Synology NAS Far Superior to WD

I have just finished migrating all my data onto a new Synology NAS. I just connected a Windows PC and a Mac to it. I can’t express just how easy it is to set up and use, compared to my WD MyCloud Mirror experience over the last 6 years. And after trying to get help with the problems through this WD support site, it is so easy finding tutorials and support when I need it. I am so pleased I changed and if you are a basic user with a simple network at home, I would recommend you consider Synology. The improvement in ease of use, information, speed and connectivity is so dramatically different, that I had to post this. I hope it helps just one user.

I recently replaced my WD Cloud Mirror Gen 2 (OS5) with another model from WD. The choice was made quickly because the WD Mycloud EX2 Ultra (2 * 4 TB) was offered for only € 310. Simplicity and performance not so bad at all.

By the time you had used the MCM for 6 years, it was already on the market about a decade and EOL deprecated. It is unusual for anyone to be using a 10 years-since-introduction computing device and complaining about it but that was what happened. The average life span of a hard disk drive is about 2.5 years and one should not expect the NAS that is holding it should reliably and perform adequately for much more than twice that time.

imma gonna call BS the above.

well, partly :wink:

It is evident that the MCM and old MyCloud devices are OLD.
Even the EX2 Ultra’s currently sold are fairly old tech.
HAVING SAID THAT. . . many older devices can perform quite well in today’s computing environment.

I have a number of HDD’s across a pile of devices. My day-to-day PC is 8ish years old. . and across dozens of drives across 20+ years. . . . I have had maybe TWO HDD failures. SURE. if you use a bunch of WD Blue HDD’s as a 24/7/365 data server. . . . I would expect a higher failure rate. but for home use? Nope.

The problem the OP is discussing is the fact that OS/5 (and OS/3 before it) that is running on the MCM is just clunky software. OS/3 was stale the day it was released; and OS/5 is just a “touchup” with a half hearted attempt at web app interface. YES . it is servicable as a basic file server. . but not much else.

I do have a Synology NAS (and more than two WD NAS units). The synology box was notably higher in cost than the WD equivilents; but also boasts more capable hardware. The real differnce is the software. It’s just MUCH more sophisticated overall; and MUCH more capable.

Simple example: From the GUI of the NAS, I can do a drag&drop copy - - and it will not tie up the PC. The WD software cannot do that. This is vital for backup of the NAS to external drives (and vice-versa). For my WD NAS units; I either had to execute SSH commands OR tie up a PC to manage the process. (I have found the WD supplied backup software to be hopeless)

Consumer drives typically have two-year warranties, while enterprise drives typically have five-year warranties. The same goes for NAS.

Manufacturers are not stupid, they know exactly how long their products are likely to last.

The same goes for Synology, you can look up for example:
DS110j

DS110j

Discontinued

End of Life

Limited

2 Years

There is a difference between “warranty” and “field experience”

I grant you - - > Many products are designed to self-destruct as soon as the warranty expires.

My experience (and others I know) is that HDD’s in consumer use last a bit longer than the advertised warranties.

Your milage may vary.

Instead of spending your time putting up meaningless graphics, why don’t you spend more reading the various reports on the state of storage development?

Nearly all of the hard disk drives that come with the My Cloud Home are WD’'0EFAX SMR drives and are not user replaceable.*

HDD average life span misses 3-year mark in study of 2,007 defective drives [Updated]

Data recovery firm blames SMR and size, following limited analysis.

Scharon Harding - 3/20/2023, 4:02 PM

eight of the 13 SMR drives from Western Digital and Seagate registered fewer than 15,000 power-on hours on average**.**