Performance, Conclusion, Pricing, and Final Thoughts

Performance:

With the My Cloud Mirror directly connected to our testbed (static IP) to minimize network traffic interference, we performed some large file copies to and from the Mirror:

Write:

Read:

The My Cloud, combined with Windows 8.1, uses a very high throughput version of SMB, and therefore achieves high throughputs seen above. I flipped the network configuration over to enable jumbo frames to see if we could squeeze any more throughput out of it:

Write:

Read:

Jumbo frames can help squeeze just a little bit more throughput from the Mirror, but remember, every link in your network chain (switches, routers, etc) must support jumbo frames in order for it to work. Otherwise it the link will default back to standard MTU sizes.

We did some throughput tests with connected USB devices on our My Cloud EX2 coverage. Check there for more detail, along with a note about possible exFAT device compatibility issues.

Conclusion:

Pros:

  • Compact, efficient, silent design
  • Excellent network throughput
  • Great out of the box / setup experience
  • Lower cost than My Cloud EX2

Cons:

  • Reduced feature set as compared to the My Cloud EX2
  • exFAT not supported on USB devices

Pricing:

These prices run ~$20 cheaper than the equivalent model of the EX2. Additionally, the EX2 is available in a diskless model, while the Mirror is only available with drives pre-installed.

Final Thoughts:

The Western Digital My Cloud Mirror rounds out WD's My Cloud suite of devices nicely. It keeps the same stellar performance of the EX line devices, as well as carrying down many of the features and apps present on the EX2. RAID adds much needed redundancy to the My Cloud line, and Western Digital's My Cloud suite lets you get to that redundantly stored data from just about anywhere – even away from home. Cloud-based backup options are available, as well as backup to locally connected devices or even other My Cloud devices on the same network. Transfer speeds were similar to the EX2, with ~70MB/sec writes and reads exceeding 100MB/sec over local gigabit Ethernet. If you've been eyeing the My Cloud EX2, but had no need for the added enterprise features of that device, the My Cloud Mirror will get you everything else and even save you a few bucks in the process.

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