WD My Cloud Home Review 2024: Should you go for it?

If you have gotten frustrated after using those popular cloud storage services out there and now looking to set up your own small cloud server, the WD My Cloud Home is a good option for you. Instead of spending too much on those expensive NAS systems, this device is extremely easy and affordable to start with.

If you own a small business or looking to store your personal files on your own server, this product is the perfect thing for you. Obviously, it can’t compete directly with those huge NAS systems but you will get the results that you are looking for. Here, I will tell you what you can expect from it and what you shouldn’t.

The WD My Cloud Home has a lot of advanced features that you never get with ordinary external Hard Drives. You can access your files remotely and this is the main that that discriminates this device from external HDDs and even SSDs. You just set up an account on mycloud.com/hello and all your files can be accessed with the same account across devices and locations. You can install desktop, android, or iOS apps to get started with the cloud storage options.

I know most of you are worried about its configurations and looking to know whether you should buy it if you don’t have any technical knowledge. So, I would say it is as simple as setting up an external hard drive. It just requires external power and the power adapter is coming along. The next thing is to connect it to your router and that is definitely an easy thing for any computer user.

I am going to review this product completely in this article by considering everything in mind. We will know about the installation, speed, features, cons, and prices. So, without any further delays, let’s get started with the WD My Cloud Home Review 2024.

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Below, we are going to uncover several other things about this product. But, before starting, you should definitely know the maximum speed limits you are going to get with this product. Since this device uses the rotating hard disk for storage purposes, you can’t expect much speed from it. But, let’s see the numbers below.

Speed

It is not easy to give a single number in terms of speed when it comes to NAS and especially cloud storage devices. The speed of these devices increases when they are connected locally. However, the proxy data transfers can be much slower. On average, when you connect it locally to your system, it can reach around 100MB/s read speed and 45MB/s write speed. You can see the Blackmagicdesign speed test results.

I know that is way slower than what you will expect but it is good enough to move a 1GB file to your system within a minute. When it comes to reading the data or moving it to another device, the speed can go way beyond these limits. For proxy or IP networks, you can’t expect good results because the internet connections and our ethernet wires hardly support these speeds.

The 1Gbit ethernet cable has a total bandwidth of just 125MB/s. So, you can’t expect more if you are using that ethernet connection. However, if you are using a much more advanced ethernet cable, it is now an overkill for this device.

So, you can’t expect the data read/write speed of 1GB/s as you normally get with most of the NAS out there. But, it is surely a good option for those who want a good upgrade from very slow external hard drives to something scalable and advanced.

With the 4TB variant, you get to see 4GB of flash memory storage, and with the 8TB variant, 8GB of flash memory, and so on. This is supposed to be used as the cache memory.

If we talk about the RPM of your hard drive, there is no guarantee which drives you will see inside your WD My Cloud Home device. Mostly, you will get to see WD Red 7200 RPM drive inside the chamber. But, it is never advised to open it on your own.

Design

The WD My Cloud Home is very compact in size as compared to those bulky NAS devices. But, it is way bigger than any single-drive external hard drive. The diamond layout design on its bottom looks just impressive. However, the upper half of the part is plain white-colored. So, on your table, it will look like something gorgeous.

We are talking about the single hard drive variant. But, it also has a double-hard drive version which is a bit wider than this one.

The white light at its center is going to give a professional feel. During the startup, it will come up with a breathing effect.

If you want to know about its dimensions, below are the numbers given for you.

The only available color is white and it has a glossy look on its half and is patterned on its bottom half.

Available models and storage space variants

The WD My Cloud Home has five storage variants available for you. I am talking about the single drive variant which has a single drive inside it. Let’s see their model names and the storage space options.

Now, if you are looking for a storage space higher than 8TB, you will have to go for its double drive variant whole product series starts with WDBMUT0120JWT-NESN (12TB) and go until 20TB. For a single hard drive device, 8GB is more than enough because you also get cloud storage benefits.

In some countries, you will not get the 3TB variant of WD My Cloud Home.

Cloud Storage Interface

With the WD My Cloud Home device, you get to see a dedicated cloud storage portal that can easily be logged in and accessed through a web and app-based interface. You just have to create an account on https://home.mycloud.com/ and then you can access and upload all your files just by entering your account from anywhere.

Most of the features are available in the web-based interface such as search, sort, bulk upload, delete, etc. But, when it comes to the app, some features are missing such as bulk file selection. However, file sorting and naming features are decent and fortunately available for every user on every device. The cloud storage interface can easily be accessed through any internet-enabled device. You just have to enter the URL and log in to your account. If you have an app installed, it will be much easier to grab the benefits.

It is just like having your own cloud storage network but here you are getting all the controls in your hand. The list of all the supported internet browsers is as follows.

List of all supported OS and browsers

These are the theoretical specifications. The actual compatibility with your system will depend on the hardware configurations of your device.

Backup and Sharing

Since this website only has a single hard drive, the inbuilt redundancy and backup features are missing as you get with any NAS with multiple drives. But, you can definitely use some other backup features that are as follows.

1. Mobile Device Camera Backup
2. USB Device Backup
3. Microsoft Windows Backup and restore
4. Apple Time Machine Backup and restore
5. Synchronization features with Google Drive, OneDrive, and Dropbox

You can learn more about the backups, setups, and sharing options here in this pdf.

For sharing your data with others, the WD My Home Cloud allows you to add multiple users to your account. You can easily add or remove the users from your mobile app as well. Remote shutdown and data erasing options are also available with your account.

Price

Price is the most important thing that can end you up buying this product instead of a NAS. If we look at the features you get with this device, the price is perhaps pretty affordable. This is the reason why it has a huge reputation in the market. Obviously, different variants will have different price tags and high storage variants will definitely have a high price as well. Let’s look at the normal price.

As we all know the prices of these products keep changing and different online shopping platforms will give you this device at different prices. Surely, the higher storage variants will cost you more.

Setup

As compared to any NAS from Synology, QNAP, or any other popular brand, My Cloud Home is very easy to install and set up. Complete details about the installation are given here and here.

But, in order to start, you simply have to use the ethernet cable that comes along with the product. Connect its first connector to your WD Cloud home and another one to the router.

Once your computer is connected to the router, you will have to go to this link and sign up for a WD My Cloud account. A security code will be given to you which you should surely note down. An identical process will be required to do with your mobile apps. The links to those apps can be found on the same portal. While setting up your mobile app, you will have to log in to the same account you just created.

If you want to register your device to the official WD site for the latest updates, you can go here.

Noise

Noise is definitely a big issue for those who have kept this device near to their work location. For example, if you have placed this cloud drive on your table and you are reading or writing a heavy file on it, you will see the sound for sure. The sound can sometimes become so high that it interrupts your work.

However, if you generally do small data writing and reading tasks, you may not see any noise issues at all. But, it is always suggested to keep it a little away from your work table because the mechanical hard drives are going to make a lot of noise no matter what kind and brand of drive you are using.

Normally, with any 7200 RPM hard drive, you will hear some noise while doing read/write tasks. In idle conditions, you may hear no sound at all.

Warranty

The WD My Cloud Home comes with a 2-year warranty which is good enough if you look at its cloud features. But, because WD is a popular brand, it could have given one or two years more as the warranty period. However, very few problems are seen in this product and this is the reason why it is known for its great reliability.

Streaming Features

The most interesting thing about this drive is that you get Plex support. So, you can easily upload videos and stream them anywhere you want. It works well with Sonos, Plex Media Server, Google Chromecast, and all other popular streaming networks. As per my testings, it was able to stream up to 4K videos on a good internet connection. But, it is made for and works perfectly for 1080P videos.

Sharing Features

Just like any other cloud network such as Google Drive and Dropbox, you get numerous sharing features with WD My Cloud Home as well. It is very easy to share your documents, videos, and photos with others. You can even use your mobile app to do the same.

As we discussed earlier, adding multiple users and managing them is very easy. You can control their permissions and share your desired files properly. It is the perfect way to manage your workflow when you are working with small teams. Teachers, families, and any other user will find these features extremely helpful because you don’t have to do anything on the physical level. You just have to change some settings and that’s it.

Conclusion: Should you buy WD My Cloud Home?

Definitely, at this price point, the WD My Cloud Home is a worthy product. Because it has a lot more to offer as compared to an external hard drive, you see a very small price difference. But, I would say this product is suitable for those who don’t want huge scalability like a NAS but want to go beyond the limitations of external hard drives.

The price is pretty affordable if we look at its features. However, you won’t get inbuilt backup features and redundancy just like a NAS. So, if you want to store very important files, make sure to use your OS as the backup location. However, normal data storage works but with cloud capabilities, it is just a perfect option for everyone.

If you are looking for data backups and high data storage space (i.e. up to 20TB), you should go for the WD My Cloud Home Duo.

Thanks for reading!

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