Just opened up the box and followed instructions getting initial setup. Typically I upgrade to latest firmware (mine is currently: 2.40.157) immediately to rule out potential issues. When I encountered the upgrade from OS 3 to OS 5 warnings, I paused and started researching. I saw a number of reported issues and regrets from having upgrade to OS 5. My questions:
Should I stay on OS 3 and wait for an updated version of OS 5?
Is there and OS 4 version?
Is there a latest version of OS 3 (or 4 if avail) that you would recommend?
What is the expected impact to transfer speed if using encryption vs not (saw reported huge impacts from other users)?
Thanks
It looks like OS 5 is not ready for prime time yet. With the amount of problems reported, we have to wonder whether WD forget that you’re supposed to test software before you release it.
In particular, it’s causing trouble on the EX2 Ultra. I regret having updated early, and suggest that other refrain from updating until the problems are solved, if they are solvable. I suspect that OS 5 may just be at the edge of or slightly beyond the capabilities of our NASes. WD might have done better not to list the EX2 Ultra among the systems that can handle the release.
josephzitt Thanks for the response. I saw similar from other as well and have held off. I chatted with Support and asked them and finally after establishing that I am a network engineer by trade for a hardware vendor, he shared the main reasons for the changes are the huge wave of security requirements needed to counter the widespread hacking. Many of the app changes were directly resulting from that. I personally am not looking to use the cloud-features so he finally agreed staying with OS 3 for now is fine.
@jfazny That’s useful information, and explains, to some extent, why they appear to have rushed it into release. I’ve never used the cloud features, since, in my situation, Plex appears to do everything that I need. I may turn them off. And had I known, I would have probably stuck with OS 3.
@josephzitt From my experience with security reviews of hardware/software boxes and solutions, virtually everything has vulnerabilities and it comes down to what you can live with at risk and still have a working solution. My target usage for the device is Plex for media sharing to TVs and devices as well as backups of key PCs. Interesting they made the switch away from Smartware with OS 5. As a result I went with Good Sync (also the OS 3 getting started guide instructs you to still download WD Sync which is EOL). I am not positive though if I am on a 30-day trial of Good Sync for WD or free at their slightly limited level which will be fine for me. Time will tell. Am not happy with my experience so far connecting up WD Cloud USB to the EX2 Ultra for local copy - while taking place I completely lose Dashboard access and cannot see anything other than the quickly flashing HD drives.
@jfazny I don’t know what Smartware or Good Sync are, but I’m not that deeply into it. I’m also using it for Plex. (That’s working OK, though I’ve gotten a few complaints that it can’t transcode things under OS 5 that I didn’t under OS 3.) I’m not backing anything up to it. To keep backups of it, I’m backing the library up to an external hard drive on my ancient Mac using the rsync-based FreeFileSync. I like simple solutions. I’m not a very good gearhead. I loek forward to a life in which I would never have to configure anything ever again
I have OS/5 running on one EX2 Ultra; and have retained OS/3 on another box.
My recommendations at this point in time (Nov 13, 2020) are as follows;
Web access to OS/3 should be blocked as a security measure. (really obsolete)
OS/5 is not fully baked. . . and should be avoided for a few more Firmware revs
From what I see for OS/5;
There appear to be a number of bug fixes/security updates to the NAS itself
The entire web app and phone app were rebuilt from the ground up.
Most of the problems reported (and from what I see from my unit) seem to be related to the WebApp and Phone app. . .
The apps look pretty; but seem to be poorly implemented. The features all work. . .but the feature set itself is very, very amateurish.
To facilitate the apps; the NAS units have been inflicted with an indexing/thumbnail generation step. THAT is processor intensive. . . and basically lobotomizes the unit for days. . .
If you block web access from the EX2; I guess OS/5 is ok. I am still a bit leery on how the device “phones home”; so I have the unit blocked at the router at the moment. It still seems to work.
In terms of testing. . . .it’s not that OS has bugs; it’s that the OS features are poorly thought out. (i.e. they programmed it right; but didn’t chose the right things to program)
PS:
It seems like the poor saps running the MyCloud Mirrors are really having issues.
The PR4100 units, which have better processors, are also transcoding video as a part of the indexing process. They are having real issues as well.
So I actually view the EX2 Ultra a sweet spot
