WD’s new My Book Live Duo is a two bay version of their popular My Book Live network drive. The My Book Live Duo, which also comes with RAID support, is being marketed as a personal cloud storage solution.  The My Book Live Duo as mentioned earlier is a two bay unit, which comes pre-configured in 4TB and 6TB options. The review unit we received from WD came with 6TB of storage space. The My Book Live Duo runs on an 800MHz CPU and allows you to save your data in a RAID 1 configuration if you want added data protection.

In addition, the device also with a built-in Gigabit Ethernet port, which allows you to connect the My Book Live Duo to your network router and wirelessly access data saved on it via any computer in your house. You can also configure the My Book Live Duo to automatically back up content from all the computers connected on your network. In addition, you can remotely access content on the My Book Live Duo over the Internet with your computer or do so via your smartphone or tablet, using WD’s mobile app.

In terms of multimedia, the My Book Live Duo can stream content to DLNA-certified multimedia devices, such as a WD TV Live network media player, Blu-ray Disc player, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, or a connected HDTV. The device also comes with a built-in USB 2.0 port allows you to connect a USB external drive if you want added storage or need to access files already on the drive. The My Book Live Duo is compatible with both Mac and Windows computers.

The My Book Live Duo is passively cooled, allowing for near silent operation – hence, understandably the review unit came with WD’s Green hard drives. Since the My Book Live Duo is passively cooled, 7200RPM drives are note recommended since these may cause overheating and premature failure.

Like the My Book Live, setting up the My Book Live Duo is a walk in the park. All you do is connect the WD My Book Live Duo the power outlet and the router and wait for the blinking LED in the front of the device to turn into a steady green.

Once the LED is green, you either run the setup file using the bundled software CD, or by downloading the setup file from WD’s website. The setup procedure is a breeze – you can setup the device without having to go through umpteen steps and meddling with the router settings. For the home user, and even SMB, that’s a really nice touch. The bunch of mobile apps, which WD provides are also quite awesome. These apps make access to files on the go fast and easy, especially for storage-constrained tablets and other mobile devices.

The web interface for managing the My Book live Duo is quite nifty and easy to get around. From here you can set the device to configure in RAID 0 or 1 modes – the device ships in RAID 0, and to have added data security we would suggest you shift to RAID 1. You can then go ahead and authorise the WD 2go and WD Photos iOS and Android apps for use with the device. In addition, you would also like to enable remote web access, FTP, DLNA and iTunes servers, and finally, set up your email address to send critical system alerts to.

When it comes to performance, the WD My Book Live Duo handled itself pretty well over the network clocking between 20MB/s to 40MB/s for read and write speeds, which really isn’t that bad for a network drive. One of the big selling points of the My Book Live Duo is its personal cloud functionality. This revolves around a couple of apps, which give you access to the files on your NAS via your phone or tablet. Both apps work on iOS and Android, and are free to download. WD Photos was the first to be released, and it’s pretty reasonable at what it does, which is letting you access photos stored on your NAS.

In closing, the WD MyBook Live Duo Personal Cloud is a pretty flexible device. If you have valuable data at home, you really need a NAS to protect it, and ideally, that NAS should have the protection of RAID, which the MyBook Live Duo comes with. In our tests, the WD My Book Live Duo worked brilliantly, and the set-up was easy. The much-improved WD2go cloud-based remote access is a nice plus. So, if you are looking for an ideal personal cloud solution for your home network, the WD My Book Live Duo could be one of the options you could check out.

Pricing: AED 1739

Specifications:
Interface: Gigabit Ethernet
Storage Capacity: 6TB
Weight: 2.26-kgs
Operating System Compatibility: Windows and Mac