Western Digital My Cloud

You'll lose all your data – Hardware broke, got into the drive to find the files are encrypted with no way to easily read the data. Western Digital don't seem to care, they list Recovery Partners on their website that are all based overseas Show details

Useless and no after sales support – Going back to a NAS system as bought this from Officeworks for 2x macbook backups. Terrible interface and wifi via network is unreliable and was always a struggle to use. Now says drive is offline and when I tried resetting the drive it failed and WD support just referred me to the help articles (basically were useless!) Have owned many WD drives… Read more

in the past some of which are still going after 10 years and this is a pathetic attempt at a product that failed after LESS THAN 2 years - DO NOT BUY WASTE OF GOOD MONEY.

UPDATE - After 2 weeks of messages backwards and forwards with WD Support, it seems they are finally happy to replace the drive even though it is out of warranty. BUT there is a twist, after extensive explanations etc and establishing the drive is not fit for purpose, WD asked if I would like a My Passport drive or another MyCloud as replacement, said I'd prefer a Passport as the MyCloud is not reliable and they then took another week to tell me "sorry we can send you another MyCloud that is the policy and your drive is out of warranty etc... After more harsh words and that I would refer the matter to consumer affairs (on principle) it seems they have finally agreed to replace it with a cheaper My Passport drive - good result and THANK YOU to Western Digital for finally standing behind your products, though overall not a brilliant experience - still suggest you go for a plug-in drive or a proper NAS system and avoid MyCloud as they are no good.

These products are a total disaster AVOID AT ALL COSTS! – Bought one of these My Cloud drives so we could share files across a network. What a mess. Incredibly difficult to manage, very cheap parts in the drive, unimaginably slow and then after a few months it locked us out of our own hard drive which we can't access now at all. Lost all our data. Absolutely no support from WD, they are utterly useless. Whoever conceived of this and made it a thing should never work in the industry again.

Works very well – I read lots of negative reviews about these, but took the risk anyway. I really am very happy with it. Simple to set up & does everything it says it will. Easy access via APP from phone, ipad etc. Show details

Great – This.is.a good media storage device if you don't wish to have your computer running ..you install Plex on a device or computer . I use my phone . It took a few attempts to figure the configuration but now can watch all my content even from my phone away from my house .  Show details

Not bad – I have problems with technology and so far I have found this fairly straight forward with connecting it to my phone. Being able to log in and access all my data from anywhere is easy and makes studying a lot easier. Haven't even come close to filling up the storage so far and it automatically backs up my phone.  Show details

Faulty – I brought a WD my home cloud device after I received an update from the WD company that they were discontinuing the service on my old one. I brought it through Amazon AU. I brought it in July last year but only opened it last weekend as the other one was working fine and still is. It is also still in warranty. I tried to use it but it was not… Read more

connecting. I contacted WD company and they agreed that the product has a fault and they will replace it. However, they want me to return it to the USA and said that I have to pay the shipping and the customs etc and they will not ship one out until they receive it. They also said if it if damaged in the shipping process they will not exchange. So, now I am asking what my situation is here as I purchased it through the Australian site. I don't mind paying for a return replacement in Australia. I feel it is unfair to have to pay for it to go back to USA and how can I guarantee they wont loose it of say the package was damaged etc and just say they wont help. I could loose more money and time. I have asked for help through Amazon too but they ignored me. I just want a replacement for a damaged product I received, I've already spent $469. I don't want to invest more for no guarantee of a working product. I feel so let down, I wish I brought it in a shop Vs online.

TErrible product - don't waste your money – Bought this after my previous WD 4GB drives failed within 6 weeks of each other. Fortunately I had backups, but I wanted a network solution. Thought it would be great as it has PLEX. Added all my movies, my 68,000 music tracks and all my home movies. PLEX was hit and miss, sometimes it wold let you remote connect other times no. Then one day… Read more

only movies were accessible and music library gone. Two days later, nothing, zilch !! Tried soft reset - nothing, tried Hard Reset just flashing lights of boot - never stopped. As I have a bit of tech knowledge after 52 years in IT, I decided saving my data was more important than the device itself, so I disassembled and plugged the hard drive into my desktop. It did spin up, but every bit of recovery software I tried was unable to read anything - reporting file corruption.

This device has only had less than 12 month use - but it seems every Western Digital HDD I have bought has failed. My 2 x 6GB Seagate drives are still working, maybe that tells me something.

Absolutely Woeful – Gone through 3 of these under warranty, typically only last less than 4 months before it remains 'offline' permanently. Firmware upgrades will simply brick it and thats it! Ended up creating my own partitions and 'public' folders just to use the damn thing for some basic storage / music sever. Utter garbage app and support for later macs is non existent. Don't bother with this thing… only good to prop open a door! Show details

unable to access it at all – after upgrading to OS5, it become a useless and i cant even access it to download my 3.5 TB data, contacted technical support and was advised they will contact me in two days, its been about three months now with no contact. Show details

Poor quality product – The product is easy to install. However when it comes to retrieving data it is clumsy especially if you want a single file only. I also tried to use it as an ordinary disk drive. No way. Replaced it with a product that was nearly one third the cost for a much improved performance. Show details

Worst NAS product – You have to create an account and then log into the WD MyCloud system in order to activate and use this NAS. Their system went down yesterday, which meant all owners of the WD My Cloud Home NAS could not access their data. So you pay a not so insignificant amount of money for this product, and if their system goes down it becomes useless. Another… Read more

point is that you are forever dependent on their system. One day they can just turn off support and you won't be able to access your own drive and data. There's a lot more negatives that would take more space to fit in here. Do your own research before you buy. As for me, this is a dud, and I would never touch another WD product. Hope this helps.

Worst purchase of my life – Stopped working after 12mths, then it corrupted everything! Tech said that the drive is fine, however the software has corrupted everything. I spent months collating my data into files, now its all gone. Western Digital also do not care about their customers loss. Show details

Lasted less than 3 years – My WD "MY Home Cloud" failed after less than 3 years (with over 12 months unused whilst in storage) and I lost everything. Cheap quality. Don't rely on it. AND it took hours of phone calls and messaging before their tech people advised me it was faulty. Show details

Documentation, support, software, all crap – This was to be a replacement for the old WD My Cloud that I had for years with a WD Elements plugged into it as a DAS. Was very happy with the older version, but the new one is no where near as good or functional. They have changed it a lot. Hardware itself may be ok. Documentation is vague and incomplete, support is appalling in both response… Read more

time and knowledge. Software supplied is not all compatible with the device. It is noisy, and never stops making noise. Plugged in 2 different DAS, neither could be seen in any of the apps. The DAS were WD Elements and WD MY Book. Could not map the drive, it could not be found, even by IP address. I believe that you can't back it up to online cloud storeage, like iDrive, directly. I ended up taking it back for a refund. Am looking for a better solution. UPDATE Jan 23: I ended up with a Synology DS118 and haven't looked back since. So much better!

So SLLOOWWW – Plenty of capacity. Should be a good product. Enormously compromised by poor user interface which takes time to get used to. Can be frustrating to use. The real problem is the glacial speed using Ethernet. Take way too long to move data. USB A, and 3.1 and USB C thunderbolt are all much faster. Total waste of money I eventually realised and stopped using it, ripped out the drives and used them elsewhere.  Show details

Beware!! – Beware! This drive requires it be wired to a wifi router, the router connect to internet, and wifi active. You cannot wire it via ethernet either directly to a computer or via a LAN to control it or access data. So, no wifi and/or internet = no access to your data. AND even worse ... any search function is limited ONLY to folders - NOT the files in the folders. Thus it stores lots of files you cannot find by name, size, type or date etc. Show details

Hopeless instructions, but I eventually got it going – Have patience, I did find a solution that suits me. The trick is to install WD Discovery on every computer that needs to access it. Get it from https://support.wdc.com/downloads.aspx It took me many hours of trying, testing, reading reviews, combing the net and WD site and inventing new swear words, before figuring this out. The instructions are… Read more

all online and are simply disgraceful. The My Cloud Home seems to have 2 separate filing systems on it: - One that shows as a 'Public' Share. Sure it appeared under network in File Explorer and I could put files on it. However when I connected to the drive via the internet at home.mycloud.com nothing showed up. - The other filing system is more like Windows filing system. It appears when you log in via the internet. It also appears when using the 'My Cloud' app on a phone or tablet. After some fiddling on PC 1 and I managed to open the same filing system as I could view via the internet. BUT ONLY ON THAT ONE COMPUTER!!! Nothing I did on the second computer would show anything other the 'Share' system. That is until I twigged to installing WD Discovery on every PC on my network that has to access it. This is all still far from perfect. - WD Backup fails to see the drive, as does WD Drive Utilities and their custom Acronis system. Fortunately my trusted Syncback program from https://www.2brightsparks.com/ works happily with it. - as mentioned the online instructions are appalling and confusing. They seem to focus on this 'Shares' filing system and mention how there are 4 shares and you can set permissions on them. Also that Windows 10 has altered things and maybe that no longer works. FFS WD get your act together and fit in with Windows or go away and make face masks or something useful. Just to cap it off, I registered the device with WD and it shows the 2 year warranty as 'expired'. Have lodged the matter with WD and yet to hear back. Would I buy another - NO.

Can't do anything locally, scan, access, complicated, too much work, does detect – This should have a folder that can be access locally and shared in cloud. Otherwise it is a piece of crap. Can't scan locally. I needed another drive to scan locally. Show details

WD Mycloud not a cloud! – Bought this product as a replacement for Lima (good product but Co has now closed). The device sets up a Public part as standard. Copied all files to this. The device also takes all your photos etc from your phone and like and places in another folder. The whole point of a cloud is to access all your files wherever you are but only the photo files… Read more

are accessible, all the files (that one actually needs to work on) are not accessible when away from the LAN at home, so product is basically useless. They have offered a solution using WD discovery and re-mapping drives but so far 2 techs that have visited have not been able to do and it is very complicated. Why couldn't they just make all files accessible?

Unless you are a masochist, DO NOT BUY THIS!! – ...one day wasted in getting nowhere with this, no response from WD either to solve the simple lack of Device Code on the unit despite providing product and serial number. Without the code you cannot create online access. Unless you are a masochist, DO NOT BUY THIS!! Try Synology, Qnap, anything else  Show details

Horrible! The chassis goes faulty in 1-2 years and you loose ALL your data! – I bought mine 2 years ago. In one beautifully sunny day, I was trying to upload some data to My Cloud where it was blinking orange and not reachable. After doing several checks and going online to find out that this beautiful storage device most of the times goes faulty on it's own, so I called Western Digital support to replace the chassis or… Read more

repair it, they said it's a single bay storage device and it's not repairable and they cannot recover any of the data (Regardless if you are under warranty or not) and I should call a local technician if I want to recover my data.

So simply I lost ALL my photos for the past 10 years because a COMPLETELY UNRELIABLE product from a vendor which does not state any of these while selling their product. All what they want is sell sell sell.

If you are willing to loose all your data without touching the storage station, WD My Cloud is the right product for you.

Annoying Habits – To be fair I haven't owned/used any other NAS devices so I don't have any to compare my 2TB WDMyCloud with. I use my MyCloud for storage and as an iTunes library. I don't find it particularly fast for data transfer. However the main reason I have gone to the effort of writing a review (which I don't normally do) is: It has a very annoying… Read more

habit of content scanning. As far as I can tell the only purpose for the content scanning so it can tell you how much space is taken up by videos/photos/other etc. The problem is that content scanning dramatically slows down (if not completely stops) what you are actually trying to do. For example, just now I wanted to sync my phone with iTunes. iTunes was abnormally slow to load (i.e. the library from the MyCloud) which wasn't a good sign. Part way through syncing my phone it freezes and I can hear the NAS thrashing about. Having experienced this many times before I opened the Dashboard to find exactly what I expected - Content Scanning.

I have told WD about this and asked them to put an option in the firmware to stop content scanning but I am merely taken through the checklist of "have you got the latest firmware?", "try restoring the device" and end up with being told "it pauses content scanning when being used for other things" which is not true.

(If anyone at WD is reading this please PLEASE put an option in the firmware to stop content scanning - I couldn't care less what proportion of the drive is filled with videos compared to images etc etc, I just want the drive to do what I ask it to do, when I ask it to).

Avoid this product unless you have a lot of time on your hands – This product is only for the very savvy. WD have provided a wealth of supporting material but I found it very difficult to navigate and at times contradictory, possibly just me. I am using Windows 10. My WD Cloud started out life as a device jut like my PC. It was soon relegated to the status of media storage but occasionally resurrected itself as… Read more

a searchable device in Windows. That didn't last. It is unstable and hard to manage. On a benefit cost analysis, you be better off doing a night shift at McDonalds and buying an alternative product. I won't be recommending this to anyone I know and I will never buy another WD product.

Not user friendly – Just a terrible product. It connects via your router, and the moment your router disconnects (as the internet does on occasions) you have to reinstall it, which is a complicated and un-user friendly process. I'd had too headaches reinstalling this thing. A geniune pain the backside. Definitely wouldn't buy again  Show details

Waste of Money – I purchased two of these from Officeworks. Absolutely hopeless. Works sometimes. Both are the same Have written to Western Digital but no reply. I see some reviews on here that say they are good. Must be an employee . Internet forums are now full of the same warning. Don't buy  Show details

Outdated UI and App, Slow data transfer speeds and can't use as a media server – This item was purchased based on WD's website saying it had lightning fast data transfers, and could be used as a personal cloud or media server through your Android device. Be very careful, this item is not a MY Cloud Home which is a new model at the time of writing. WD may have fixed some of these problems. 1. Slow transfers. It took over 5… Read more

hours to transfer 600Gb of data from a WD USB3.0 drive (instead of the expected 2 minutes)

2. No app for casting media and all the ones (emby, megacast etc) were very choppy due to slow transfer speeds

3. Outdated windows 2.0 style interface

3. Complicated setup unless you are an IT guru

4 It will take upward of 60 hours to reformat the drive if you decide to do this.

5.The supplier (saveonit.co.au) would not accept the unit back even though it fell so far short of being fit for purpose (see seperate review)

The positive side of it is that it can be connected to a LAN connection on your PC and set up as a network drive (instead of being connected to the router as a shared drive), but that doesn't make it any faster.

I think WD should take this item off the market, mine's being listed on ebay ... in 59.9 hours...

Avoid like the plague – Wasn't to problematic to setup (except that you need to add your email address, which is concerning) but I fail to see why they would create a separate application to browse the content on the device. The 'WD My Cloud' app is just ancient and not consistent with the modern Mac user experience. Looks so 1990's, at best. Curiously, it still thinks… Read more

the app version is "0.0.0", which says absolute programming amateurs wrote the app. But that's not the real issue.....this device is just appallingly slow once it gets some data on it. I copied my music library (including some videos/movies) and even though I have around 1.8TB free (of 2.0 TB!), it is now as slow as a Galapagos Tortoise over gigabit Ethernet. You just cannot reliably connect to (and once connected, hold a connection to) this device, browse and download content from this device over a relatively dormant home network. I've tried the recommended reset procedures and it's still just ridiculous unreliable and slow. Too late for me to send it back, but I'll be on the lookout for another NAS soon that doesn't have the initials "WD" on it.

Not fast enough, PLEX missing – Pros: - Easy to setup - Has USB to add additional external hardrive - Easy to find in local network Cons: - Sometime I just dont see it from mycloud website. It say's Device is offline. - It doesnt have option to install new APPs. PLEX is not there (seriously, why!). - I expect more from WD Cloud mobile application & Website. Need more control.  Show details

So incredibly awesome... honestly! – I really don't often give 5 star reviews but honestsly this is top notch. I have the 3tb version with latest updates firmware It delivers bang for buck I bought it on eBay for $122 + $15 shipping and let me tell you I am amazed at its performance. I can transfer a 2gb file from my pc to it via my cloud in under ten seconds It streams… Read more

flawlessly

It is able to be accessed anywhere via my cloud account which is actually pretty good asking as you have good internet speed.

My Samsung tv picks it up as a media server

It looks shmick

It's so easy to set up you truly don't need to be a expert I really don't know what the others are winging about.

Buy one!!!!

4 problems - before I even get to copy files! – I bought the WD My Cloud 4 TB a few days ago. Tried to set it up last night. No end of trouble. I have tried all day today to get it to work. No password email sent to me. I got online and found that this has happened to others and is a problem at WD end. I get that sorted by inserting my email address and 'forgot password' (even though I never… Read more

got the link to get one in the first place). A nuisance, but easy fix.

Then I get a 'network credentials' issue that I can't seem to get around. I look this up online. This has happened to others too, Taken advice and still can't find what the issue is - tried username and password consistent with what is listed under 'Credentials Manager' on my laptop (running Windows 10). And then tried a every password combination that I can think of. No luck.

So I thought that at least I will download the software to see if I can do a backup of my laptop (the whole purpose of the purchase). It asks for login credentials, so I put the username and password in (that I got by clicking 'forgot password' - see above) and nothing happens - again and again. It doesn't say 'wrong password', it doesn't say there is a 'network credentials' issue - it says nothing and I can't move beyond that point. I have no idea how to look search forums for up - search terms...umm.

So I look at tutorials and how to do a backup and the tutorials show files for a back-up app. I downloaded the correct software, but still I don't have the files that should be there according to the videos on Youtube. So I uninstall and reinstall the software - still not the same files (in fact - none at all). Sigh.

I am sure if I paid my tech support person to fix these 4 issues (3 current), he could. It will cost me though, and has cost me already in time - an entire day of mucking around. This is just too hard - every step of the way. It's just a big filing cabinet, for goodness sake! I have run out of patience. Will do a backup through a cloud based storage and share folders - where I don't have these problems (and I get X gb for free) and get my $297 back for the device.

This has to be the most unintuitive and 'glitchy' device. Perhaps only usable for the highly tech savvy. I mistakenly thought this would be pretty easy. I was wrong.

(Updated Jul 2018) Not for the novice user but it's been reliable and very quick – (July 2018 - 4 years after purchase) Hi again, well my 4TB MyCloud from 4 years ago is still up and running 24 hours a day. NO issues other than ones I highlighted below. 5 out of 5 for reliability, no data corruption, has retained much of it's speed, still works well with my 5 year old TV and works just the same if not faster loading with my new… Read more

LG 2018 model TV..

Original APRIL 2015 review:

Have been using this WD model (4TB NAS) for past 18 months and it hasn't needed to be exchanged or returned due to any failure. What works brilliantly: 1. The WD MyCloud app for IOS - All my devices automatically backup their photos and vids whenever connected to Wifi. App offers full control of the drive from wherever you are in the country to get files, view photos, stream videos over your mobile network, and it's reliable / rarely crashes. 2. Has been reliable for 18 months of constant usage. 3. Really quick to copy / do manual backups when connected via gigabit ethernet. Fantastic for photos etc. 4. FANTASTIC for streaming HD movies directly to my TV - no puases, breaks in picture or sound (compared to the previous model 3TB drive which was pretty ordinary).

THe not so good.....1 Wouldn't recommend this for novice / users wanting it to "just work" out f box - it's capable / designed for multiple users to access drive remotely (but I use it just for me, so I'm the administrator). 2. Firmware updates from WD tend to send it offline and then considerable time spent deciphering what the pretty coloured LED light at front now flashing means via the manual. 3. Can be temperamental / has very occasionally gone offline for no reason and needed to be reset, then shutdown, the restarted which takes time. 4. FORGET about trying to use the "SmartShare" back-up software - it's rubbish.

OVerall it's never failed and accessing it via my ipad or iphone when not at home has always been really goo

Terrible performance – I bought it three months ago. I was really excited to build my first Home network. Firstly, I had bad time finding the supporting software on Mac OS X. I found it and installed it. The performance was terrible and can't even run a video from it on iPad or TV. I contacted the support and they recommended to reset it. I did and replied. Guess what?… Read more

no one replied my back and ignored my case!

I tried to upgrade it and doing a factory reset with no hope. The performance is terrible. Can't tell about the cloud access from outside home, it is as slow as accessing files online 10-15 years ago.

I tried the mobile app and I can say it is below average quality!

Not recommended for anyone. Can't tell if there is a better vendor for NAS but stay away from Western Digital. Bad devices without customer support!

Stay away from western digital NAS devices – Been using this NAS over a year, the Ex2 version with 2 hard drives, been using over a year. First, the firmware thinks it's not connected to the internet when ftp is obviously working, but that isn't so big an issue. After a subsequent firmware some features got stripped out, in particular the option to power off. This is very stupid on the part… Read more

of WD. Second big issue is, prepare to experience extremely slow transfer speeds, to the point of disconnecting every 2-3 seconds when the storage drive is full. Total piece of junk. I'll be going for a Synology next time.

Terrible: most features just don't work – Bought the 4TB MyCloud and found that it simply cannot do most of the things it is supposed to be able to do. If you are not a home networking expert, definitely don't buy one. If you are, buy some other NAS, like a Buffalo or NetGear. The WD MyCloud tries to make complex networking simple, but fails completely. I sent mine back for a refund. … Read more

What the device can do:

- Set up individual users and 'shares' (partitions)

- Copy files to and from those shares over the local w-fi network

- Share files via FTP

What the device cannot do:

- Serve files over the local network fast enough to play media stored on it (played media skips while buffering, do media needs to be copied to a local drive before watching)

- Store large libraries of files (copying a 5,000 file library failed after 2,500 files and refused to resume)

- Share files remotely via the MyCloud online service - this service just does not work, the device can't contact WD's servers, so it is useless for remote access or sharing files with other users

- Backup a Mac with Time Machine (initial copy is slow, first few backups are very slow, after a week the backups stopped completely and the share would no longer load at all)

- Set up is definitely not possible ‘in minutes’ - set up and troubleshooting of the advertised capabilities has been ridiculously complex, requiring advanced networking skills (static IP addresses, port forwarding)