a refund. The only problem was I had to return the whole unit which I bought with drives so would have to remove all data. Option two was to use WD’s customer service - which needs prosecuting under the trade description act - check Trust Pilot. After three weeks I am still waiting for them to advise me how to return the drive. They now tell me every time I asked for an update my case goes to the end of the cue - they also use the trick of using different people for every communication so although each one promises to push your case through they can never be held accountable - last experienced this technique with Booking.com designed to just wear you down so you give in. These people have no business morality and no reputation to protect. So I’m downloading my data - fortunately the good drive is still accessible - by the reverse very very slooooow process which isn’t working seamlessly and to ensure I get everything I have to break it down into the lowest sub directory to confidently copy each one by one. I wouldn’t touch WD with a barge pole - I’ll be taking up Amazon’s offer.

I bought this dual drive Nas to replace my ageing single drive Mycloud device. With the exception of the occasional issue trying to access the device from my Windows 10PC File Explorer, I have found the Mycloud devices to be very reliable for DNLA streaming of video and music as well as 24/7 CCTV security. But I found backup to a USB problematic so I bought this dual version for additional data safety, having as it does, a Raid 1 option. Having previous experience setting up a Mycloud device, this one was easy to set up for me although it isn't always easy if the installer doesn't have much experience with these WD items. It's knowing what to set up within the device software options and how to do so that is half the battle. Once it is set up it though which took me around 4 hours including moving over 100GBytes of data from the old drive to this one, it works a treat and the Android App means my phones images are automatically uploaded to my Nas as a backup which is a nice useful feature. This EX2 ultra version has a more powerful processor compared to the older versions which include the single drive Mycloud and mirror devices and more memory too which helps speed up response and makes interacting with the device much better. With less memory and the slower processor things could grind to a halt at times with older models. I tend to opt for static IP (ARP) with fixed devices like this and it was very easy to set this one up uising the same address as my previous device. This saved me having to reconfigure my security camera nas storage settings. If you are looking for a reliable relatively easy to use Nas drive for media streaming and one or two 1080P security cameras perhaps, this is ideal.

Easy to set up and looks good. Initially found it a bit slow, but then realised that the switch on my wired (Ethernet) network was 10/100 base. Changed the switch to a gigabit version and it flies. I transferred a 50GB file in about 30 mins. Gets a bit warmer than I would like.... 40+ degree in my office and had to take it out of the cupboard it was in as it was getting nearer to 50c with its fans revving over 6000! Now sitting and looking good on a bookshelf. You get this data from the health check tool on the software dashboard. Noise level is very acceptable though it does rise as fans and disks spin up under heavy use. It does run warm even in idle so not environmentally ideal, I think spec says it's about 12watts - check. Anyway I believe all these products are similar and this may be slightly better than competitors. I am using this as a time machine back up and it works absolutely perfectly. Also using it as a dlna sever. WDs built in server works well. The only problem I have had with it is when using the PLEX software. PLEX asks to download an upgrade but it keeps failing to install. (I ended up just not using PLEX as I realised it doesn't do what I wanted it for anyway). Other than that I found the operating system very user friendly..

The unit is compact and aesthetic better than some other options. The about the only great thing. Connectivity is OK, however its the interfacing you might struggle with. The GUI interface allows for easy user additions, set up, however if you are creating "Shares or Users" that need remote access, they will need their own online accounts as well. Shares are a great way of "partitioning" without reformatting. Great "intuitive" ability to control access - if required. If you connect to Dropbox and other outsource cloud systems, IT SYNCS GREAT BUT PUTS THEM INTO A PUBLIC DRIVE, THIS IS NOT ENCRYPTED SO CAN BE OPEN TO COMPROMISE. The 2 ports on the rear of the unit may be useful however even with the USB 3.0 data transfer rates, only getting small amounts of speeds. I have used the GUI interface with the unit, and tried via Mac and Windows, however cannot get close the typical values you would experience. The unit is used for Time Machine (MAC OS) which works well for connecting to he unit, once your setup. Time machine on the computer finds the drive with no issue. Please note if you have been using time machine on other HDD's you will NOT be able to transfer. Windows systems I have tried on Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 10 and Windows Home Server 2011. Connecting the unit on the older systems appears to be easier. However mapping is not possible on any Windows platforms, meaning you need to carry out local transfers using the web interface on the drive and local USB connectivity, see above for the shocking data transfer rates... Think what dial up was for the internet - no you're close to compare for transfer rates. Please note that although there are many videos on data transfer, the shipped units comes with a fairly up to date firmware, voiding the applications that are referred to useless. The new software for both platforms appears to push users more onto the online platforms in configuration through a web browsers. The native applications, (Safari and Internet Explore) do not render well with the "banners and Spans". There are so many great features, however be warned it is temperamental in heavy use. Like you need to do in the initial transfer if you are upgrading. At present I have tried to transfer 1 TB, 13 GB, 2 GB and 42 MB to the drive, the heavier data, it does, but go out and have a day with your family... It takes so long... The connectivity on these has used the "Backup USB" option making the process internal avoiding the need for the data to pass through the OS on the computer in trying to make the process faster... The unit's GUI now hangs in loading and becomes unresponsive. I have tried to connect via ethernet (Gigabit and fibre). And the usual Wifi. I have also tried to connect via the online option. WD's online and Web Browser would also benefit from linking to help files, etc that are live, not the old systems so support can be limited to the few items on the website. But most is either out of date or not compatible... Make sure you carry out encryption otherwise your data is left on the drive. If you are looking for NAS storage this could be great solution, but I advise caution.