My Thoughts: My Book Live Duo

I just want to express some love for the My Book Love Duo from the awesome people at Western Digital. This Network Access Storage (NAS) product has been a welcome addition to our home network setup.

There are great reviews for this product available out there and this isn't meant to replace any of those. Read  any of these for full information: CNET - PCWorld - TechRadar  I just want to share how our family is using this great product without going over too much technical information. 

Half of the capacity is used to store your
data and half is used for a second copy

The first reason that I pushed for our family to acquire this additional piece of hardware is the RAID 1 (mirroring) capability it has. In English that means that the six years worth of pictures of our children growing up and other treasured moments are safe and sound. You see there are two hard drives in the My Book Live Duo, and in the RAID 1 mode, the total capacity is split in half and it automatically copies itself. So if one hard drive fails the information is safe on the other one. I just need to replace the broken one and it will then copy the information onto the new one. 

Tip: When first setting up the My Book Live Duo, you have to allow for close to 12 hours to pass as it switches from the maximum capacity mode to mirrored. So don't expect to do much upon opening it.

The second reason for the purchase is the personal cloud storage. It is a perfect match for the WD TV Live Streaming Media Player, another great product from Western Digital. I'm able to access all of our video files from the comfort of our living room via its wireless or wired network capability. I no longer have to run up and down the stairs moving content around on portable hard drives. Setting up the Shared folders was easy to do and really the hardest part is changing your habits of how you save your files.

Tip: With the WD TV Live, first access your Shared Folders via the Network Share option. Select the Shared Video folder and then push the 'Option' button. Select the 'Add to My Media Library' option to add it to the default view. That will get you to your content quicker.

The third reason for buying this Network Access Storage (NAS) hard drive versus any others is because I've consistently had a great experience with the products from Western Digital. It all started with their first generation WD TV media player which changed forever how I watch content on the television. Western Digital is a brand that is continually innovating and produces products that work as promised.

If you are looking for a networked storage solution for your family or small business, take a serious look at the WD My Book Live Duo. It is currently available in two sizes: 4 TB and 6TB and prices sometimes vary so make sure you shop around online first.

What other NAS solutions would you recommend? Anyone have any other tips on how to best use this product?