WD Announces My Cloud Personal Cloud for Consumers

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Western Digital has a solution for your own personal cloud.

Cloud storage has its advantages over local solutions, but relying on a third party can make some folks uneasy. Western Digital is taking a crack at this issue and giving consumers their very own cloud. The company today announced the release of a new line of personal storage solutions called 'My Cloud.' The 'My Cloud' line allows customers the advantages of cloud storage (a central location for storing and accessing their digital content) without having to trust a third party with their data.

"We believe that there's no place like home for the cloud," said Jim Welsh, executive vice president and general manager of WD's branded products and consumer electronics groups. "Everyone is inundated with thousands of digital files scattered across multiple computers and mobile devices, and controlling that chaos is a challenge. WD's personal cloud is the easiest, most secure and most affordable way for customers to control that chaos, with access to all of their files anywhere, anytime."

In short, My Cloud is an NAS that's available in 2 TB, 3 TB and 4 TB capacities. Ranging in price from $150 to $250, the My Cloud drive features a dual-core CPU, a Gigabit Ethernet connection, and support for USB 3.0 (for expansion of storage). There are also iOS and Android apps and Western Digital's WD SmartWare Pro software. The My Cloud mobile app includes support for major public cloud services (like Dropbox, SkyDrive, and Google Drive), so that customers can easily transfer files between services.

Pricing is $150 for the 2 TB model, $180 for the 3 TB model, and $250 for the 4 TB model. The 2 TB and 3 TB models are already available, while the 4 TB version won't be out until November.

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Jane McEntegart
9 Comments Comment from the forums
  • pyromanicadeluxe
    Um..how is this any different from any other NAS...when I think cloud, I think of data stored in an offsite data center somewhere
    Reply
  • nevilence
    Yer I too am failing to see whats different here, well except for the My Cloud tag
    Reply
  • edogawa
    11643913 said:
    Um..how is this any different from any other NAS...when I think cloud, I think of data stored in an offsite data center somewhere

    Cloud storage isn't limited to a businesses, people can have their own personal cloud with the right setup or product.

    How is this different? It's different because it's a consumer friendly device that can be easily setup by most people.
    Reply
  • ianj14
    Wouldn't a 'cloud' solution, as against a straightforward NAS, also include the ability to run apps as this WD one does? In that way, NASs are evolving as it seems a number are now starting to include app capability, thus turning them into home servers which effectively means they are personal cloud devices rather than just storage.
    Reply
  • spentshells
    Put stuff on the cloud? Not likely.
    Reply
  • ianj14
    11646292 said:
    Put stuff on the cloud? Not likely

    Putting stuff on a public (or someone else's) cloud, no.

    But having your own cloud, connected to your own internet connection seems workable to me. You get your storage within your own borders, under your own control with no NSA hacks getting in (theoretically), plus you get to do synchronization as well. Best of both worlds as far as I can see :)
    Reply
  • nevilence
    Dont know why there are so many anti cloud people. If the NSA takes the time to get into my skydrive account and look through my uni assignments, go nuts, nothing that is gonna break my balls there. If you have sensitive info, encrypt it before uploading, use a 256bit key, its not rocket science. If you have something so vital you dont want the NSA decrypting it(and spending a long time doing so), keep it on a usb drive, worked for ages before cloud drives existed.
    Reply
  • pyromanicadeluxe
    11649985 said:
    Dont know why there are so many anti cloud people. If the NSA takes the time to get into my skydrive account and look through my uni assignments, go nuts, nothing that is gonna break my balls there. If you have sensitive info, encrypt it before uploading, use a 256bit key, its not rocket science. If you have something so vital you dont want the NSA decrypting it(and spending a long time doing so), keep it on a usb drive, worked for ages before cloud drives existed.

    I agree, if I could find a good offsite cloud storage solution provided as a service I would back up all my data to it in a heartbeat. I'm really not too concerned if an NSA employee happens upon my family photos, my autoit scripts or my school work from 10 years ago. If I had something private I wanted to securely backup, I would encrypt it before hand.

    With that being said, the reason I have a problem with NSA spying is mostly in principal. It is important to keep your government under control with boundaries on privacy or anything for that matter, it is our job as citizens. Remember, a government is a beast that will never stop attempting to gain more control over its subjects(by nature not because of evil) and its OUR DUTY to keep them in check. The best thing we can do is stay informed and vote!
    Reply
  • nevilence
    Yer dont get me wrong, I think its a gross violation of a persons rights and a disgusting abuse of power as well.

    But I have skydrive from my office subscription and store few gigs on there, but anything private or sensitive is encrypted, simple as that.
    Reply