WD My Cloud Expert Series 8TB EX2 Ultra 2-Bay NAS Server (2 x 4TB)
$269.49
In stock
Description
With a 1.3 GHz Marvell ARMADA 385 Dual-Core processor, the My Cloud Expert Series 8TB EX2 Ultra 2-Bay NAS Server from WD has the processing power necessary to manage and distribute files across a variety of platforms. Accompanying the enhanced dual-core processor is 1GB of DDR3 RAM to ensure multiple tasks can be carried out without causing the system to lag. The My Cloud EX2 Ultra comes pre-populated with two WD 4TB RED 5400 rpm SATA III 3,5″ hard drives for a total storage capacity of 8TB. This storage can be configured RAID 0 for enhanced performance, RAID 1 for redundancy, or JBOD and SPAN to suit your specific storage needs. To connect to your network and host system, there is one Gigabit Ethernet port and two USB 3.0 Type-A ports.
Once configured, WD offers a variety of features to make it easier to manage and stream your content directly from the My Cloud EX2 Ultra. With the My Cloud app and MyCloud.com, users can access and manage files from virtually anywhere via a computer, Android, or iOS device. WD Sync simplifies the process of syncing media across different devices to ensure data is constantly backed up. The EX2 Ultra can even stream content to mobile devices, game consoles, and more as it supports the Plex Media Server application. The capabilities of this storage server don’t stop there thanks to third-party app support complete with a full suite of applications to suit the needs of a wide variety of users. Included with this My Cloud EX2 is an Ethernet cable, an AC adapter, and Milestone ARCUS Surveillance software with two free camera licenses.
Note: The My Cloud EX2 Ultra includes a complimentary 2-month membership to the Adobe Creative Cloud Photography plan, which includes Adobe Photoshop Lightroom CC, Photoshop CC, 20GB of cloud storage, and more. This membership is redeemable during product registration. An Adobe ID and network connection are required. This offer is only available in countries where Adobe Creative Cloud is available and is limited to one per new Adobe user account. It must be redeemed by July 31, 2020 while activation code supplies last.
Additional information
| Weight | 6.35 lbs |
|---|---|
| Dimensions | 12.05 × 9.4 × 7 in |
| CPU | 1.3 GHz Marvell ARMADA 385 Dual-Core |
| Supported Protocols | AFP<br>Bonjour<br>CIFS/SMB<br>DFS<br>FTP<br>NFS<br>SFTP<br>SNMP<br>SSH<br>WebDAV<br>iSCSI |
| Certifications | RoHS, as per Manufacturer |
| Storage Temperature | -4 to 149°F / -20 to 65°C |
| Operating Temperature | 41 to 95°F / 5 to 35°C |
| AC Input Power | 100 to 240 VAC, 50 / 60 Hz |
| Encryption | 256-Bit AES |
| Max User Accounts | 800 |
| Max Groups | 200 |
| iSCSI Support | Yes |
| RAID Modes | RAID 0, 1, JBOD, SPAN |
| Total Installed Memory | 1 GB DDR3 |
| Form Factor | Desktop |
| Compatible Drive Interface | SATA III |
| Connections | 1 x RJ45 (Gigabit Ethernet)<br />2 x USB Type-A (USB 3.1 / USB 3.2 Gen 1 (5 Gb/s)) |
| Number of Bays | 2 x 3.5" |
| Rotational Speed | 5400 rpm |
| Interface | SATA III |
| Cache Memory per Drive | 64 MB |
| Included Drives | 2 x 4 TB 3.5" HDD |
| Total Raw Capacity | 8 TB |
| Status Monitoring | LED Indicator |
Reviews (155)
155 reviews for WD My Cloud Expert Series 8TB EX2 Ultra 2-Bay NAS Server (2 x 4TB)
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Bernadine Gottlieb (verified owner) –
While I think that the system has great features and find the NAS easy to use, it is not a stable device. RAIDs seem to easily get corrupted and crash. The system is generally fragile. Any interruption of power will destabilize the system and cause your drives to register inconsistently as in good condition or bad. My concern is that the fragility of this device puts your data a risk. I have a My Cloud EX2 and had the same problems, which I hoped that would be addressed in the EX2 Ultra. It wasn’t. I hope that the My Cloud team will improve the reliability of this product. It is functionally good, but stability and reliability is much more important.
Buford Feeney (verified owner) –
I replaced the My Book Live Duo with the new My Cloud Expert Series EX2 Ultra recently. I have found the new EX2 version to by setup to be more flexible and the performance a serious step up from the previous version. The system was easy to setup and configure and the file transfer rate from my computers is faster. My hope is that this version is a reliable as my prior version, which worked 10 years without any issues..
Florida Pacocha (verified owner) –
I’ll have to give the short version of my experience since there is not enough space to give the entire account. I am a total Techie and have been using G-Tech for many years now. I thought I would try another option due to recent drive failures. Someone recommended WD’s NAS systems for my many TBs of backup needed. 1. I bought a 2TB MyCloud to see how it works. It didn’t, I managed to get 1+TB on the drive but it pooped out and despite many months of trying to recover it lost all the data. Didn’t have it backed up twice yet… uugh.. 2. It took 4-6 months to get someone to replace the device and many many unanswered emails and phone calls. Finally after much pain, they offered me an upgrade for the troubles and sent me an EX2 Ultra (12TB). I was thrilled despite the arduous journey trying to complete a simple task. 3. The drive arrived without a power supply and it didn’t take the same one for the MyCloud. Great, I have 12TB with no way to power it up without submitting another trouble ticket and many emails. I found a power supply, awesome! 4. I begin the much awaited backup of REALLY important documents and get as far as 4 TB backed up. Not long after my Mac freezes EVERY time I access the device. This was replicated on 3 different computers. I spent week troubleshooting it (e.g. power cycling, firmware updates, different configurations on the network, connecting directly etc.) nothing worked and now I have two drives, 6 months lost, lost data and still need to backup my data. I cannot say enough…. buy at your own risk. I have a small tech company and can say I am a super user, perhaps WD just is not up to the task for professional grade backups and NAS devices. Maybe next year.
Daija Dooley (verified owner) –
I use it for storage and remote access of large quantities of photos, and documents. I had minimal bumps setting it up, the quick start guide is perhaps too quick. It could be a little more comprehensive on the setup. I have a fair knowledge of networking so I was able to get it going fine. I could see where someone with minimal computer knowledge or networking experience would struggle setting this unit up. I have not tried media streaming, so I cannot answer for that capability. Western Digital has always been a trusted and preferred drive. This cloud drive is no exception. It works plenty fast on my home network, and is as fast as any website download when accessed remotely. Summed up: Works great. Needs improvement on set-up and installation instructions.
Donavon Stoltenberg (verified owner) –
Fast and easy to install and set up, easy to configure.
Daniella Waelchi (verified owner) –
After using a single-disk MyCloud for some years, which is still working quietly and well, I went with this unit to get a box for TV streaming my whole library. I already have multi-backups of my stuff, so this was just to run movies and such. Two WD Red 8-TB drives got put in and I started transferring. Under load, the temp started going past 52-53 degrees C, which felt unsettling, regardless of what the drives are ‘supposed’ to be able to take. This in a cool room with the top of the unit open, and the internal fan never came on…I couldn’t touch the top of the drives. While the unit was transferring, I went to my hardware store and got a little USB fan (a Polaraire, nice unit if you need one). I plugged it in and placed it directly on top of the open EX2, blowing down on the drives. WIthin 5-6 minutes, the temp was down to 36 C on both drives. Then I tried simple playback of a file without the new fan. The temp got right back up to 52 C. even with the top open. It’s a pity, really, because the unit is clean-looking and easy to work with in terms of software and feeding it drives, but it lacks the type of cooling to keep up with two drives without them running hot seemingly continuously. At the cost of WD Reds, I don’t want to have in the back of my head that they are cooking every time I use them, so this unit is going back.
Edward Streich (verified owner) –
It’s seems like a good device, but I’m still in the learning process for it’s capabilities…
Valentine Nienow (verified owner) –
I own three of these units, the oldest being about four years old now. The drives are extremely easy to install and configure, and the browser-based admin control panel has all the features you need. I have mine all set up in RAID-1 (mirrored) which is the default when shipped, but they can also be configured as RAID-0 (striped) if that’s your preference. They perform quickly and smoothly. I did have one disk fail a year or so ago, but I bought a replacement RED drive from WD and swapped it in myself (very easy and user-friendly), powered the drive back up and it effortlessly restored everything from the mirrored disk with zero data loss. This is the best consumer-level NAS drive on the market in my opinion, combining speed, reliability and ease of use. Highly recommended.
Immanuel Kunde (verified owner) –
I bought it to my nigbores
Jovany Morissette (verified owner) –
I assigned a fixed IP address to the drive before attaching it to my system. It worked from the very start. I used True Image software to backup my computer to the drive. It took less than 2 hours to backup 650 GB of HD videos using a wired connection (not wireless). I’m using Windows 10 and at first I found it hard to view all folders/files on the new drive. I didn’t want to do mapping of each folder. I discovered that I could see all folders by simply clicking as follows: Show hidden icons WD Access MYCloudEX2Ultra Open. To simplify further, I created a shortcut on my desktop to one of the drive’s folders. Now clicking on that shortcut, File Explorer will allow me to navigate the entire drive. Nice.
Mack Champlin (verified owner) –
I purchased this product to allow me to back up my collection of photos. I have them cataloged by camera models and within the models I have client folders. My storage capacity on my photo hard drive was down to 20 GB. I decided to purchase this NAS device so that I could move camera folders of the cameras I no longer owned to free up 1 TB of space. The reason for the 3 stars is the complex software and my inability to access the backed up files easily. I eventually purchased a newer computer with USB 3 ports and attached a device that allowed me to place two hard drives in hot swappable bays. It’s fast enough that I can use them directly from the dock. I now use the Storage Sever for back up purposes only.
Gennaro Schamberger (verified owner) –
Easy to setup, works well especially accessing files on mobile devices. Just sits in the corner and works in the background.
Gloria Breitenberg (verified owner) –
The EX2 Ultra was very easy to install and setup. It connected right away with the links and was able to be used within minutes of powering up. The product looks great sitting on my desk and added the backup capabilities that I need.
Leif Gaylord (verified owner) –
Prior to purchasing the EX2 Ultra I had an earlier version of MyCloud for several years. This upgrade has been an absolute pleasure to use and it was easy to set up. It is extremely easy to access remotely from anywhere and from all of my mobile devices. EXCELLENT!
Holly Funk (verified owner) –
Using it for all my media. RAID 1 set up lets you have mirror copy in case one of the drives fail. They are WD Red drives which are supposed to be high reliability…we will see.
Tatyana Towne (verified owner) –
Easy to set up and wow, it does the job. First of all, I set mine on RAID 1 so I have a mirror back-up of everything. Therefore, I really have an 8TB back…….but twice. I set mine for auto backup every time I’m on one of my two laptops PLUS when my wife is on her desktop. How great is that. You don’t do anything. Let’s say you add a picture to your desktop. Without doing anything extra, this NAS creates TWO backups of that photograph. Exception is e-mail which it backs up weekly instead of whenever you turn on your computer. Want to back up an external hard drive to your NAS? No problem, just plug it in the external HD to the back of your NAS via USB cord, and let the backup begin. I did a lot of research before purchasing this unit and well, let’s say this is one of the best purchases of electronic equipment I’ve made in a long time. Oh, BTW, want to keep an extra copy of your backup off premises? Simply buy an extra WD 8TB (red version) and simply swap it out with one of the two already in the NAS. Couldn’t be easier.
Mya Beier (verified owner) –
The same ease of setup and operation as previous My Cloud devices but with RAID. I like the fact that I had a choice to use the same media server as my older units making the transition transparent to my using systems. The new management interface is easier to navigate, more intuitive and substantially more flexible.
Leta Kihn (verified owner) –
i bought two of these to put at my 2 homes. i use the resilio sync app that you can install to keep them synchronized. so whichever house i’m at, can use my local storage and it’s updated on the other side. the systems are super quiet, low power, and support at-rest encryption, so if they are stolen, i don’t have to worry about my data. there is an option to automatically mount the encrypted drive at boot up – i don’t know why you would do that, it seems to defeat the purpose.
Randall Kiehn (verified owner) –
It is great being able to access my photos from any item that can access my network. Love the back-up software that came with the unit. The only negative thing is the somewhat brief installation and set-up directions – as has been mentioned by other reviewers as well.
Alexandre Wehner (verified owner) –
Setup took minutes. The easiest electronic device I have ever setup. Plug it in and it works. It’s that easy. Download the WD software onto each computer and an app to your phone then start using it. Making an account for each family member makes a folder on the disks that everyone sees by default. If you set a password for the user accounts the shares are private and need to be shared. There is a default public folder that everyone can see. The main purpose was to back up 30 years of pictures and video. We also use it as a shared source for music.