Our lives have become digital – always on, always connected, and always sharing. Smartphones, tablets and pocket-sized digital cameras have made taking photographs and videos so simple, something we take it for granted, says Ruben Naicker, WD product specialist at Drive Control Corporation.
The revolution of digital music means we can take our tunes everywhere, on phones, tablets, PCs and portable music players. Movies and television series can be downloaded and watched at our leisure on any and all of these devices. In other words, digital content has become a vital part of everyday life. However, with all of our most loved content stored on so many different devices, if one of them is lost or stolen, those memories could be lost forever.
Cloud storage offers one solution to this challenge, but with bandwidth as limited as it still is in South Africa, uploading vast amounts of digital content can take a very long time and prove expensive. There is also that feeling of doubt when it comes to storing personal content in a public space.
What you really need is a centralised place to store content at home, so that even if individual devices go missing, those digital memories live on. The solution is the personal cloud. Setting up a personal cloud may seem daunting, but it is not as difficult as it seems thanks to innovative technology from WD, a Western Digital company.
With a personal cloud you can ensure that your digital content is always secure, always centralised, and always available for you to share with friends and family.
Unlike the public cloud, where your data could be stored anywhere in the world on virtual servers, and could be prone to security breaches as seen recently with several public cloud providers. However, the personal cloud is yours and yours alone.
A personal cloud keeps your content in one place, in once central point such as your home and under your control. Each user has their own secure IP address for access, and their own password, ensuring that nobody can access stored information without permission.
The My Book Live and My Book Live Duo are, in essence, external storage devices, much like those often in place in homes to store content. However, these drives are also networked to enable shared storage on your home network that is wirelessly accessible from computers, tablets, Smartphones and connected devices.
With included WD software, setting up a personal cloud at home is a matter of a few clicks of the mouse – the My Book Live drives connect to your wireless router for simple networked storage. Automated backup software, WD SmartWare Pro, will ensure content from any connected device is stored on the WD drive, and can be accessed from the personal cloud, making sure it is safe and sound, and easy to share with others on the network.
WD’s mobile apps, My Cloud and WD Photos also mean that content can be accessed from connected mobile devices wherever you are, subject to availability and speed of Internet connectivity.
When it comes to sharing and uploading content, the network is always the issue, and speed is critical, especially when multiple users are accessing the same network as in the home environment.
Streaming video and playing games over a wireless network also requires advanced router technology. Having a fast wireless router is therefore another important component of the personal cloud, and WD has the solution to this challenge as well – the My Net N900 router.
The My Net N900 is a High Definition (HD) dual-band router that delivers up to 900 megabits per second (Mb/s) combined wireless speed, ensuring multiple users can access content simultaneously without adversely affecting network performance.
WD’s exclusive FasTrack Plus technology also instantly detects entertainment services with smart, realtime traffic analysis that automatically prioritises your movies, shows, games, music and video for smooth, accelerated HD streaming. This means that in a connected home environment, multiple users can upload, access and share content, stream video, play games and more, without lag or jitter, for smooth, seamless networking.
Connecting the My Book Live or My Book Live Duo to a My Net 900 router makes the personal cloud simple and achievable. These devices are easy to set up, easy to use, and allow for secure, centralised storage and smooth seamless content sharing. Keeping your digital memories safe is easier than ever thanks to personal cloud solutions from WD.
