My cloud ex2 ultra installation. New WD My Cloud EX2 Ultra Network Storage Provides Greater Opportunities for Creative Professionals
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My autumn experiments with NAS ended with me buying myself a new one. Apparently, self-hypnosis took its toll. This often happens to me: you write a review, re-read it and want to buy it.
The NAS really turned out to be great. It was only during the protracted setup process that I began to realize that even for me all these functions were somehow too much. By the time you get through the abundance, it will take you seven sweats. A particular problem for me was the backup settings between partitions: in Qnap this is implemented in the firmware itself, but on Synology you need to install a separate application. It's free and works great, but so far I've figured it out...
Now, if you think about it, what do I need from a NAS?
- Securely store data and provide access to it from different devices, from smartphone to TV.
- Provide remote access to data via the Internet.
- Be able to differentiate access rights.
- If necessary, download something from somewhere.
- Keep quiet.
That's all, actually. Previously, I was still worried about cross-backup between partitions, but, on reflection, I decided that it was unlikely that the data would croak on two drives at once. Only in case of physical impact, such as a flood or, God forbid, a fire. And in this case, a copy on a neighboring disk will definitely not do the job. And if so, it’s better to pour especially valuable data into some inexpensive cloud. In encrypted form, of course.
In principle, even a sophisticated router can handle all this - like the ASUS RT-AC87R I currently have. Connect a USB drive to it, and off you go. But here another requirement comes into force - volume. External drives of 16 terabytes, according to rumors, exist, but they cost so much that a NAS is still better.
And then I remembered again about the WD My Cloud line. I've known her since birth. Paranoia prevented me from using single-disk models. I tried a four-disc one - it’s too much, I don’t need that much, and it worked a little loudly by my standards. Let me try, I think I'll try the 2-disc one. How can we get along?
Four-disc My Cloud EX4 and two-disc EX2 Ultra. The photo is old, now the disk capacity is larger. They write on the Internet that the most modern of the two-disc My Clouds is My Cloud EX2 Ultra. The box itself, without discs, costs 12 thousand rubles. For comparison, I bought the Synology DiskStation DS216j for 15,500. That is, the savings are not that great, but they are there, but I was more interested in the ease of settings with the minimum required set of functions.
In general, I decided to take it for experiments. The packaging is moderately large, the equipment is spartan. The NAS itself, the power supply, screws for fastening and that's it. There are also instructions, but I didn’t read them, but in vain. Could have avoided one disappointment. But more about him below.
My Cloud EX2 Ultra weighs nothing, about 800 grams. The body is plastic, the chassis is metal. At the base there is a propeller, which in normal mode does not spin at all, but behaves very politely under load. In general, despite the apparent brevity and even flimsiness of the design, the NAS WD’s noise insulation is just fine. The disk noise remains somewhere inside.
Setting up the new NAS is very simple, and if you select the simple mode, even my tech-averse dad can do it. In the advanced mode, in general, there are also sparse settings, but there you can choose to merge disks or not, and if you merge, in what mode. I chose RAID 0 because, as you remember, I was still going to backup the most valuable things to the cloud.
It’s not by chance that I’m talking about the cloud. The fact is that the description of My Cloud EX2 Ultra talks about the possibility of installing the Acronis application True Image 2015. And I immediately started daydreaming - wow, cool! I will backup to the NAS, and the application itself will upload everything to the Acronis cloud! Beautiful, comfortable, modern! What happened in the end - . In short: the application turned out to be just a link to the Acronis website where you can buy the application at a discount. And that’s it, no more functionality is provided. Nice app.
Okay, I still have a NAS running 24/7 on Windows, so the task of uploading any amount of data to where it needs to be solved is not difficult.
The menu is as simple as a moo. Do you want to create a user? Here, create it. And immediately show him everything right. Do you need a folder? Make a folder. And indicate who should be allowed to see her and according to what protocols. Do you want to install the application? Well, this is a little more complicated, because there are not dozens or hundreds of applications, as on completely real NAS, but only 14. No, everything you need is there - Transmission rocker, WordPress server, a full-fledged Dropbox client (by the way, about clouds), a rather sophisticated Plex media server, a simple antivirus. That is, no frills, but everything a normal person needs is available.
The read speed in RAID 0 is limited by the capabilities of the gigabit interface. Recording is slower - an average of 60 MB/s. In my case, this is more than enough, because the vast majority of devices communicate with the NAS over the air, and there such speeds are still unattainable.
In reviews from colleagues, I read complaints about the lack of a power button on My Cloud EX2 Ultra. But this, it seems to me, is not a flaw of the engineers, but a conceptual feature. NAS WD is deeply utilitarian. Unlike “real” smart network drives, it doesn’t even try to pretend to be a computer.
There is an initially outlined range of tasks that the average user faces. All of them have been resolved to make it easy and simple for this user. You need something fancy - sorry, old man, this is not the place for you, there are a lot of alternatives in the store across the road.
Limiting the intelligence of devices is a good idea. Indeed, if I really get tired of delving into the intricacies of setting up equipment, a normal person would never like it. But there is a nuance here: we tend to overestimate our needs. You kind of understand with your head that you will never need a RADIUS server or OpenERP 7.0. But at the same time it itches - but how will you need it? What if I need warehouse management or CRM at home? But WD can’t do this!
I don’t know if you can step on the throat of your own doubts. But personally, I liked keeping it simple. Now I’m dragging all the data onto this beauty (it’s not a quick task), I’ll try to live on it for a month. Well, I’ll decide there.
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It's no secret that many people are now switching from desktop PCs to laptops, where they rule the roost. SSD drives. And such storage devices as HDDs are remembered less and less often. The WD company is known primarily for its hard drives. And she, of course, doesn’t want to lose you and me as customers. Therefore, cloud storage for storing and viewing the video and photographic material you have shot is exactly what we will need, one way or another, for a very long time. In this review we'll look at the dual-disc secure cloud storage WD My Cloud EX2 Ultra, with which you can not only securely store all the necessary information, but also have access to it from literally any corner of the planet and from any device.
Video review of WD My Cloud EX2 Ultra
Design and filling
Externally, EX2 Ultra looks stylish and at the same time minimalistic. It will fit well into the interior of both the office and home. On the front there are only indicators for the status of the system and hard drives. On the back you can find a gigabit network connector with indicators, two USB port 3.0 for connecting expansion drives, a hole for resetting settings and a power supply input.
EX2 Ultra can be purchased without discs or with different versions up to a total capacity of 16 TB from two 8 TB WD RED server series hard drives.
For example, if you are switching from a desktop PC to a laptop, then you can buy basic version EX2 Ultra without screws, insert your own from the PC, and later, when needed, buy first one for 8 TB, and then a second one. But for reliable operation 24/7 it is better to use hard disks, which were originally intended for this, that is, WD Red.
Process HDD replacement very simple - open the top cover, unscrew the pressure plate and pull the sticker. The discs are easy to take out and just as easy to put back in.
Between them is a board on which a dual-core 1.3 GHz Marvell® ARMADA® 385, 1 GB processor is soldered random access memory DDR3 and 256 MB flash memory.
Power consumption is stated at 5 W. You don’t have to worry about it at all by turning it off, for example, during vacation.
Interface
When you turn it on for the first time, you need to connect the power and cable local network. After turning on the device, enter mycloud.com/setup in the browser. During the automatic setup process, a Account mycloud.com and a set of folders on EX2 Ultra.
In the main window you can immediately see how much free space is left on the disk(s), what kind of content is occupied by the disk space, readings from hardware sensors, you can also check firmware updates, the current load on the network, processor and RAM.
In the next window, we configure the access of users and user groups to our disk and their access rights. This way you can assign special access rules, for example, for your wife/girlfriend/husband/boyfriend/brother/mom/dad and, most importantly, for your child.
In the third point of the interface, you can see the folders on the disk, indicate which of them should be made public and which hidden, plus a number of additional parameters.
One of the items is responsible for setting up remote access to our storage. After execution basic settings, you can work with media data on the EX2 Ultra from anywhere on the planet via the network, both through a browser and branded application MyCloud, available on tablets and smartphones supporting iOS and Android OS.
From your phone you can watch videos, listen to music, work with other files, and also do backup entire media library with photos and videos. For those who take a lot of photographs and videos, but the built-in memory of the smartphone is not enough, this is a great opportunity to quickly free up space in just one click.
Initially, the mirror mode is selected in the settings, that is, RAID 1. But you can also select other RAID 0, JBOD, or even two separate disks. I checked - even in mirror mode, the speed indicators of hard drives are limited by the throughput of a gigabit connection. Therefore, I don’t see much point in making RAID 0 for speed even for video editing or processing heavy RAW files. Moreover, if one of the disks fails, you can say goodbye to all the information. If you store really valuable photo/video materials, then it’s worth sacrificing half disk space in favor of a RAID 0 mirror. If something happens, we buy new disk, we insert the defective one together and continue working.
S.M.A.R.T technology is used to monitor the disk status. This way you can be warned in advance about an impending problem with one of the HDDs.
There are 4 modules pre-installed in the application section, but you can download others from the catalog. Thanks to the modules, the capabilities of WD EX2 Ultra can be significantly expanded to suit your personal needs.
One of the applications allows you to download torrents directly to network storage. I downloaded dozens of gigabytes of movies and they quietly downloaded in the background without loading my main work laptop.
The settings->network section contains a lot of all kinds of access protocols, ports and everything that a discerning user might need.
Here you can also configure the DLNA media server and the iTunes server.
You can watch movies on most smart TVs with the built-in DLNA media server. But it’s much more pleasant to do this using the pre-installed Plex media server. This is a service that structures your entire library of films and TV series and automatically downloads the correct title, description and covers from the network, even if you just downloaded one file from a torrent. A browser is enough to work on a PC, and corresponding applications are available on TVs.
In the settings section, you can select the language, time zone, change the password and much more.
Naturally, you have access to a number of desktop applications, of which the most important to highlight is WD SmartWare, with which you can back up information from certain partitions on your PC, or even separate folder. And all this can be configured to work automatically at a given time.
According to tests, WD My Cloud EX2 Ultra showed that throughput will be limited by the gigabit port, not the speed of the hard drives. It doesn’t matter whether you connect to it through a router or directly. Regarding Wi-Fi, here, of course, everything depends on the router, the Wi-Fi module in the laptop or PC, and other individual parameters.
I was able to copy and record at the same time HDD information with separate speeds of 80-90 MB/sec with active torrent downloading of several films. In my opinion, this is an excellent indicator of a productive device.
The noise from the disks and fan is practically inaudible even under maximum load, and the temperature also did not go beyond the norm during testing.
Results
For reliable storage of information, a regular two-disk storage unit, which you will connect via USB 3.0 to a PC, is sufficient. But if you want to be sure that all this information will be available to you 24/7, and even from anywhere in the world and from any device, then WD My Cloud EX2 Ultra is practically the only option.
Find out more details specifications and you can buy WD My Cloud EX2 Ultra on our partner’s page:
vulnerability in NAS devices from Western Digital. Or rather, a natural built-in backdoor, for which there is still no official patch at the moment.
The backdoor allows you to get root access to devices simply using a hard-wired login and password for many NAS solutions.
More details under the cut.
James Bercegay discovered the vulnerability in mid-2017. But after 6 months, which were given to WD to fix the problem, the official patch was never released.
Details about the vulnerability and an example of the exploit were published on GulfTech on January 5, 2018.
An additional nuisance of the backdoor is that the login and password are hardcoded and cannot be easily changed - anyone can use the admin login “mydlinkBRionyg” and the password “abc12345cba” to log into My Cloud and gain access to the shell, which frees up a lot of options unauthorized use. The situation should seriously hit the company's reputation - to overlook such shortcomings in the production of network NAS solutions, the security of which WD writes a lot (including on Habré) is very unprofessional.
If you think your home NAS is down open access from the Internet, but is simply turned on in your home on the local network, it can still be attacked through another user device (computer, tablet, phone). A user from his device can visit a website on which an attacker has posted a specially generated HTML image or IFrame, through which he can try to make a request to devices on your local network using predictable host names and gain unauthorized access without even trying to attack you with active scanning.
Models that are vulnerable:
My Cloud Gen 2My Cloud EX2
My Cloud EX2 Ultra
My Cloud PR2100
My Cloud PR4100
My Cloud EX4
My Cloud EX2100
My Cloud EX4100
My Cloud DL2100
My Cloud DL4100
Metasploit is publicly available - anyone can download it and use it to attack NAS devices. Yes, this is the very moment when scriptkids are dangerous for every owner of the above models.
Until the manufacturer releases a patch and offers a fix for the vulnerability, it is recommended to disable (or turn off when not in use) the devices in your local area and block their access to the Internet.
Update 1:
The November patch is rumored to solve the problem, thanks to FenrirRNot Vulnerable:
MyCloud 04.X Series with MyCloud 2.30.174
But WD was not very forthcoming about the existence of the problem, so many users never updated the firmware. For an actual test, you should not just try to enter your login and password, but rather use Metasploit.
Update 2:
The official WD blog just recently (January 9) published a document confirming the closure of this vulnerability with an update v2.30.172.In addition, it is reported that some models with firmware versions 2.xx, except My Cloud Home, may contain a vulnerability in " Dashboard Cloud Access" And port forwarding, which WD employees are working on, and the patch will be released very soon. Until this point, it is recommended to limit local access to trusted users and disable port forwarding.
Models that support Dashboard Cloud Access:
My Cloud EX2
My Cloud EX4
My Cloud EX2100
My Cloud EX4100
My Cloud EX2 Ultra
My Cloud DL2100
My Cloud DL4100
My Cloud PR2100
My Cloud PR4100
My Cloud Mirror
My Cloud Mirror Gen 2
And models with My Cloud Home do not contain such vulnerabilities, since they were architecturally developed from scratch, without legacy problems.
10.09.2015 7706
WD My Cloud EX2 Network Attached Storage (NAS) Review
The topic of network-attached storage (NAS) has been of interest to me for a long time. Because nowadays it’s practically impossible to do without separate autonomous drives, especially in a family where you’re not the only one using a computer. I’ve studied a lot of models - from highly advanced and expensive to simple and fairly cheap - and continue to study what appears on the market. align="justify">Today we will look at a very nice looking home NAS from Western Digital called WD My Cloud EX2. In this series the company produces this model, two-disk, and four-disk My Cloud EX4. So, the two-disk home drive My Cloud EX2.
RAM: 512 MB DDR3
Number of disks: 2
Protocols: FTP, CIFS/SMB, AFP, NFS, SNMP, SSH, HTTP, P2P
Interface: 2 × USB Host 3.0, Gigabit Ethernet
Size: 171.45 × 99.06 × 154.94 mm
Weight: 800 g (without discs)
Price: in Moscow 12-14 thousand rubles (without discs) Equipment A box painted in WD's signature blue color.
Inside: NAS, power adapter, network cable RJ-45, fasteners, brochures. 
Appearance and features
The design of the drive is very similar to external drives from WD, which are produced under the WD Passport brand (I had a couple of these). 
On the front panel there is a power indicator and two disk indicators. On the top end there is a latch that, when pressed, opens two drive bays. On the rear panel there are two USB 3.0 ports, a Gigabit Ethernet port, a power adapter input and a Kensington lock.
Open the top cover. There are two drive bays and a special retainer with a screw that must first be removed.
Western Digital kindly provided two of its WD Red drives for NAS testing, designed to work specifically in network drives in 24x7 mode, and I installed them in this NAS. 
By the way, the disks are different - one is WD Red Pro, the other is just WD Red. In general, I’ve been using WD Red disks (as well as WD Green for docking stations and WD Black for computers) for a long time - the impressions are the best, I’ve never had any problems. I inserted the disks and screwed the lock.
The NAS looks good, the workmanship and materials are very good. The drive is slightly shorter than conventional two-disk NAS, where the drives are usually located horizontally, but higher. It does not have a power button as a class, but, on the other hand, such devices usually operate in 24x7 mode, so why do they need a power button?
The program detected the device and offered to format the installed hard drives. 
After formatting, the program launched the NAS control panel. 
There was a message in the control panel that there were some problems with the second disk and the firmware needed to be updated. I updated the firmware and went to the “Storage” section to understand the disk and possible configuration options. In the "Storage" section you can set the mode of the disks used. And, as expected, there are several of them. 
JBOD mode. In this case, it means that the two disks are used strictly separately. (Although in many network drives, JBOD means using two disks as a single space.) Plus, it is possible to switch from the current mode to JBOD, that is, save data. Merge mode- two disks provide their total volume as one disk, maximum performance, but minimum reliability. Something happens to one disk - everything is covered. It makes sense to choose this mode only if data is constantly backed up to other media. RAID1- the contents of the first disk are mirrored to the second disk. Reliability is maximum (two copies), performance is not very high, the total capacity is equal to the capacity of one disk. I formatted the disks in JBOD. Everything went fine, there were no error messages. I received two 3 TB drives. 
Next, go to the "Resources" section - configure folders. There is a Public folder (for everyone), a SmartWare folder (for everyone), and a TimeMachineBackup folder for storing copies of files on Apple computers. 
You can create any of your own folders on any drive (if they are considered different) and set the types of access for different users: write-read, read-only, invisible folder. 
You can also connect external drives to the NAS via USB, give them your own names and set access types. 
Users are specified in the "Users" section. If you need to restrict some users' access to some folders (writable or even hide some folders in home network 
) - then specify the appropriate users. This is done quite simply, but for some reason you cannot use the Cyrillic alphabet. 
To limit user access to a specific folder, you need to turn off “Public” access in resources and set permissions for specific users. 
For example, like this. Read-write access, read-only, folder hidden. 
In the resources section, the administrator (that's you) can also set types of access for each user. For folders that are open to everyone, access is set to read-write by default; for folders that are not open to everyone, you can set the appropriate permissions. 
Cloud access - you can set up access to your NAS over the Internet from any smartphone or tablet (and computer). This is protected: you must first obtain special code
for each device, then install the My Cloud program on the device, and then enter the appropriate code for access. After this, on your smartphone-tablet from anywhere you get appropriate access to your storage folders and can use the posted media files. Here, for example, access from a smartphone. Folders - all files.
Video.
Photo.
Similarly, you can remotely connect to this drive from regular computers using the WD My Cloud program.
In chapter " Backups"You can set the saving of various folders on internal or external media. Backup via USB - saving some folders of the drive on external drives connected to the NAS. 
Create a copy job to a connected drive. 
This can be done automatically, according to a schedule. The mode of adding new data to an already created archive is also supported. 
Data can also be copied to the cloud, but only ElephantDrive and Amazon S3 are supported. But Dropbox is not supported, which is a bit of a shame. 
However, copying to Dropbox can be ensured by other means. 
Section "Applications". Here you can configure the operation of various download protocols.
Well, the drive settings.
It is possible for disks to go into sleep mode when not in use - a useful feature. 
Connecting a DLNA media server and iTunes.
And various diagnostic and recovery tools. By the way, ISO image support is also configured here - also a useful thing.
I checked how it all works. Copying large files from a computer disk to a NAS disk showed an average of 55 megabytes per second - this is quite normal speed. A similar copy to the disk of my home NAS (Synology DS213) shows the same results - 55-57 megabytes per second.
Copying large files to a connected USB 3.0
external drive
Now about the price. The cost of this NAS without disks in Moscow is approximately 12-14 thousand rubles (about $170 at the current exchange rate). The cheapest similar Synology (model DS215j) is about 18 thousand. The advanced Synology (DS213), which I use, is as much as 34 thousand. So the price for WD My Cloud EX2 seems quite reasonable. I really liked the device. A simple, convenient and very visual admin panel, silent, but at the same time quite productive work, remote access, availability of all necessary services. For such money - very a good option
, it seems to me. Our test laboratory has already been tested by three Western Digital network drives from the My Cloud cloud series, the main task of which is remote access access data from desktop and mobile client devices over the Internet. With a review of the fourth model, we complete the story about these devices, intended for a wide range of users. The two-disk NAS My Cloud EX2, which we will talk about today, in many ways resembles its younger two-disk brother My Cloud Mirror, but in its capabilities it is closest to the older four-disk My Cloud EX4, with the exception, of course, of those qualities that directly related to the construction of RAID arrays and the number.
hard drives Controller USB interface
3.0 YET-D720202 The My Cloud EX4 CPU does not have a built-in USB controller 3.0. For operation of two ports with connectors blue color on the other side motherboard
The device manufacturer additionally placed a YET-D720202 microcontroller manufactured by the Japanese company Renesas Electronics Corporation.
The set of interfaces for My Cloud EX2, like the entire line of My Cloud cloud NAS, is not very diverse. There are only two USB 3.0 ports for connecting external storage media and other devices. There are no eSATA ports on board the drive.
⇡ Equipment
My Cloud EX2 Package Contents
- The network drive comes in a fairly large bright blue cardboard box. The NAS is packaged with special care - just as carefully and neatly as the four-disk My Cloud EX4 model. In addition to the device itself, a standard set of accessories was found in the box:
- power adapter with a permanent cable and a pair of removable plugs of different standards;
- network cable;
- a short paper installation and configuration guide;
All the software necessary for operation must be downloaded from the manufacturer’s website - as with the vast majority of other modern NAS. Our My Cloud EX2 copy includes, as we have already said, two pre-installed Western Digital WD30EFRX Red series hard drives with a capacity of 3 TB each - no need to purchase additional drives.
⇡ Appearance and ergonomics
Appearance of My Cloud EX2
The device body is made of matte dark gray plastic. Perhaps this is the only significant difference appearance My Cloud EX2 from the appearance of the younger two-disc model My Cloud Mirror. The case has modest dimensions and very attractive shapes. Outwardly, it resembles a very thick book, and therefore will fit harmoniously on any shelf. Half of its edges are made sharp, and the second half is noticeably smoothed. The feeling of contrast is enhanced by the fact that the front and side surfaces are completely flat, while the back wall, as well as the top and bottom surfaces, are made with corrugation, in the depths of which numerous slots for ventilation are hidden.
Indicator panel
This NAS does not have control buttons (even power). But at the bottom front panel on a standout for its more dark color The insert contains three LED indicators that inform the user about the power status and activity of the hard drives. There is also no USB port on the front panel. This design feature inherent in all network storage devices in the My Cloud line.
Back wall
Bottom view
On the back wall there are USB ports, a connector for connecting a power adapter, and a hole for attaching a Kensington-type security lock. The bottom surface, like the back, has many ventilation holes. Four legs made of soft synthetic material are attached here for reliable horizontal installation of the device.
HDD door
The My Cloud EX2's disk bay is accessed through the top hinged panel. The door has a classic spring lock and opens by pressing a large button located at the front edge.
⇡ Installation of hard drives and internal structure
Installation of hard drives
Disk bay
Discs with fastening elements
Like other NAS models of the “cloud” My Cloud series, the My Cloud EX2 network drive is designed for mounting exclusively 3.5-inch media. But installation is extremely simple: you just need to open the top door of the disk compartment, remove the disk-fixing plate and carefully install the drives in their places. This NAS does not have a sled. Their functions are performed by metal guides on the inside of the case with grooves along which the screws screwed into the drives should slide. To simplify the reverse process, that is, removing the disks, a hard plastic tab is attached to one of the screws on each disk, allowing you to easily and simply pull the drive out.
Internal structure of the body
The internal structure of the case is made of metal. It is a rigid frame in which there is practically no free space, but neither stiffening ribs nor rubber inserts are forgotten, which dampen the disk during operation, as well as protect it from small external influences. At the bottom there is a 35mm fan installed at a slight angle. It is noteworthy that it also rests on rubber pads.
System board mounting
The motherboard of My Cloud EX2 is extremely compact. It is located not on one of the side walls, like other NAS, but in the very center of the disk compartment between the media installed in it. The board is carefully grounded to the case using metal brackets. Everything is assembled extremely carefully and does not deserve even the slightest comments from a picky user.