Western Digital My Cloud EX2 Review

We have previously looked at and reviewed the Western Digital My Cloud EX4 and were extremely impressed with it, so much so we awarded it out Editor’s Choice award. Now Western Digital has sent us their next model down, the My Cloud EX2 4TB (WDBVKW0040JCH). These two units are near identical in hardware, aside from the EX2 having two less drive bays, no display on the front, and a smaller processor(1.2GHz vs the EX4’s 2.0GHz), and completely identical in software and graphical UI. With that being the case, rather than re-visit all the areas covered in our WD My Cloud EX4 Review, we will focus on performance testing this go around.

Prior to getting into the performance testing, let’s take a quick look at the pertinent product specifications for the WD My Cloud Ex2 here. I have to admit, after reviewing the list myself, I can’t help but be impressed with the sheer amount of NAS features and functionality that is packed into this small form factor device. The features set appears just as complete as many of the other NAS devices we have reviewed from Synology, Thecus, Infotrend, and Lacie. About the only glaring shortcoming I can see is the amount of RAM installed, with only 512MB available I am curious to see how well the WD My Cloud EX2 will perform.

With the product specifications out of the way, let’s take a look at what we get with the EX2.

Packaging:

As is always the case, the packaging from WD is top notch. The box itself clearly identifies the product and does a great job of evangelizing the product features and functionality. The WD My Cloud EX2 unit is sufficiently packed, leaving very little chance of receiving it in a damaged state. With everything unpacked, here are the contents:

• 1 x Western Digital EX2
• 2 x WD Red 2TB drives (pre-installed)
• 1 x Power Adapter
• 1 x Cat 5e Ethernet Cable

There isn’t much in the way of included accessories, but given the connectivity requirements for the WD My Cloud EX2, it appears that WD has provided everything needed to get started right out of the box.

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