WD 4TB My Cloud Mirror
Store everything everywhere
This second-generation model of Western Digital’s two-bay network-attached storage ( NAS) box retains the distinctive wraparound design and, unlike typical rivals, is supplied with a pair of the company’s hard drives already installed. Options range up to 16TB, but the best value is 12TB for just under £500.
The minimum 4TB capacity might well be enough for your photo, video and music collections, but you should bear in mind that it’s configured by default in RAID 1 Mirror mode. That means you have access to one 2TB drive, which is automatically duplicated to the other as a backup. If space is more important to you than peace of mind, you can switch to RAID 0 and use the full 4TB capacity.
The ‘Cloud’ part of the deal is that you can access the box not only over your own network, via the Gigabit Ethernet port, but also from the internet, so you’ll always have access to your files (you might need to tweak some settings on your broadband router to enable this). Access is via a web browser, but you can also install a WD Sync app on your PC, and Android or IOS device to duplicate files to the NAS and from there to the matching folder elsewhere, much like Dropbox. WD’S Smartware Pro software lets you automatically back up your PCS.
A NAS is a computer, not just a drive, so performance depends on its processing power as well as the hard drives installed. Given its very reasonable all-inclusive price, we didn’t have high hopes for the My Cloud Mirror’s performance levels, and on paper its modest processor and half-gigabyte of memory seemed to bear that out. In our tests, however, it kept up with other high-quality NAS units and even beat many of them in the transferring of large files. It’s not for ambitious users who want to use a NAS as a web server, security camera control centre or set-top box (there’s no monitor output), but for flexible network storage this is a very effective, simple solution.
VERDICT: If you want lots of features to tinker with, consider models by the likes of Synology, but for less demanding needs this is ideal
★★★★★
ALTERNATIVE: Netgearr Readynas RN212 £260 This is the nearest rival for simple cloud and sync features,s, but at this price comes without drives
Access from anywhere to all your files, plus nippy filetransfer speeds
There’s no official definition, but a ‘smartphone’ generally means one that runs a mainstream operating system – Apple’s IOS, Google’s Android or Microsoft’s Windows 10 – and gives you access to a full range of third-party apps. Most cost £150 and upwards to buy outright, while contracts cts work out more expensive. Our favourite budget option,n, the Motorola Moto G4, costs sts £160, although we’ve seen it discounted to £150. At thesese prices the manufacturers make only a few pounds inn profit, so they don’t think it’s worth building phones for less. Alcatel is a welcome exception.
Vodafone sells some cheap phones as a way of locking customers into its network tariffs. The Smart First 7, with a 3.5in screen, is just £20 ( www.snipca. com/23584) – but you have to buy at least £10 of credit too, and if you want to switch networks it’s another £20. You can spend less on a phone, such as the Nokia 215 (£15 from Argos www. snipca.com/23586 – see image), which just handles calls, music and messages, without access to a modern app store.