WD's MyCloud or just create your own NAS?

[Battousai01]

Hi guys, I am still contemplating on what is the better option. Create my own NAS using an old hardware or just buy WD's MyCloud? or just buy a router with built-in USB port for connecting external drive.

The following are my concerns when choosing a NAS solution:

1. security
2. cost
3. no experience in setting up network stuff but I am willing to learn

For MyCloud, I understand that you will need to go through WD website before you can access your files I think I am partly ok with that but here in our place MyCloud is a bit expensive and it only has 1 drive (2TB drive) so backing up data needs one more external drive.

buying a router with a built-in USB port for storage means I need to set-up FTP or some other non-proprietary ways of accessing my files via the internet, but is this safer?

Lastly, can you configure MyCloud files to be accessed using non-proprietary methods? i.e. FTP?

 

[frowertr]

If your aren't network/computer savvy, I'd probably be reluctant to recommend to you to "roll your own" NAS.

I really like the Synology units if you aren't dead set on WD. Lots of packages built in to allow you to access it remotely if that is your end goal.

 

[Red Squirrel]

DIY will always be more expensive but also more expandable. You can start with something like a Supermicro 24 bay case for example, but it's basically like building a whole computer so you're looking at a few grand by the time you get all the components such motherboard, cpu, Sata cards etc...

Or you can pay about $600 for a 4 bay that's plug and play, but then that's it, it's a 4 bay, it's a proprietary raid, you can't do anything more with it after that like expansion or what not.

Basically if you want expandability go the DIY route, if you don't think you will fill up a 4 drive raid 5 or 10 any time soon and want to save money then a premade 4 bay is probably ok too and will be cheaper and easier to setup.

I'm not sure what My Cloud is but if it's what I think it is (some kind of cloud solution) then I would not bother. Stick to local storage and devices that support normal protocols like FTP, SMB, NFS etc.

 

[386DX]

I have the MyCloud you do not have to go through the Western Digital website to access your data you can just use local accounts to access your data. However using a WD account does simplify accessing your MyCloud remotely as you do not have to rely on a DDNS service and manually opening ports on your firewall. The MyCloud unit supports standard protocols like SMB, FTP, and also has the ability to serve as a DLNA and iTunes media server. For simplicity sakes the McCloud works and is very convenient to setup multiple users. The permissions are fairly basic though so don't expect the ability to micro manage permissions for nested folders as you can't just the main share. For the price it's hard to beat you pay maybe $20-30 premium over the regular external and you get essentially a basic NAS functionality at decent speed. It also supports the ability to schedule snapshots of your data onto an attached USB drive so there's lots to like for the price.

 

[Gryz]

I would guess that the most important factor is: what is the speed of your Internet-connection ? And not only downstream, but also upstream ? And what will you be using your NAS for ? And do you have a maximum amount of data you are allowed to transfer over your Internet-connection or not ?


I'd be inclined to not use the cloud for data-storage, unless I had at least 50 Mbps down and 10 Mbps up. Suppose you want to upload a 5 GB file to your NAS in the cloud. (Average size of a DVD). With 10 Mbps upstream speed, that'll take at least: 10 Mbits/sec * 8 bits in a byte = 1.2 MBytes/sec = 10% overhead for DSL or cable = ~ 1 MByte/sec = 5 GB / 1 MBytes/sec = ~ 5000 seconds.

That's an hour and 25 minutes for uploading a 5 GB file, if your upload speed is 10 Mbps.
Local access over 100 Mbps Ethernet would have been 7 minutes.
Local access over a 1 Gbps Ethernet would have been 42 seconds.


Local data should stay local. The cloud is overrated.

 

[Battousai01]

Thanks guys for the replies! Right now, after considering my budget, WD's MyCloud seemed to be a bit expensive. My main purpose is just to be able to access files located in a central location from across multiple devices at home locally and sometimes accessing some files outside home via the internet. File size that I will be accessing will not be very big, I will just be browsing pictures, accessing and editing office files and sometimes stream movies within the local network. When I am outside home, I will mostly access some office files and browse photos so basically light use only.

With this, I found some other wireless router with USB port wher0 eyou can connect an external drive. I am considering the D-Link AC1000 (http://ca.dlink.com/products/connect/wireless-ac1200-dual-band-cloud-router-dir-820l/), my only question is can I access my files outside home via the internet using this device via standard protocols like FTP, SMB etc.?

 

[Battousai01]

Hi guys, I just found that there are some other devices that can turn your external USB hard drive into a local NAS, these are the following devices I found so far: Pogolpug, Seagate Dockstar and Addonics NAS adapter. Has anyone tried these NAS USB adapters before? How was the performance of these USB NAS adapters?

Here an article about these NAS USB adapters I found:

http://www.gadgetreview.com/pogoplu...-any-hard-drive-to-a-nas-works-with-a-usb-hub

http://www.cloudcomputingtechie.com/best-3-devices-to-make-your-own-private-cloud-storage/

http://electronicdesign.com/embedded/pogoplug-and-dockstar-are-internet-nas-boxes

 

[ksec]

Most of the USB NAS, or Router Based USB HDD as NAS, are very slow. If you dont mind the speed, that it is ok. But it will never be as stable as a proper NAS.

2nd thing is you should take into account Silent File corruption.