Why I now hate My Clouds

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

So after a decade of being loyal to WD and the My Cloud NAS, I decided to buy the cheapest entry level QNAP out on the market as all I wanted was a quiet NAS that just works.

No, I don’t have the audacity to do a review on QNAP products here on the WD forums but I thought I should pass on some thoughts to WD for their future My Clouds.

The following is probably the number one reason that the My Cloud product line has failed (at least in my ears).

  1. The carpet lining in the QNAP enclosure is keeping the dual bay drives almost noiseless.

The drive access lights are blinking crazily without any outside access and I think it is scanning my photos but the difference between QNAP and the My Clouds is that I don’t hear any clicks. In fact even the fan at 9600 RPM is just a light shhhhhhhhhhh sound instead of the high turbine fan noise from the EX2 Ultra.

If I put my ears very close the device, I can hear the clicks but they sound like clicks on carpet instead of the sharp with resonance clicks from the EX2 or the My Cloud Personal.

My Dad use to own a Cadillac and everything about the Cadillac felt like a luxury car, from the almost sound proof interior to the weighted heavy doors that you can feel the air being pumped out as you close the doors.

This is what QNAP feels like. The fan doesn’t even sound like a fan. It sounds like a luxury device that has a white noise generator contained within.

In comparison the EX2 goes from gentle whirling of the fan to a frantic turbine jet at 12,000 rpm in less then a few seconds (the fan table is broken as I think the fan is reacting to the CPU rather than the temperature of the Hard Drives).

This one thing is the whole problem.

It isn’t the scans.
it isn’t the clicks when idle.
it isn’t the fact that the My Clouds don’t sleep

It is the fact that the My Clouds sounds like an annoying frigging Clock that drives everyone insane with the not exactly rhythmic ticking. Add that with the EX2 Ultra fans, you have a throwaway product that is hated by people with Misophonia.

Seriously I didn’t know why I felt this way until today.

So here is one more thought for your future My Cloud products.
2. Create some useful apps like a QPhoto… and I can hear you say, hey we have that, but the difference here is that I can choose to install it or not install it. In fact there are lots of apps that are FREE unlike your apps that are mostly samples of paid apps. All your scans should be stuffed into apps so that the default mode has no scan process.

Although I love what QNAP has to offer, there is one thing that I value more than just being quiet and that is the form factor. Your roundish EX2 Ultra fits my bookshelf better than the long box like NAS unit from QNAP.

This isn’t good bye yet as I have 14 days to evaluate the newly purchased QNAP. Even after the evaluation period, it will take as least another couple of months to establish a procedure for keeping my data safe. Perhaps I will just keep a copy of all my data on a My Book Duo.

If you want another example of how weight and quietness makes a luxury product, just take a look at Beats by Dre as they have these inserted lead weights in the headphones.

Summary

  1. Add some grommets and foam in your My Cloud casing
  2. don’t let the ex2 fans go above 9600 rpm.

06%20PM

2

Would you like me send you a link of a post here from a couple of weeks ago where the OP said he had had it with QNAP? He had two, and both failed, and the last one was two months out of warranty and QNAP WANTED TO CHARGE HIM $600 th fix it, yet a new one costs $800.

3

sure I’ll take a gander but hardware failure isn’t new and it is also the luck of the draw. It isn’t that every QNAP product is failing. Plus I never keep a NAS unit longer than the warranty period which is about 2 to 3 years. As long as there is a backup or recovery plan in place, I’m good.

There has been lots of My Cloud failures in its heyday but they were induced by the incessant scans.

Currently the only thing that I find QNAP endearing is the quietness despite the disk activity LEDs are blinking furiously and the QNAP is sitting on my desk beside me; I cannot hear a single click. Meanwhile across the room 20 feet away my My Cloud is going click, click, click…

My QNAP cost me only $259 and I don’t think I would ever spend more than that for a NAS. The next thing I’ll check out after the disk syncing is done (4 hours) is to see if I can read one of the mirror disk on a dock which will allow me to eliminate a second QNAP for device failure. However if I remember correctly every QNAP drive is compatible with its siblings meaning that if my QNAP fails, I can just mount my drives into a brand new QNAP and have my data readable.

4

I wouldn’t put Beats in the ‘quality product’ bracket… Smoke & mirrors, IMHO. Or plastic and lead weights…

5

well it is my point exactly. QNAP just seems higher quality because I cannot hear the clicking of the drives despite the fact that these are the same drives that were used for testing in a WD EX2 enclosure; one clicks and one doesn’t.

Beats puts lead weights to give the impression that the headphones have more components.

6

OK, I wish you well with your QNAP, although I want you to see this story of a few weeks ago: