MacDirectory magazine is the premiere creative lifestyle magazine for Apple enthusiasts featuring interviews, in-depth tech reviews, Apple news, insights, latest Apple patents, apps, market analysis, entertainment and more.
Issue link: https://digital.macdirectory.com/i/500190
62 MacDirectory CONTENTS DEPARTMENT 62 MacDirectory Western Digital has been for some time the market leader in single bay backup drives and its well-known Red Line hard drives are a top choice for reliable 24/7 use throughout the industry. The question was how WD would make inroads on more advanced dual and multi-bay NAS drives. Now we know. The recently introduced EX2100 and EX4100 are probably the best creative pro/prosumer NAS boxes you can buy today. We tested the EX2100, in a 2x6TB RAID 1 configuration. Although it has fans, we found the unit silent except for a couple of seconds at startup. This is the fastest NAS in its class we have ever tested. We easily saw transfer rates over 100 MB (mega_bytes_) per second, just about the theoretical maximum of what Gigabit Ethernet can deliver. (That's on large file transfers. Small files always transfer more slowly.) Zippy performance is mainly down to new Armada processors, on which WD is said to have an exclusive for six months. Standout features include - remote access to get to your files no matter where you are (your personal cloud -- no need to worry about availability, security and snooping as with conventional cloud services) - the ability to mirror data to a remote EX2100, thus ensuring simple off-site backup (again, your own off-site backup means no worry worry about the security and availability issues that arise with conventional cloud services) - a USB 3 port for one-touch backups to another drive - Media streaming via DLNA-certified Twonky to other DLNA- certified devices such as Smart TVs and gaming consoles - Expandable memory - Energy-saving features - smartphone apps - friendly online interface - speed, speed, speed! Fast setup, fast boot, fast transfers MSRP for the 2-drive My Cloud EX2100 NAS without drives is $249.99. Prices with WD's famed Red Drives are $429.99 for 4 TB, $559.99 USD for 8 TB and $749.99 USD for 12 TB. MSRP for the 4-drive My Cloud EX4100 NAS is $399.99 without drives, $749.99 for 8 TB, $1,049.99 for 16 TB and $1,449.99 for 24 TB WD's My Cloud mobile app currently is available for IoS and Android. Western Digital's do-everything portable Western Digital's My Passport Wireless is the first portable drive we've seen that does everything. 1. It works as a direct USB 3 external (2TB). 2. It works as a wireless NAS REVIEW