WD puts personal storage on cloud

The device focuses mainly on organising, securing and centralising data from all multiple digital devices such as mobile phones, laptops, tablets and PCs

Storage solutions major Western Digital (WD) launched a ‘personal-cloud’ storage device - My Cloud - on Thursday. Unlike public-cloud storage solutions such as Google Drive, Dropbox and iCloud, My Cloud focuses primarily on organising, securing and centralising data from multiple digital devices such as mobile phones, laptops, tablets and personal computers through WD’s mobile apps available on Android and iOS platforms.

Personal cloud means a small cloud network that one can set up at home or office. This could be connected to the internet, but keeps data secure and private.

My Cloud allows one to access the stored data from any device from anywhere, without having to pay any subscription fee. This device is available in 2 terabyte (TB), 3 TB and 4 TB capacities and it can store any data in a secured personal home network, allowing users to exercise full autonomy and exclusive control over their personal cloud. It also allows one to share stored files, media or data through a simple internet connection.

“In an age of digital chaos with thousands of files spread across various computing devices, WD’s My Cloud offers an easy-to-use, secure and cost-effective solution to store everything on a centralised physical device that can be accessed from anywhere.

“This is our way to empower our end-customers to live their digital lives without limits as it allows them complete control over their stored data. Personal cloud might be the next big thing in the storage solution sphere,” said Khalid Wani, sales director, branded products - India, Middle East and Africa.

My Cloud allows one to set up a personal cloud in quick steps through a seamless WD interface and connect it to computers and mobile phones and sync it with WD’s free desktop and mobile apps, allowing centralisation of all the digital data one posseses in a secured way. WD claims it allows one to easily share and move personal files, photos and videos from the synced mobile device or computer as well as move between other cloud accounts.

Streaming of videos and music from My Cloud’s digital entertainment hub is another interesting speciality of the device.

My Cloud comes with a USB expansion port, which facilitates connection with multiple devices such as external hard disks, mobile phones and digital cameras and transfer data safely to the My Cloud drive. At the same time, the My Cloud app integrates public cloud services as well - such as Dropbox, Google Drive, SkyDrive, among others.

When asked about the uniqueness of My Cloud compared to other cloud services, Subrata Das, director, India and South Asia at WD, said: “Unlike hard disk, this personal storage device fulfils the need to centralise all our data that can be accessed through the internet.”

The central point is about storing everything in a secondary device by creating a back-up. We are not worried about competition with Google Drive or Dropbox. They are providing you a certain storage capacity either for free or a subscription fee. This device gives you complete control on your files and has it secured with you without a third-party involvement. It is highly consumer-friendly as it a very simple and cost-effective utility device.”

Das said this is the first time that WD, which is known only for shipping hard drives, is looking at consumer storage solutions. “We are looking exclusively at personal storage solution here, which is easy to handle and manage. We are not targetting bigger organisations such as ICICI Bank, RBI, Airtel, which have already got a storage. This device focuses only on personal storage aspect. We are already getting massive demand from end-users and a couple of SMEs. We are operating in the consumer storage solutions space for the first time, and we are very excited about this product.”

The device is available for Rs 10,999 for 2 TB, Rs 12,999 for 3 TB and Rs 14,999 for 4 TB at retail outlets such as Reliance Digital and Croma.

WD is a long-time innovator and storage industry leader. It has been producing reliable, high-performance hard disk drives and solid state drives since its establishment in 1970.