Model: Western Digital My Cloud Mirror 4TB Personal Cloud Storage
Manufacturer: Western Digital
Provided By: Western Digital
As one of the biggest names in the storage industry, Western Digital doesn't need much of an introduction. Founded in 1970, the company got its start by manufacturing calculator chips. As time went on, Western Digital expanded into the PC market, adding floppy and hard disc controllers to its product lineup. It wasn't until 1988 that it introduced its "Centaur" series of hard drives. Since then, the company has grown to become the world's second largest manufacturer of hard drives. Western Digital currently offers a wide range of internal and external hard drives as well as a growing number of multimedia devices, SSDs and network storage solutions.
This past fall, Western Digital launched its new My Cloud family of personal cloud solutions. The first in this series was simply named the My Cloud. This easy to use, single bay NAS device gave consumers the ability to keep media and files safe at home on their own physical drive and then access them over the Internet. The My Cloud could also be used to backup a user's computers and digital files and serve as a home's digital entertainment hub to stream audio and videos. Building on the success of the My Cloud, WD soon introduced two- and four-bay versions named the My Cloud EX2 and EX4. Aimed at creative professionals and prosumers, the EX2 and EX4 provided greater capacities, advanced backup and serving options and third party apps for users looking to customize their NAS.
Western Digital recently unveiled the latest addition to its My Cloud family of personal cloud solutions, the My Cloud Mirror. Like the original My Cloud, this easy to use NAS device is designed with consumers in mind. The Mirror provides secure file sharing and flexible backup options for both Macs and PCs and can be accessed from anywhere using WD's desktop and mobile apps. Instead of a single hard drive though, the Mirror is equipped with two and is configured for RAID 1 (mirrored) mode by default, giving you double the data protection. The NAS also provides integrated file, FTP, backup and P2P download servers and can be further customized using third party apps like Joomla, WordPress, IceCast and more.
Needless to say, this is only a taste of what WD's new personal cloud solution has to offer. To give you an idea of what to expect, we'll take a look at the Mirror's features and then put it through its paces to see how it performs. Does WD's new two-bay NAS have what it takes? Keep reading as we find out.
