WD My Cloud Ex2 startup

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

Hello,

Hope everyone is doing good!

I recently acquired a WD My Cloud EX2, used off facebook marketplace. Now I am new to the WD NAS world (I used to have a terramaster).

I have a few questions about the format of the WD:

  • I have 2 4TB disks, one empty and one that has around 3TB on it.
  • Will the NAS format everything on the disk on first use?
  • Is there a way to negate erasing everything on the disk that has data on it?
  • Is the NAS really hot swap? or do I need to power down to insert a disk?
  • Any other best practices and advice would be appreciated.

Thank you.

2

Do you have a My Cloud EX2 or My Cloud EX2 Ultra? Also, what’s the firmware version?

4

Hello Cerberus,

I have a My Cloud EX2, I factory reset the machine, so I am not sure what firmware version it has, when I try to start the setup, it asks to insert disk. Is it a good idea to start with the blank disk I have and then work on adding the second disk with the data?

5

Hello again,

I inserted the blank disk just so I can have access to the dashboard. so the firmware version is 2.11.153

Regards

6

To answer some of your questions.

  • Everything on the hard drives will be erased during initialization.
  • The hard drive erasure can’t be avoided.
  • The NAS should be powered off before swapping drives.
  • Opinions vary, but I advise people to use JBOD instead of RAID.
7

Thank you Cerberus for the quick reply!
I will start working on backing up my full drive so I can re-upload them on the NAS.
I will keep this thread open in case people need to add to the thread.

Have a good rest of your day :slight_smile:

8

You should update to the latest firmware available (2.13.108), which can be downloaded from the link below. There are also manuals and other information you may find useful.

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