WD My Cloud EX2 2-Bay Personal Cloud NAS Review
Power Consumption and Final Thoughts
When it comes to power consumption the WD My Cloud EX2 4TB isn’t too bad. We found that it uses around 5 Watts at when power saver mode is enabled. When the drives come out of their low power state they spike up to ~30 Watts during the few seconds it takes for them to spin back up to operational speeds.
During a single user file transfer we found the WD My Cloud EX2 to use right around 14 Watts of power, which is not alarming or out of the ordinary for a 2-bay NAS device.
Final Thoughts and Conclusions:
We’ve reviewed all of the WD My Cloud storage devices and have found them all to be very solid devices that are stable and very easy to use. The WD My Cloud EX4 was found to be hardware limited and thankfully that wasn’t the case with the WD My Cloud EX2. The WD My Cloud EX2 had 64MB/s read and 34MB/s write speeds in our drag and drop file folder test and never once did we see the processor or memory stay pegged for more than a brief second. WD did a good job with the hardware and software on the My Cloud EX2. Many of the software refinements seen on this user interface were implemented by WD after hearing consumer feedback on the other My Cloud products that came out 4-5 months prior. So, even if you buy the WD My Cloud EX2 today, you are getting a polished and refined user experience.
The WD My Cloud EX2 is available as a drive-less 0TB model for $199.99 and move up to the populated models; 4TB for $369.99, 6TB for $469.99 and 8TB for $569.99. All of the My Cloud EX 2 Personal Cloud Storage servers that come with pre-installed drives feature WD Red hard drives that are optimized for high-performance NAS devices. Is it less expensive to build it yourself or buy one already populated? A quick look online discovered we could get WD Red 2TB drives for $98.95 shipped each. This means that you could ‘build’ your own 4TB WD My Cloud EX2 right now for $397.89, which is about $30 more than buying it configured and ready to go. Prices change all the time, but if you are handy and want save a few bucks be sure to price it up each way!
The WD My Cloud EX2 is a solid 2-bay NAS device and we most certainly recommend the My Cloud EX2 for anyone that is looking to try out a NAS. The WD My Cloud EX2 is simple to use and we all need a proper way to back up your storage. All WD My Cloud EX2 models are backed by a 2-year warranty with support from WD.
Legit Bottom Line: The WD My Cloud EX2 is an affordable 2-bay NAS that is easy to setup and will bring data redundancy to your home or small office!
