Review: Akitio MyCloud Duo

No doubt you have heard one of the most overused yet misunderstood term in technology today: the cloud. Luckily, Akitio understands and delivers the true meaning of this with the MyCloud Duo. Not only can you stream almost endless types of content locally but you can access this same data almost anywhere via the Internet on almost any device.  Your personal media cloud is here folks, are you ready for it?

·                UPnP-AV media server to stream media files on the local network

·                Web based file browser and media player to manage and playback media files

·                Web portal for remote access at home and on-the-road

·                Low power consumption (~18W during operation with 2 x 1.5TB drives)

·                Takes less than 45 seconds to set up (excluding HDD installation and formatting process)

·                Gigabit Ethernet connection

·                Compact design

Hands off MyCloud!

Akitio provides everything you need to get your cloud up and running. The only thing missing:  one or two SATA hard drives for storage. I threw in a single 80 gig drive that had some junk on it, just to do some testing. Installing the drive was simple due to the Quick Installation Guide provided. After installing the drive, I connected the power and network cable to my little 100 megabit network. I realized at that moment that the MyCloud has a 1000 megabit (Gigabit) connection. I feared I wouldn't be able to stream 1080p or other high end formats at that moment. More on that later but for now, all the hardware components were top notch and in great condition.

The unit itself is solid, well designed and looks great. I did have a bunch of fingerprints show up on the unit so the FBI would have a heyday with this thing. Other than that, props to Akitio for such a striking and sturdy design. The front panel features all the LED information you need including OS busy light, disk access, power button etc. It looks nice, it works well and was easy to use. The back provides the gigabit Ethernet connection and also a small fan to keep your drives cool. Even though the fan seems solid, my 80 gig Seagate was still quite warm even after a few hours of use.

After connecting to MyCloud to the network, you can use included software to discover your device or register it via MAC address on the Akitio website. The interface is in a word, beautiful. After getting used to it, it felt like a wonderful mix of Linux and MacOS. The only real trouble I had was setting up the hard drive. There is an auto mode that just tries to use whatever drive you stick in there but I had to go in to the expert settings and reformat the drive and it was quite complex. For those who aren't savvy with hardware and different file systems, this can be quite daunting.

Drive formatted and ready to go, I started to test and began to see the power of the MyCloud. I first streamed music, photos and 1080p to my Xbox360. Worked like a charm, even on a 100 megabit network! Then, my laptop via web browser and even through Window Media Player, it found the device and all worked flawless. I next just typed in "\\ishare" in my Windows run box and all files were served up via NFS. Delicious! This device has many more capabilities such as iTunes support, FTP, Samba, etc etc. It really is an impressive product that works extremely well. If you want to get into cloud storage, the MyCloud Duo is a fantastic choice. For more information, check out the product page here.