WD My Cloud Personal NAS - still worth using?

[deafeninghaste]

I recently dug an old 3TB My Cloud out of storage looking for some old files, and I found them! This is the exact one I bought, still amazingly has an Amazon product page: Amazon.com: Western Digital 3TB My Cloud Personal Network Attached Storage - NAS - Western DigitalBCTL0030HWT-NESN : Electronics

This works fine when connected to a computer, but when I hook it up to my router it’s not really usable across the network. I can see the drive on my MacBook network devices and can bring up the My Cloud UI in browser, but it’s insanely slow. Like, can’t even get it to load in Finder and it seems like it eventually times out.

My question is, is this drive still usable in 2025 as a network device? Is it just my network being lousy? Obviously the drive still works and is functional because I can connect it to a PC directly, but I’d love to be able to access its files across my network.

Probably hoping for a lot that an 11-year-old device would still work just as well with how quickly this stuff becomes antiquated, but figured it was worth asking about.

Thanks!

[cat0w]

@deafeninghaste

What firmware is showing on the Dashboard? I have a first generation that is connected to my router and set up for use on my home network only. I have Windows 11 Pro and it shows in File Explorer>Home>Quick Access.

[deafeninghaste]

Here’s what I’ve got – my firmware is a bit out of date compared to yours, but doing some research it seems like I can’t upgrade past v04 anyhow?

I did reboot it from the UI and it’s a bit faster now, so maybe that was it. I’ll be curious to see if it remains snappy or if it reverts to being unable to connect again.

Edit: Was connected to it, but then it disconnected at some point. Just seems quite inconsistent and drops the connection quite often.

[Bennor]

@deafeninghaste

My question is, is this drive still usable in 2025 as a network device?

Of course you can still use it as a Network Attached Storage device. It will work fine as a basic NAS. Because you have a first generation single by My Cloud running OS3 v4.x firmware, WD had terminated (in 2022) all WD supported remote access to the device. WD further recommends for security reasons to isolate the device from the internet.

My Cloud OS3 End of Service:

Customers with legacy, My Cloud OS 3-compatible devices

On April 15, 2022, support ended for prior generations of My Cloud OS, including My Cloud OS 3. There are critical security updates that are only available for My Cloud OS 5-compatible devices. If your device isn’t compatible with My Cloud OS 5, you can only access it locally. As of April 15, 2022, your device no longer receives remote access, security updates, or technical support. To help protect your content, we recommend that you immediately back up your device, disable remote access, disconnect it from the internet, and then protect it with a strong, unique password.
…
Q: Will my device stop working if I can’t upgrade to My Cloud OS 5? Will I lose access to my data?
A: After the services are shut down, you can only access the device on a local network. Access through the My Cloud OS 3 mobile app or web app won’t work. Email notifications won’t be delivered. Devices that had auto-update enabled received a final firmware update that disabled remote access and outbound traffic to cloud services. Now, support has ended and you have to use your local network to access your device.

@deafeninghaste

Is it just my network being lousy?

If you haven’t done so already, you may want to reset the My Cloud back to it’s default settings by performing a 40 second pin reset. A 4 second or 40 second pin reset is non data destructive.

Steps to Pin Reset and System Only Restore a Single-Bay My Cloud OS 3

Directions for how to map a My Cloud Share on a Mac:

How to Access and Map a My Cloud or My Cloud Home Network Drive on macOS

If the file transfer is slow that may be caused by various local network factors including what method of access (Ethernet or WiFi) one is using to connect their computer or mobile device to the local network. Also ensure the My Cloud is directly connected to the local network router/gateway and not through a Mesh Node or Ethernet / WiFi extender.

Also note that v4.x firmware is OS3 not OS5. There is a separate subforum for the discontinued/unsupported OS3 devices:

Legacy Products - My Cloud OS3