Western Digital My Cloud DL4100 review

The future looks cloudy for WD’s new business NAS appliance

Reviews
By Dave Mitchell
published

IT Pro Verdict

Not the fastest or best featured NAS appliance but it’s cheap and cloud access is a cinch to configure

Pros

  • +

    Good value; Easy installation; Simplified cloud access; Quiet

Cons

  • -

    Short on storage features; Unimpressive backup performance

We've always had mixed feelings about WD's Sentinel business storage family as its bewildering range of Windows Server and Storage Server OSes make it difficult for small businesses to choose the one that suits their needs best. The new My Cloud Business Series of NAS appliances look a better choice as they all run the same OS and offer useful cloud features for remote workers.

The family comprises two models; the 2-bay DL2100 and the 4-bay DL4100 on review here. It uses the same chassis as the My Cloud EX4100 but gets a boost in performance with a 1.7GHz Intel Atom C2338 accompanied by 2GB of DDR3L memory.

You can buy a diskless DL4100 from WD for 333 ex VAT but it's only certified to use its Red NAS drives. You pay a premium for the prepopulated models as the 24TB version we have costs 1,167 but gets an extra year on the warranty.

The web console provides a tidy summary of all the action along with connected users

Dave Mitchell
Dave Mitchell

Dave is an IT consultant and freelance journalist specialising in hands-on reviews of computer networking products covering all market sectors from small businesses to enterprises. Founder of Binary Testing Ltd – the UK’s premier independent network testing laboratory - Dave has over 45 years of experience in the IT industry.

Dave has produced many thousands of in-depth business networking product reviews from his lab which have been reproduced globally. Writing for ITPro and its sister title, PC Pro, he covers all areas of business IT infrastructure, including servers, storage, network security, data protection, cloud, infrastructure and services.