Packaging and Setup

Packaging:

The My Cloud EX4 came well packaged and protected. Drives come pre-installed with WD Red models appropriate to the capacity option purchased. Included in the box are a power supply and 6 foot Cat 5e rated ethernet cable.

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Setup:

Western Digital has made it a point that these devices are ready to go straight out of the box. Provided you have purchased a model with included capacity, the volume will come pre-configured as a standard RAID-5 array. This can be changed to suit user customization preferences, but the point is that most standard users will be able to unbox a new EX4 and be storing and sharing files within a very short period of time. No extra steps configuring and initializing the array.

Once on your network and fired up, the EX4 pulls its own IP from your router or DHCP server. This IP is viewable simply by pressing the down arrow on the front panel of the EX4. Simply browse to that IP, or to the MyCloudEX4 network name, and you are presented with a simple sign-in:

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A password can be configured once in the console, but the default is none. Default security is only for LAN devices to connect (not WAN), so the configuration console is reasonably secure out of the box. Once you're in, the device presents a neat and tidy UI:

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With a range of apps installed (more on that later), the EX4 presents itself on your network in multiple ways:

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Up top you see the standard Samba capable device name, followed by various media devices, and a standard storage device. All of these are linked to the same EX4, just via different available protocols.

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