NAS Western Digital My Book Live Duo Review

MAIN FUNCTIONS

• Centralized storage space for our files.
•  Very interesting to avoid having to duplicate our files on our computers if we use them option.
• Remote access to our archives . Both through the web interface WD 2Go as the WD 2Go and WD Photos (applications available for iOS and for Android ).

• Backup . We may use the WD Smartware application (included on disc) Apple Time Machine compatible applications or other network storage units.

- Playing files by streaming . Thanks to its built-in media server, we can transmit through streaming media files that it staying in the disc and play it on any DLNA compatible equipment technology (such as game consoles, media players and TVs that have this certification). I tried this last function with a WD Live Hub media player and a Play Station 3. In the first case, to see subtitles (added to a file. Separate srt) I had to select "Shared Resource Network" as the source of content, and that selecting "Media Server" the movie was playing but not subtitles . As for the PS3, I managed to play the files using the NAS as a media server, but I failed to display subtitles. In this case it appears that the choice would opt for pre-embed the media file with software like AVIAddXSubs. I have also successfully tested the option to use the server iTunes Live Duo and move to the music folder of the program. Instructions for doing this can be found here.

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN MODELS AND LIVE DUO LIVE

So far we have not seen anything new that did not include the Live model. What model then provides Live Duo to lead to bet on it? While the differences are not great, depending on the use you are going to give this team can be crucial:- USB port for connecting other discs . This is something that we take very much in the case of Live model. In Live Duo have a USB port that can be very useful for connecting drives with files that do not want to have available on the network at all times or as a way to expand the storage capacity (but will appear as a separate unit). Posts to ask, would have been interesting if this team would include a print server to allow connecting a printer to this USB port.

• Increased storage capacity . The Live Duo model is available with two discs 2 or 3 terabytes (TB 4 and 6 respectively in total), so if we let configured in spanning (distribution) so we can use that space to store all our data compared with 1 TB -3 Live Competency models.
• Replacing discs . It is very simple to replace the discs Live Duo model to a faultor if at any point we decide to replace them with higher capacity (As Zifra points in the comments, you can not change the drives with higher capacity). By contrast, in the case of Live model, we will cancel the warranty if we open ourselves.
• Duplicate data using RAID 1 mode or "mirror" . While it may be interesting to centralize our files on a single computer, the problem is obviously to do that should make a backup of that data in turn to avoid losing everything if there are any problems with the disk arises. This configuration RAID 1 causes the data is duplicated so that if a problem occurs in one of the disks automatically retrieve the data in the other drive. The downside of this duplicity is obviously the total storage capacity in practice be reduced by half.

GENERAL ASSESSMENT

The overall impression given to me this team has been pretty good. By virtue of being a complete solution (already preloaded discs-brand) and so I found it easy to configure to my liking although not much less skilled in this type of equipment I found an option worth interesting to those seeking a home NAS for basic tasks.

Moreover, this is a team with a running extremely quiet . While not offering as many "advanced" options and products from brands like Synology or Qnap (download torrent, mail server ...), but I think it is easier to handle for basic use, perhaps because being more limited in their possibilities. Moreover, if the price is an important element in deciding definitely the possibility of getting a team like this for 300 EUR (with 2 2TB disks) will have its weight compared to about 400 who come to cost equipment brands mentioned (though the features are not fully comparable).

As for the aspects of improvement , highlight the impossibility of partitions to prevent eg Time Machine finished occupying all available space. On the other hand, made ​​include a USB port would have been interesting to use this NAS as a print server.

Finally, although access and operations with files from Windows computers are practically instantaneous, as if it were a local drive, in the case of Mac (OSX Lion) usually have detected slight delay (both to mount the disk to perform operations such as copy, move or rename files). I do not know if this is due to the disc itself or whether this is an inherent problem with this operating system.