Hey you! Get on to MyCloud
Good value device keeps your precious data as safe as houses
ACCESS YOUR LIBRARY OF FILMS WHEN TRAVELLING
Data is everywhere and everyone with a smartphone contributes to that information mountain, with almost two billion photos a day uploaded to social media. Saying that, many of us prefer to keep our most treasured family photos on our smartphones.
Some PC and smartphone owners use services like iCloud or Google Drive to back up their data. However, Western Digital has developed a consumer-friendly personal cloud system that appears to be aimed squarely at winning those cloud customers.
Aimed at families for home use, MyCloud Home comes with capacities ranging from 2-8 terabytes. I tested the entry-level 2TB version, which was ample storage for my home.
Unpacking the MyCloud reveals a slim little box. It’s just over two inches wide and less than seven tall, making it easy to stow discreetly.
Where you position the MyCloud is important as it needs to be connected to your home broadband router using the included ethernet cable.
Once plugged in to the mains, it powers up and a single indicator light on the front shows that it’s connected to the internet. There’s a MyCloud app for Android and iOS and you can set up this gadget without even using a PC, which is a clever feature.
I used a Mac to set it up – a straightforward process using either webbased software or a wizard system. During this set-up process you can create users for remote access to the MyCloud for when you’re away from home.
I was able to set up shared folders and indicate the files from my PC that I wanted to store on the MyCloud.
This gadget has a surprising number of options but the makers have done a great job of making it easy to follow. Once configured, there is a nice dashboard showing the hard drive space available and the software can update itself from the internet to ensure optimal performance. As a back-up drive it works well – but there’s a lot more to this set-up. It can sync files that are already in your cloud services such as Dropbox and GDrive. It also lets you edit a document and makes sure your new version is synced up on the MyCloud. The MyCloud’s most appealing features perhaps are for remote or mobile access. Using an Android or iOS device, you can access any of your shared folders back at home from anywhere in the world with an internet connection. This means that as well as simply accessing documents saved at home, you can access your library of stored movies while travelling.
Unfortunately there’s only one USB port, which is not sufficient. However, the system cleverly backs up the contents of a USB when you connect it. It’s also worth noting that, having reviewed the PC version of the controller software, it’s not as efficient as the Mac version.
Nevertheless, the economics of this gadget make it attractive. It costs less than a year’s worth of storage of the same capacity on Dropbox. Also, the speed of saving and accessing content is excellent and it’s easy to set up for nontechies. Perhaps most appealing though, is the comfort of knowing your most important data is safe at home with you.