Are you running out of space? Your personal needs more footage with fail-safe storage? This one is for you. Western digital has introduced a new NAS for home/SSI use. It is a 4TB NAS in RAID configuration i.e. a small networked hard drive with an abundance of secure storage. WD calls it My Book World Edition II
The Build:
It’s a decent sized NAS built with decent polyfiber plastic. Right now available in white. It has no. of white LEDs to give out normal opearation indications
My Book plugs in to your router via ethernet to give you up to 4TB of networked storage. You plug it in, it shows up on your network, and that’s that. Additoinal advanced software bundle comes box packed.
Features Overview:
My friend bought this recently (at $650), so I got chance to get my hands-on. It is a 4TB RAID 1 mirrored drive version of the My Book. This means you are having 2TB of usable space and rest of 2 TB is blocked for backup so that if one drive fails, you don’t lose anything. Company explains this as:
The double-safe place for your data – Using RAID mirroring technology, this system automatically and continuously maintains a second copy of your data for extra safe data protection. If one drive in this two-drive system ever fails, the system continues to run and your data is safe. How’s that for peace of mind?
Centralized storage to share and stream all your family’s digital content – Built-in media server for streaming music, photos and movies to any PC, Mac or DLNA certified multimedia device such as Playstation® 3, Xbox 360®, wireless digital picture frames, and connected audio receivers. DLNA 1.5 & UPnP certified. Centralize your music collection and play from Macs or Windows PCs using iTunes® software.
Customizable: Options are NOT Limited, it can be tweaked to your needs. If you wanted more speed/space, the drive can be reconfigured to RAID 0 (Striped) mode allowing you to access all 4TB. Amazingly, it also features a capacity gauge which lets you quickly estimate the usage statistics.
It’s easy to configure with your network and setup with iTunes in minutes. I was able to integrate this mini monster within 40minutes to have all types of recovery modes and up running integrated with iTunes.
Connectivity: Gigabit Ethernet (10,100,1000Mbps), Wi-Fi connectivity.
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Benchmarking the Drive:
Benchmark 1 – Speed Tests: Transferring 1.5GB movie file
Time: 2:32 minutes avg. transfer rate = 10.5 MBps
Which is undoubtfully, pretty decent considering the fact that this is a mirrored and network drive.
But there could be a catch in the transfer rates, as the target device was a PC with 7200rpm SATA drive, this could be PC’s max write speed.
Speed Test 2:
Scenario : Large no. of files (Transformers 2 Game DVD) Total size 8GB
Results: 25:41 minutes.
Benchmark 2: Stream BluRay HD over Wifi
Results: Smooth movie playback with minor jerks during start. Thumbs up for streaming.
Benchmark 3 : Recovery Test
Scenario: Delete all files created in speed Test 2 and Attempt recovery.
Results: All files recovered within 30 minutes with no loss at all.
Verdict: A lot of juice in a small sized Home NAS. Better than the ones I have seen previously.
Pros: Decent wifi streaming, good speeds over Ethernet, compact enclosing
Cons: Metal body, Removeable disks on back would have been preferrable, expensive.
Watch the instructional Video:
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