The 4TB My Book Live Duo from Western Digital is a versatile home or small office storage device that can act as your personal cloud storage, network attached storage, as well as a multimedia server. Designed to give you the power and capacity needed for saving and streaming large amounts of data and media files, this My Book Live Duo runs on an 800MHz CPU and features dual hard drives. With these hard drives, you can store up to 4TB of data and you can also save that data in a RAID 1 configuration if you want added data protection.
With a built-in Gigabit Ethernet port, you can connect the My Book Live Duo to your network router and wirelessly access data saved on it via any computer in your house. You can also configure the My Book Live Duo to automatically back up content from all the computers connected on your network. In addition, you can remotely access content on the My Book Live Duo over the Internet with your computer or do so via your smartphone or tablet, using Western Digital's mobile apps.
In terms of multimedia, the My Book Live Duo can stream content to DLNA-certified multimedia devices, such as a WD TV Live network media player, Blu-ray Disc player, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, or a connected HDTV. It can also function as an iTunes server so that you can centralize your music and stream it to any Mac or PC with iTunes. A built-in USB 2.0 port allows you to connect a USB external drive if you want added storage or need to access files already on the drive. Compatible with Mac and Windows computers, the My Book Live Duo is a superb way to store and stream data or multimedia content to your computer, smartphone, tablet, or DLNA-certified device.
| Performance | |
|---|---|
| Capacity | 4TB |
| Drive Speed | Not Specified by Manufacturer |
| Buffer | Not Specified by Manufacturer |
| Processor | 800MHz |
| Average Seek Time | Not Specified by Manufacturer |
| RAID | RAID 1 |
| Input/Output Connectors | |
|---|---|
| Interface | 1x Gigabit Ethernet |
| Ports |
1x 10/100/1000Mbps Gigabit Ethernet (RJ-45) 1x USB 2.0 |
| General | |
|---|---|
| Compatibility |
·Windows XP (SP 3), Windows Vista, Windows 7 ·Mac OS X Leopard, Snow Leopard, or Lion ·DLNA/UPnP enabled devices ·Internet connection for remote access Supported Browsers: Internet Explorer 7.0 or higher Safari 4.0 or higher Firefox 3.6 or higher Google Chrome 14.0 and later on supported Windows and Mac OS platforms |
| Mounting Orientation | Desktop |
| Power Requirements | AC: 100 to 240VAC, 47 to 63Hz |
| Environmental Requirements |
Temperature Operating: 41 to 95°F / 5 to 35°C Non-operating: -4 to 149°F / -20 to 65°C |
| Dimensions (HxDxW) | 6.5 x 6.2 x 3.9" / 16.5 x 15.7 x 9.9cm |
| Weight | 4.73 lb / 2.15kg |
REVIEW SNAPSHOT®
by PowerReviewsPros
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Reviewed by 5 customers
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Comments about Western Digital 4TB My Book Live Duo:
I use this product for some extra storage for my computer, it can stand heavy use and has so much functionality!
Pros
Cons
Best Uses
Comments about Western Digital 4TB My Book Live Duo:
I needed a NAS drive to connect my computer and music to my home AV system. The drive was easy to set up and start using. Unfortunately, the software interface provided by WD is not compatible with the Control4 home AV system, so the Control4 system could not read the NAS drive. I believe that this is a Control4 issue, not a WD issue. I solved the problem by using the NAS drive USB connection to connect my WD HDD to my home network. Since the WD HDD doesn't have the WD software interface, the Control4 system could find my music on the WD HDD so it worked out. I will still use the NAS drive for back-ups and other sharing on my home network. One feature I like was that I could set up the NAS to be RAID 1, so that I don't need to worry about a failed hard drive in the future. I'll always be covered with this drive and can replace a failed hard drive (they all fail at some point) and continue using the system. It is a very compact unit.
Comments about Western Digital 4TB My Book Live Duo:
So far my experience with this product is so-so. It is a very slow process to get all my info on the drive, which is kind of expected. Also, it is not as user-friendly as they say it is to get up and running. I had to call tech support one and need to again today. If the product does what it says it can do it will be a great addition to my work process.
Pros
Cons
Best Uses
Comments about Western Digital 4TB My Book Live Duo:
Slow transfer speed.
Constantly loose it's connectivity.
Returning it for refund.
Pros
Cons
Best Uses
Comments about Western Digital 4TB My Book Live Duo:
Deducted one star for high price.
Bought this from B&H even before WD had information about it on their own website. I knew that it had to be the same software and setup as the existing My Book Live drives, but with the added ability to make it a RAID 1 drive.
I have had WD drives crash in the past, so I will only trust my data to something that is redundant.
Set-up was easy, I went to the WD site after they put up product info and downloaded the full user manual. It was easy to install on my home network and to set up on a windows PC running Windows 7 home premium.
It took the drive about an hour to convert itself to RAID 1, once I started the set up process.
Initial data transfer took quite some time as expected, (30 hours for 500 GB). I really could not care less if that was efficient or not, it is what it is. That was taking data off a USB 2.0 external drive, connected through an old PC running XP and onto the networked Live drive.
Had it running for 2 days, so too early to tell if has any issues.
Have not attempted to set-up or use the remote access software yet.
Overall, I hope it stands up. Other WD drives I have owned in the past have had issues with power supplies (cords), faulty on-off switches, and catastrophic drive failures. The only drive that has really held up is a WD worldbook studio drive that I have for work that is also RAID 1.
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