Give Western Digital's My Cloud Home All Your Data

With its new My Cloud Home external hard drive, Western Digital is once again on the path toward the holy grail of data backup: a single receptacle that will automatically collect every precious file from any smartphone, tablet, or PC in your home.

The My Cloud Home, available in several different storage capacities from 2TB to 8TB, includes software designed to help it on its data collection quest. The primary interface is the My Cloud mobile app, which can automatically upload photos you snap on your smartphone using the Camera Backup feature, either via Wi-Fi or a cellular connection.

The app lets you search for, view, and delete any files you've saved on your drive, as well as access settings like updating firmware and restarting the drive. Many of these functions can also be performed by logging in to your device via Mycloud.com or using the dedicated Windows and macOS apps. The desktop apps also let you configure the My Cloud Home as a destination for macOS Time Machine and Windows backups, as well as drag and drop individual files.

My Cloud Home also syncs with the files you're already storing online, including content from Dropbox, Google Drive, and Microsoft OneDrive. There's Plex support, too, which means you can stream video files to your home theater. You'll also find a USB Type A port for uploading content from flash drives, although you can't connect the My Cloud directly to a PC via USB—it's only intended to be connected via Ethernet to your internet router.

Finally, you can share any file on your My Cloud Home by creating a dedicated link from the web, desktop, or mobile apps. And don't worry about texting your friends a weird URL: My Cloud sharing URLs will automatically be expanded to show their content in apps like Apple iMessage.

Pricing starts at $159 for the 2TB version, and tops out at $319 for 8TB. For extra peace of mind, Western Digital is also offering a My Cloud Home Duo model, which includes two drives in a mirrored (RAID 1) array so that a single file is duplicated on both drives. The My Cloud Home Duo starts at $309.99 for 4TB, and maxes out at $699 for 16TB.

About Our Expert

Tom Brant

Managing Editor

I’m a managing editor at PCMag.com focused on PC hardware. Reading this during the day? Then you've caught me testing gear and editing reviews of Wi-Fi routers, printers, laptops, and tons of other personal tech. (Reading this at night? Then I’m probably dreaming about all those cool products.) I’ve covered the consumer tech world as an editor, reporter, and analyst since 2015.

I've covered most major consumer tech events, including CES, Computex, Google I/O, and IFA. I've also appeared on CBS News, in USA Today, and at many other outlets to offer analysis on breaking technology news.

Before I joined the tech-journalism ranks, I wrote on topics as diverse as Borneo's rainforests, Middle Eastern airlines, and Big Data's role in presidential elections. A graduate of Middlebury College, I also have a master's degree in journalism and French Studies from New York University.

The Technology I Use

While most people buy a phone or laptop and stick with it for years, I’m lucky enough to use devices based on Android, iOS, macOS, and Windows daily as part of my job. As a result, I cycle through lots of tech in addition to my IT-issue work laptop. (Yes, that's a ThinkPad.) Personally, I’ve also owned a lot of tech products both cutting-edge and cringeworthy, from the Nintendo GameCube and the original MacBook to the Palm m105 and the CueCat.

Read the latest from Tom Brant

Read full bio