QNAP and Synology have always been on my radar when information technology comes to pre-built desktop NAS devices. For more than than a decade now they've been developing some of the best home and business network fastened devices coin can buy and today I consider them both pretty unbeatable.

Despite being considered manufacture leaders and having been in business for well over a decade now, neither Synology nor QNAP are well known brands -- they certainly aren't mainstream, fifty-fifty in the tech earth.

One of the issues for adoption has been retail price. A basic two-bay model with decent performance for a home user is going to cost effectually $300 in diskless form. Add in a couple of hard drives and the overall expense is alike to that of an entry level PC, though this is essentially what today'southward NAS devices are.

A more familiar proper name threw its lid into the ring effectually iv years ago when Western Digital began developing its Red series hard drives for 24/7 performance in NAS servers. Today they have non one only two drive series targeting NAS devices: the Carmine and the Red Pro. Not stopping there, in 2013 WD launched its own range of desktop NAS boxes that hail from the company's My Cloud range. The devices themselves wait nice and they are impressive plenty from a pricing standpoint.

The base model My Deject 2TB costs only $130 or $230 for the 6TB model, non to mention the My Cloud Mirror 4TB for $350. None of these WD units take hot-swap bays and although they come in a number of pre-configured capacities, a diskless version doesn't exist -- or didn't, anyway.

In 2022 the company released its My Deject Expert serial with the EX2 and EX4, both of which can exist bought with or without disks, diskless costing $155 and $230 -- once again, both are affordable.

Frankly, since so the WD NAS lineup has become a petty confusing as information technology now features a large range of products that all have similar names and features.

Today nosotros'll be looking at the newly released My Cloud EX2 Ultra, which is essentially a more consumer-friendly version of the existing My Deject EX2100.

WD My Cloud EX2 Ultra

Like the previous EX2 model, the new EX2 Ultra can be purchased in a range of capacities as well as without drives. We have the 8TB model on hand but it'south possible to purchase this device in 4TB and 12TB configurations as well. For those wondering, WD uses its Cherry serial drives and each pre-configured model comes with two hard drives of equal size, meaning our review unit includes a pair of 4TB drives.

The device measures 165mm tall, 99mm broad and 157mm deep, which is extremely compact even for a ii-bay device. Empty, it weighs just 0.8kg, though wait that to be every bit much as two.4kg once loaded with a pair of 6TB drives.

The device itself looks quite sleek, with a curved one-piece grey front end console that wraps around either side. Embedded in the front panel towards the bottom is a black strip which features the WD logo, production name and more importantly some LED indicators that testify drive status/activeness and a power button. If all is well these LEDs volition light up bluish but if there is a problem such as a drive failure they will turn crimson.

The top and bottom are covered past black ventilated plastic panels. Internally the drives are mounted vertically and at first at that place appears to exist no active fan, which is surprising as the WD Red drives can get quite hot. Equally it turns out there is a small fan mounted in the front of the device, though I am not sure how effective information technology is. The airflow is more often than not restricted and despite making quite a fleck of noise, I had a hard time detecting whatsoever airflow at all.

The slotted vent panel design continues around dorsum, though at that place aren't really whatsoever vents, it'south but a pattern. What'south important here is the small I/O panel which features a unmarried gigabit Ethernet connector, two USB 3.0 ports and a 12v DC input. This is the beginning and end of the EX2 Ultra'south connectivity as there aren't whatsoever front panel connectors.

On top of the unit built into the ventilated panel is a thumb-sized indentation that looks a bit similar a ability button you might find on a PC case, the irony existence that the EX2 Ultra doesn't actually take a power push button. This push releases a grab which allows the elevation console to open up on a hinge.

Inside are a pair of two.v" bulldoze trophy and they're occupied past the two Ruby-red 4TB hard drives which are locked in place by a small metal bracket that can be removed using a single tool-less spiral.

The drives slot into place using a pair of custom screws which are attached to the rear mounting holes in the bulldoze and ane of them features a pull tab for removal.

Betwixt the hard drives sits the guts of the EX2 Ultra which includes a Marvell Armada 385 i.three GHz dual-cadre SoC and 1GB of DDR3 memory.

The Armada 385 is an SoC that we're familiar with as information technology has been used extensively past Synology, nigh recently by the DS216, a unit we'll mention again before long as it's a direct competitor to the diskless My Cloud EX2 Ultra.

For now, there isn't much else to say most the concrete design of the My Cloud EX2 Ultra, so let'due south motility on to the software side of things.