WD My Cloud is Doomed

My Cloud OS 5 Personal & Network Attached Storage My Cloud
1

Interestingly, I recently discovered that the My Cloud PR4100 (Diskless) WDBNFA0000NBK-NESN may have been quietly discontinued by Western Digital, and possibly other My Cloud models too.

Since the PR4100 is the flagship of the WD My Cloud model lineup, it’s discontinuation strongly suggests that the My Cloud brand may have hitched a ride on the porcelain express, on a path to oblivion.

My Cloud PR4100
My Cloud PR41001827×949 140 KB

Strangely, I actually have mixed feelings about it, because the My Cloud PR4100 has a lot of potential, had it not been lobotomized by the sheer ineptitude of WD and their so-called developers, who continue to bungle firmware updates to My Cloud OS5. And the lack of apps is a pathetic joke.

Pawning off WD My Cloud NAS devices onto unsuspecting consumers, populated with WD “Red” SMR hard drives (a disaster waiting to happen) didn’t help matters. WD even got sued for it.

For all the good it did, because the lawyers got paid, and consumers got screwed, as always. However, the SMR hard drive debacle was a PR nightmare for WD that caused a loss of trust and permanent damage that persists today.

And let’s not forget about the travesty otherwise known as the My Cloud Home, which certainly caused a spike in Synology NAS sales. In fact, “I’m never buying WD products again!” was a common refrain for a very long time after the MCH was released, and people had time to discover the horrors that awaited them within.

Lastly, the “WD Community” forums were once a pretty lively place, but they’re now a wasteland filled with broken English, SPAM bots, and the @Keerti_01 bot telling users to contact WD Support, even if it’s painfully obvious that the user isn’t asking for help. The absurdity of it all is surreal, yet strangely amusing.

  • Here's a guide... Have you opened a Support Case?
  • Here's a tutorial... Have you opened a Support Case?
  • Here's an app... Have you opened a Support Case?

If nobody responds for a few days, wait for it…

  • WD My Cloud is Doomed... Have you opened a Support Case?

All things considered, it begs the question… Is Western Digital next?

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You’re so right!. I’ve always wanted a PR4100 or PR2100 but they’re so expensive that ended up buying a Synology 720+.

I really love my humble single bay gen2 WDMyCloud but they haven’t put enough effort to improve things, particularly since the outage in April this year.

I have the feeling WD is going under a profound deep restructuring or selling and we were left out.

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I’m fortunate enough to have three PR4100 boxes, and I discovered that they’re actually pretty decent machines after I made a few personal modifications to neuter some of the WD stuff that cripples them.

WD really captured lightning in a bottle with the single bay My Cloud devices, and most people seemed to love them, until WD dropped the ball and the truth about them began to emerge.

It’s hard to say for sure, but something is definitely happening.

WD wouldn’t give me a straight answer when I directly asked them if the PR4100 had in fact been discontinued, where the WD representative even had the audacity to claim that they were unavailable due to “very high demand”, which was clearly absurd. Therefore, I went with the fact that every major retailer said they were “unavailable” or “discontinued”, and took it at face value.

I also made a few phone calls, where I was told the PR4100 was quietly being phased out, but it hadn’t been “officially” announced. Some of the more expensive PR4100 boxes are still available with larger WD hard drives, so my theory is that WD is keeping it quiet until most of the existing inventory has been sold.

I don’t know, perhaps I’m wrong, but it stinks to high heavens.

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Curiously, the My Cloud EX2 Ultra (Diskless) WDBVBZ0000NCH-NESN is still readily available at most major retailers, for now. Of course, the Western Digital website says it’s out of stock, which could be a precursor of things yet to come.

_20231117_224032
_20231117_2240321810×960 124 KB

What strikes me as odd, is the difference in the so-called “Buy Button” of the PR4100 (Sales Inquiry) and the EX2 Ultra (Notify Me When In Stock). Subtle differences like this are often indicative of the status of inventory management systems behind the scenes.

Since WD is so cagey about everything, there’s no way to know for sure what, if anything, it actually means. Christmas is right around the corner, so I expect that any major news won’t become widely known until early next year.

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Strangely, the Western Digital website says the My Cloud PR2100 (Diskless) WDBBCL0000NBK-NESN is out of stock, and the so-called “Buy Button” of the PR2100 (Notify Me When In Stock) is identical to the EX2 Ultra (Notify Me When In Stock).

My Cloud PR2100
My Cloud PR21001811×947 140 KB

Also, the PR2100 does not appear to be widely available at most major retailers, or at least very few seem to have it in stock. There was a 10% off promotion popup on the WD website, so perhaps everyone rushed to snag that “sweet” promotion that fails to specify exactly what “qualifying purchase” actually means. Obviously I’m joking, because after the 20% off coupon debacle following the My Book live incident, I doubt that many people will fall into that trap again.

WD Promotion
WD Promotion1139×820 133 KB

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When I first contacted WD to inquire about the status of the My Cloud PR4100, they sent me a link to their Product Lifecycle Support Policy, with an effective date of October 15, 2021. Ironically, WD released the policy shortly after the My Book Live disk wiping incident that happened on July 23, 2021.

WD was clearly NOT prepared, so by releasing the policy, they were doing the best they could to cover their asses as quickly as possible, thus limiting any liability they might face from similar events in the future.

According to the policy, eight years after the product release date, it’s support status will change to “Limited Updates”, and nine years after the product release date, it’s support status will change to “End of Support”.

Using the models listed above, simple math yields some very interesting results.

  • June 2016 + 8 Years = June 2024 <-- BINGO
  • June 2016 + 9 Years = June 2025

The policy says “we may discontinue” after nine years, which accounts for the 2025-2026 year discrepancy between the math and the product list. The math also indicates that the beginning of the end will happen roughly 7 months from now, so it makes perfect sense that WD would begin quietly winding down production and allowing time for existing stock to be sold before the big day arrives.

  • Would you buy a My Cloud NAS product that has entered a "Limited Updates" support status?

At first, there was just enough ambiguity to introduce uncertainty, which is probably by design. However, unlike corporations, the facts don’t lie, and the facts say the end is near.

Relevant sections of the policy are as follows.

Standard Updates: Up to eight years after Western Digital releases a product, we provide standard software support. This consists of updates with new features, OS compatibility patches as new versions are rolled out, removal of certain features that are no longer compatible, bug fixes to address known issues, and security updates to address security vulnerabilities.

Limited Updates. Eight years after a product’s launch and until the start of its ninth year, Western Digital provides Limited Updates. Bug fixes, updates for new features, and OS compatibility patches may stop, but Western Digital will continue to provide security updates to address critical issues.

End of Updates and End of Support . Nine years after a product’s release, we may discontinue all updates, including critical software security updates. Western Digital may also discontinue cloud service support for a product in this phase. If a product feature depends on cloud services to function, that functionality will end.

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They may use this excuse of the end of support policy to wipe out the mess they’ve made with OS5 and put and end to all this NASes.

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It certainly looks like a type of “exit clause” for WD to offload the expense of maintaining the My Cloud infrastructure, which has probably become a net loss due to declining product sales. Data centers ain’t cheap.

At one point, WD may have thought the My Cloud Home was the key to their salvation, only for it to be the harbinger of their doom. I really question their judgement here, because anyone with a technical background could have told WD that using Android as a NAS operating system and requiring an internet connection for it to function were terrible ideas.

So unless WD has some kind of top secret NAS device lineup ready and waiting in the shadows, which is extremely unlikely, the My Cloud endgame appears to be a foregone conclusion. Only in this case, WD checkmated themselves, again and again.

EdgeRover anyone? :joy:

For many years, Western Digital® has provided hardware and software data storage solutions to help customers capture and preserve their data. Now we’re combining all our software functionality into one, easy-to-use application. We call this powerful new software EdgeRover.

At face value, calling anything EdgeRover is clearly another terrible idea that was endlessly mocked for it’s absurdity, yet WD did it anyway. It’s roving the edge of… what?

I could go on and on, but the warped thinking processes behind some very questionable decisions by WD speak for themselves.

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zero surprise to me.

The handwriting was on the wall as soon as it became clear that there was zero interest in dealing with indexing problem. (you know. . . where indexing a big drive would take DAYS)

I am disappointed - but not upset. Obsolescence of computer equipment is inevitable.
The only item I truly mourn is the discontinuation of the old iPod touch; mainly because there really is no proper replacement (short of a full blown phone). But I have moved on.

I am on these forums out of habit. I long ago rolled my EX2 ultra back to OS/3. My most recent NAS acquisition was from a different vendor. The drives also came from a different vendor.

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I’m here for similar reasons. Plus, I have a strange affinity for old technology, especially if it’s true potential was never fully realized.

Otherwise, I can’t say that I care much for what the forums have become, or for many of the pretenders who frequent the place.

  • If a tree falls in the forest and nobody's there to hear it, does it make a sound?

Still, it will be interesting to see if my intuition was right, to see if I called it so early. Despite the fact that few are likely to notice or care about the demise of WD My Cloud.

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I’ve always thought I was the only one with this disease :slight_smile:

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Isn’t it strange? New stuff just doesn’t interest me as much, probably because I love to tinker.

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B&H Photo:

Best Buy:

Amazon prices for the My Cloud PR4100 - Diskless started spiking in April 2023 before it disappeared at the end of September 2023. Third-party seller prices skyrocketed afterwards, as they always do.

Price Chart
Price Chart1766×891 128 KB

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Where there’s smoke, there’s fire.

On October 30, 2023, Western Digital WDC announced that its Board of Directors has unanimously approved a plan to separate its HDD and Flash Memory business into independent publicly traded companies. This move comes after the merger talks with Kioxia Holdings Corp (Kioxia) failed.

Western Digital bit off more than they could chew, and ran SanDisk into the ground. Now it’s time to pay the piper. It’s a shame because SanDisk once made decent stuff.

In 2016, WDC acquired SanDisk for $19.0 billion to diversify from its five decade-long standalone HDD business. The aim was to benefit from synergies like technology sharing and distribution leverage. WDC is unique in operating in both HDD and Flash, unlike competitors. Despite high expectations, managing both businesses posed challenges, leading to execution missteps and lost market share. This hindered the realization of set long-term financial targets.

For the last few years there’s been a steady drip, drip, drip of discontinued products and services. Next comes the flood, and I strongly suspect that My Cloud will be collateral damage.

FY-2023: Cloud revenue dropped 34.5% YoY to $5.3 billion due to decline in both hard drive and flash product shipments, Client sales slumped 38.8% YoY to $4.3 billion due to declines in flash costs, and lesser client SSD and HDD unit shipments, and Consumer revenues which fell 26.0% YoY to $2.7 billion owing to price fall in flash and lower retail hard drive shipments.

Translation: Western Digital is losing their asses due to mismanagement and poor customer service, resulting in a loss of consumer trust.

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Don’t disagree with this assessment.

Shame really - - - I was a HUGE WD fanboy a few years ago.
I would buy multiple external drives a year.
All of my HDD’s were WD
I have three of their NAS units; plus two my-passport-wireless devices.

I bought a 1st gen MyCloud back in the day - - -and I thought it was absolutely the bee’s knees.

Now. . . not so much. Been buying Samsung SSD’s like candy. I went to a competitor for my last NAS and HDD purchase. Three things lead to this;

  1. The stealth termination of the MyPassport wireless products.
  2. The SMR/CMR debacle
  3. The roleout of OS/5 and the flat refusal to rectify or even acknowledge some of the glaring weaknesses of the product.
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The writing was on the wall when Western Digital quietly began selling QNAP NAS devices on their website sometime around August 2023.

WD obviously needs something to bundle those WD hard drives with, but the absence of Synology NAS devices is interesting.

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The month of October kept coming up again and again, so I began to theorize that’s when the My Cloud PR4100 and other WD NAS devices were discontinued. As it turns out, my instincts were right.

PR4100 Discontinued 2023-10-20
PR4100 Discontinued 2023-10-201083×472 49.1 KB

The PR4100 was discontinued on October 20, 2023, and WD is trying to keep it quiet so they can unload remaining inventory onto unsuspecting consumers before the news becomes widely known.

PR2100 Discontinued 2023-05-21
PR2100 Discontinued 2023-05-211069×500 57.6 KB

The PR2100 was discontinued on May 21, 2023, which makes sense because it was less popular and likely had far fewer sales than the PR4100. It also allowed more time for WD to unload remaining inventory onto unsuspecting consumers before the news becomes widely known.

This proves that WD Support are bald-faced liars, because I directly asked them if the PR4100 had been discontinued, and they said it had not. Fortunately, I can smell BS from a mile away, and didn’t believe a word they said.

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Recently, I stumbled upon the following article while digging up dirt on Western Digital and their shady practices that led inexorably to recent events. Needless to say, I found it to be utterly laughable because Western Digital and the word “ethical” should never be used in the same sentence.

Western Digital is being recognized as one of the “World’s Most Ethical Companies” by Ethisphere for the fourth year in a row just three months after settling a class action lawsuit for $2.7 million over adding lower rewrite performance SMR disk drives in its Red NAS product line in 2020 without telling customers.

The fox is obviously guarding the hen house. :joy:

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Recently, the following letter was discovered on the WD Investor Relations website. It’s a pretty dry read, but the following nuggets stood out.

  • units sold and average selling prices may be indicators of or contributors to the company’s financial performance
  • change in products sold and average selling prices and the impact of those changes on revenue by end market
  • decrease in Client Devices revenue was driven by lower average selling prices per gigabyte for flash-based products

Trouble appears to be brewing and someone isn’t happy about it.

October 17, 2019

Robert Eulau
Chief Financial Officer
Western Digital Corporation
5601 Great Oaks Parkway
San Jose, California 95119

Re: Western Digital Corporation
Form 10-K for the Fiscal Year Ended June 28, 2019
Filed August 27, 2019
File No. 001-08703

Dear Mr. Eulau:

We have reviewed your October 7, 2019 response to our comment letter and have the following comments. In some of our comments, we may ask you to provide us with information so we may better understand your disclosure.

Please respond to these comments within ten business days by providing the requested information or advise us as soon as possible when you will respond. If you do not believe our comments apply to your facts and circumstances, please tell us why in your response.

After reviewing your response to these comments, we may have additional comments. Unless we note otherwise, our references to prior comments are to comments in our September 16, 2019 letter.

Form 10-K for the Fiscal Year Ended June 28, 2019

Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Conditions and Results of Operations, page 34

  1. You indicate in your response to prior comment 1 that measures such as units sold and average selling prices may be indicators of or contributors to the company’s financial performance, however, you do not believe disclosure of these metrics conveys material information that promotes an understanding of the company’s operating performance.

However, we note that your results of operations discussion focuses on the change in products sold and average selling prices and the impact of those changes on revenue by end market. Given such emphasis, please further explain why you believe a quantified discussion of such measures would not provide investors with a better understanding of your operating results. Refer to Section III.B.1 of SEC Release 33-8350.

  1. You disclose that the decrease in Client Devices revenue was driven by lower average selling prices per gigabyte for flash-based products and lower sales of HDD products and flash-based mobile products. As another example, you indicate the decrease in Client Solutions revenue was driven by lower average selling prices of flash-based products and lower sales of retail HDD products. Where a material change in a line item is attributed to two or more factors, including any offsetting factors, the contribution of each identified factor should be described in quantified terms, if reasonably practicable. Please revise your disclosures in future filings accordingly. Similar revisions should be considered throughout your results of operations disclosures, such as in your discussion of the change in research and development and selling, general and administrative expenses. Refer to Item 303(a)(3)(ii) of Regulation S-K and Section III.D of SEC Release No. 33-6835. You may contact Megan Akst, Senior Staff Accountant at 202-551-XXXX or Melissa Kindelan, Senior Staff Accountant at 202-551-XXXX if you have questions regarding comments on the financial statements and related matters.

Sincerely,

Robert Eulau
Western Digital Corporation
Division of Corporation Finance
Office of Technology

October 17, 2019

Source:

https://wdc.gcs-web.com/static-files/885a7ae4-8853-4558-ae51-8fa42404e754

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No member of WD Staff, except for the @Keerti_01 bot, has been seen in several weeks, and the WD forums are a rudderless ship, drifting towards the rocks.

Rudderless Ship
Rudderless Ship1682×996 101 KB