Even in the middle of the dreaded Delhi summer we hear a lot about clouds these days. But these are more nebulous and refer to virtual spaces where you can store access and data. We have been talking about the cloud for many years now, but it is only in the past few months that you have been able to bring one home, literally.
The first personal cloud devices were launched by SeaGate, which brought out the easy to use Satellite range of wireless storage devices last year. This year, rival WD has entered the fray with its MyCloud range. Yes, the new devices definitely have larger storage, but are they better?
We got to review the WD MyCloud 2TB, which is actually a storage drive not much larger than the connected storage drives of this configuration. First impression is the best impression and this adage works wonderfully well in the case of tech reviews. I could set up my MyCloud in under five minutes, and that is the kind of ease technology should promote. Go to the WD site, download the software with your device connected to the router and the entire process should be a breeze.
The software creates a dashboard and tutorial on your desktop. The dashboard lets you see the free storage, number of connected devices and users with access. While earlier personal cloud devices also let you access files from multiple devices using apps, none of them had the MyCloud option of sharing files publicly.
MyCloud also lets you use the MyCloud app to access files stored on it from all types of smartphones and tablets. I even loaded the app on my Android media box and played files over the air. The file transfer is seamless and there is no lag whatsoever.
However, on the flipside the dashboard does not give you a direct Dropbox-like folder to save files from a PC. You have to open the MyCloud folder using run and then save files there. You can create a shortcut of these folders to the desktop, but wonder why it couldn?t have been folded into a better UI.
The other issue is that the Dashboard is online and browser based and often has trouble loading. It is a good thing that you don?t have to use it all that often.
VERDICT: If you are the sort of person who runs an RSS feed of torrent files for latest TV shows, then you should get a MyCloud to be able to run the show from any of your devices, anywhere you are. You will however need a good internet connection to fuel the cloud. Yes, MyCloud could have been far better had the UI been better thought of. But the good thing about the device is the fact that it is quite affordable.
Rs 10,999 for 2 TB (Rs 12,999 for 3 TB and Rs 14,999 for 4 TB)
