WD My Cloud 3 TB Network HDD Review

Using the My Cloud 3 TB

Setting up the My Cloud is as easy as it can be. Simply connect it to your router or switch and plug in its power adapter. Then, download and install on your PC its software in order to access more functions. The software is very intuitive and, after a few simple settings, the drive is available on your network.

You can, additionally, configure more users, shared folders, or security options. On Windows, the shared folders appear as simple network drives, that can even be mapped as local drives.

To make it accessible from outside your local network, through the Internet, you just need to create an account at the WDMYCloud website; after logging in, you will be able to access your files stored at home from anywhere in the world. It also works with tablets and smartphones, through an app.

Another great funcionality of the My Cloud is the expandability. You just need to plug an external hard drive or USB drive to the USB 3.0 port at the rear of the device, and this drive starts to be shared on your network by the My Cloud.

Opening the WDMyCloud icon on Windows Explorer opens the page shown in Figure 10 on your browser, where you can also menage the device, setting users and shared folders, updating firmware, configuring automatic backups, etcetera.

Figure 10: My Cloud control panel

The My Cloud can also be set to work as a DLNA and iTunes media streaming server.