Home setup help needed with an EX2 Ultra

My Cloud OS 3 Personal & Network Attached Storage My Cloud EX2
1

Hi,
Can anyone help me to figure out the best way to setup my home network with a MyCloud EX2 Ultra.
Situation is this:

  1. Broadband router located in living room
  2. My home office located about 10m(30ft) away, with no chance of ‘neat’ cable run/connection (rented house so no drilling through walls/ceilings, etc). I could do it with a ‘temporary’ looking loose long ethernet cable but this looks terrible, constant trip hazard, and 2 doorways on route means cant close doors properly.
  3. Partner and kids computers in other locations in the house - but I DON’T want them to have access to the EX2 as this is purely for my work.
  4. I have 1 x Windows PC and 2 x Macs and I want to have fastest and most stable connection to the EX2 possible (basically the EX2 acts like a ‘server’ ?).
  5. 95% of the time I dont need to access the EX2 through the internet, but in the times I do, I need it to be connected so I can access files when out of my office.
  6. I would ideally like to locate the EX2 in a ‘hidden’ location to provide some protection if my house was ever robbed. This could be in my office somewhere, but not ‘on show’ so to speak.

My thoughts:

  1. Current setup is EX2 is next to router, plugged in and all machines on teh network (including partner and kids) can see/access it. I am finding the connection sometime drops between my PCs and the EX2. I have mapped the drive onto my Windows PC, and added it via ‘Connect to Server’ function on Mac.
  2. An option I thought would be to move the EX2 into my office and get a network switch and connect the EX2 to it as well as my 3 computers. The EX2 would not be connected to the router as it is too far away (and issues with that as above). This removes it from my home network (good) and internet also (not so good). If I ever need to access the EX2 remotely/when out of the office, I will have to disconnect the cable from the switch, and then plug it into the router temporarily.
    My understanding is that the EX2 must be connected via ethernet to thre router to give it internet cloud capabilities?
    It all sounds to clunky and in a way defeats the purpose of having a cloud solution like this…

I have OS5 I think (Firmware 5.09.115

Any suggestions or advice greatly received.

2

Number of things here… .

So the PC you use for work is in a different room than your router? This means you are connected via WiFi?

Second. . you mention OS/5. You need to check that OS/5 actually gives you the type of download and copy access you actually want from the system. . . .more than likely it does not. It’s very much geared towards a casual user that has about 100 photos in the system.

Third: So the EX2 is network attached storage. That means it needs to be plugged into your network. . . not your computer. You want it wired into a router. Now, there are a few tricks here;

  • Default is wire your NAS into your main router, call it a day. Communication from your PC to your router will be strictly standard wireless (and the slow speeds that implies)

  • Use a mesh router network. This means you have mesh Router and wireless access point that talk to each other. You can then wire the NAS and your PC into the mesh access point in your office. The downside is that you are limited to WiFi speeds to the router. . which is suboptimal.

  • Use a “powerline” ethernet adapter. Something like this

Buy a pair of these; one unit is plugged into the wall, and wired to the router. The second is plugged into your office wall, and you would want to hard wire the device to a network switch. Something simple, like this.

So with this setup, you would wire your PC and the NAS into the network switch, then the ethernet adapter communicates to it’s pair over your house wiring. You really don’t need anything more sophisticated in the switch; since all the network “router” stuff is done with your main router.

Note that with all these setups, the entire house network will see the NAS.
NOTE: Make sure the router, the switch, the ethernet wireless adapter etc. all have Gigabit connectivity. Life is too short for 100MBS internal networking components.

NEXT: It’s all about the permissions. Take a look at the Share Management functionality of the NAS. You can set different “Shares” with different user permissions. You can keep one share for yourself. . .and put on a different password; while the rest of the gang gets their own share.

FINALLY.
Regarding connecting to the unit away from home. . . . . . .frankly it depends on how “tin foil hat” you are. I personally am not too impressed by the WD offerings. By far, the best option for remote access is generally a service like OneDrive or DropBox. Failing that. . .if you want to access your own NAS remotely, I tend to use a VPN connection to my home network. Then, you have encryption from your PC to your home network. . . .AND you can access your data like you are on your home network. There are a bunch of steps here. . .but it is worth the effort.

Full disclosure:

  • For me; my answer has devolved into just bringing an external HDD with me where ever I go. The NAS becomes a media server and backup device on the home network. One driver is the security/setup issues. An equally big driver is the crappy 25/5 internet connection my home has (too cheap to upgrade it to a slightly less crappy but seriously expensive 150/10.
    (frankly, I am currently a big fan of the Samsung T5/T7 portable SSD’s)
  • I have a gigabit powerline link in my house. . but it is only to connect an older Home Theater to airplay/spotify (It has an ethernet port; but no wireless). I have not personally tried it for data.
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Amazing thanks sooooo much for your insights and tips. I think I will try the powerline option you mention - sounds like it could be the best way to go for me. I just need to use one with a plug socket built-in because those things dont work on powerboards/powerstrips - they need to be plugged directly into the outlet AND also be on the same circuit that the router power outlet is on (I think it will be). I only have a single outlet in my office, so need to run everything off that (currently have 2 powerstrips with about 10 items plugged in - haha)
Really appreciate your time and effort on answering.
BTW - yes my PCs are all connected to wifi presently.

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The powerline adaptors are a science project in themselves.

Mine are on power strips. . .AND different home circuits. It works just fine. For streaming music :wink: (video is via wifi to a Roku stick)

I see no reason to have them on the same circuit breaker.

NOW - - -in the US there maybe an issue with A/B power (it is three phase power coming into the home, with one hot leg powering one half at 110V; the other hot leg powering the other half at 110V). To get 240V for your hot water and dryer, they use both hot legs. In Europe this is not an issue. With the old X10 stuff; you could have issues with loss of signal from a controller on “A” going back to the transformer on the outside pole, then back to your device on “B”. Not sure that is a factor with the powerline ethernet stuff.

Also. . .while a cheap power strip might not be an issue. . . .I am not sure you could say the same for a UPS device.

And yes. . . all my computer gear is attached to two outlets. . . .both on the same 15 amp breaker. . .More power strips on that circuit than I can shake a stick at.

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