FreeNAS 9.2 on WD My Cloud 2 TB possible ?

[Lieselotte Fritz]

FreeNAS 9.2 on Western Digital My Cloud 2 TB possible?

Application (desirable):
- Data transfer of 1 Terabyte in 1 session by 1 client via internet > 100 Mbps
- Number of users per week: 1
- Total storage size of NAS: 2 Terabyte - 4 Terabyte
- Frequency: 1 data transfer session per week
- Client computer: windows system
- Computer for administration of NAS (= harddisk + 8 GB administration drive): linux system
- Client computer program: WinSCP
- Encryption: of disks of administration computer and NAS harddisk and possibly client computer)
- Encryption: data transfer

A major disadvantage of Western Digital My Cloud network attached storage (NAS) units (1 – 4 Terabyte) is that the USA company Western Digital (WD) wants to send out the usernames and passwords for every user of the NAS system by a simple non encrypted email. Sending passwords and usernames by a simple email is not good for business. A company that owns the NAS hardware (and hosts it in its own office) doesn't want to send confidential contact data of business partners to the supplier of the hardware used. This is a no go for commercial applications where data security and confidentiality is a top priority.
WD provides the free software mc_windows_setup.exe for the computer that makes the administration of the WD My Cloud. The WD My Cloud has one USB 3.0 port and one Gigabit ethernet port. It is not possible to exchange the harddisk (not designed for easy hard disk exchange).

A) Does someone know how to use (reuse) a WD My Cloud 2TB (with one hard disk) with non-WD software?

B) Should it be possible to use the USB port to connect a USB memory stick (8 GB) for running the FreeNAS 9.2 administration software?

C) Is it possible to use WD My Cloud 2TB with Linux openSSH-server software as a NAS system?

D) What other option does exist to reuse the WD My Cloud 2TB without the WD software?

 

[warri]

FreeNAS 9.2 on Western Digital My Cloud 2 TB possible?

Short: No.

A) Not really, you could always remove the hard drive and use it in a proper server,

B) No, FreeNAS is not designed to run on embedded hardware. It has quite elaborate hardware requirements, which are not met by those NAS devices.

C) No idea.

D) See A.

 

[gzartman]

The WD unit likely has no where near the horsepower to do freenas justice. I'm not familiar with that unit, but many of the middle of the road NAS boxes have Atom processors and a couple gigs of RAM. If this is the case with your box, I'd look at http://xpenology.com/forum/

More than likely the WD unit is just some embedded system with a very low end, non-x86, processor.

My suggestion to you (do one or the other):

1. Buy a real NAS unit. http://www.synology.com/en-us/ makes some amazing boxes for the price and they do everything you are asking about. FreeNAS also makes some pre-built boxes, but they look to be a little more spendy than the Synology boxes. I have a synology box and the UI, add-on, and support are awesome. Don't get me wrong, I love FreeNAS. I just think you'd like Synology better.

2. Do alot of reading and learning before you jump in to building your own box. You're questions are showing you are really out in left field (sorry). If you just want to mess around at home, go for it. It can be a fun processing learning about this stuff. However; if you need an NAS for any type of business, don't just jump into something like a self built FreeNAS box or you are likely in for alot of pain. Losing data sucks, is frustrating, and costs alot of time. Save yourself alot of heartache and go up to bullet 1.