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WD 16TB My Book Duo Desktop HDD USB 3.1 Gen 1 with software for device management, backup and password protection USB-C and USB-A cables RAID 0/1, JBOD

£34.9£69.80Clearance
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Use the setup software, if it has not been attempted already. The software can be found in the Online Learning Center. In this test, I’m looking at the drive from the perspective of a storage device for photographers and videographers. To this end, I have selected to use the drive as a RAID 1. This means that the storage is optimised for safety, so if one drive fails my content will still be safe on the other drive. a. The proprietary nature of the hardware RAID implementation means that the individual disk drives CANNOT be read outside of the MyBook Duo enclosure. I believe this is not unique to the MyBook Duo as many other RAID enclosures have the same characteristics. Connection to your computer is via USB Type-C, and cables come for both this standard and to convert a conventional USB 3.0 port to the Type-C variety if you haven’t embraced that newish connector yet.

Once the cable is connected and the drive is positioned, it can then be connected to your computer. It takes a few moments to mount, slightly longer than a single drive but still fast enough. videos and 360 photos can take up a lot of space, especially if you use high quality formats such as Prores or TIFF. I’ve almost filled up two 8TB hard drives and was looking for an external hard drive and chose the WD My Book Duo is an external hard drive with two bays that can each accommodate standard 3.5-inch hard drives. Having massive amounts of storage capacity attached to your system isn’t much use if it’s slow to access. The other drive was an old My Book Duo connected through USB 2.0/3.0, so it has much slower transfer speeds and connects through my Kingston Nucleum hub.

MY BOOK DUO HARDWARE ENCRYPTION ISSUE

Having this much capacity sounds like a dream, especially for those using a 4TB external drive or a smaller Duo model. But the dream of having this much space is also, oddly, something of a nightmare. The WD My Book Duo (2017 edition) is certainly a class act that combines new styling with excellent performance and potentially massive capacities. If after those steps were unable to provide access to the Dashboard, there are a few things that can be attempted: If you look carefully, above the two USB 3.0/2.0 ports you’ll see a thin power button. This is used when you need to swap out drives.

Chance of failure: normal. If the normal chance of failure of one drive is 1%, the chance of failure using JBOD is 1%. In my office, I have a 12TB Duo (dual 6TB drives), and from the outside, these units look the same, even down to the finest details. The USB 3.0/2.0 ports are designed for plugging in external devices and additional drives, which is handy. It also acts as a rather nifty doc for older devices that still utilise the USB 3.0/2.0 standard. The switch to the latest USB-C port is the biggest step forward. The old USB 3.0 Micro B connector was one of the worst connector designs of all time, and for me has been the cause of countless drive failures. It’s absence here can only be a good thing.Storage here is the main concern and with the 12TB configured in RAID 1, you’re left with 6TB capacity. I tested the speed of RAID-1 on My Book Duo and found that it was almost half as slow when reading sequential data, although the write speed was about the same. The increase in speed appeared to be from random read. My Book Duo RAID-1 speed This is the default mode of My Book Duo. With RAID-0, each file is split between two drives. As with RAID-1, your drive can read from both drives at the same time, so the reading speed is theoretically almost double (for sequential reading). Meanwhile, the storage capacity is the same as normal. If you have two 8TB drives, then when using them in RAID-0, you will have a single 16TB drive with one drive letter. The disadvantage of RAID-0 is that if either or both of the drives fail, you will lose the data in both drives, therefore the chance of failure is almost double.

Connected through USB-C to a MacBook Pro 15-inch i9 with 32GB RAM, the drive produced results of 82.2MB/s Write speed and 88.5MB/s Read speed. A small plastic tool is included for you to pop the top of the unit off and access the drives inside for replacement. The drives are mounted on tool-less trays that slide out easily. My Book Duo connects to your PC or Mac via USB Type C and supports USB 3.1. It includes USB Type C to Type C, and a USB Type C to Type A cables. The drive also has two USB 3.0 pass-through ports for accessories or other drives. WD My Book Duo has two pass through USB 3 ports If you have the Duo on the desk, the continuous rumbles and clunks can soon become annoying. WD need to consider that they are desktop devices and, therefore, need soundproofing added to make them less intrusive in quiet working environments.Chance of failure: higher. If the normal chance of failure of one drive is 1%, then the chance of failure with RAID-0 is almost double at 1.99%.

Chance of failure: lower. If the normal chance of failure of one drive is 1%, then the chance of failure with RAID-1 is 0.01%. I found that My Book Duo was generally quiet although it hummed a bit louder than My Book. The reading and writing sound wasn’t annoying. WHAT IS RAID AND HOW DO YOU USE IT? If the network drive's name has been changed, please attempt to use the drive's name instead of mybookliveduo. For example, use http://drivename/ on a PC, or http://drivename.local/ on a Mac. Are you looking for more storage for your 360 photos and videos? Here’s a hands-on review of WD My Book Duo, a fast, expandable external hard drive. However, it has a potential dealbreaker – hardware encryption (see below). I’ll also discuss the basics of RAID. If the network drive's name has been changed, please attempt to use the drive's name instead of mybooklive. For example, use http://drivename/ on a PC, or http://drivename.local/ on a Mac.

Verdict

Currently, the largest desktop drive Seagate makes is a 20TB model. However, with Ironwolf drives with larger capacities now available, these are likely to be introduced to the Seagate Expansion series in the coming months.

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