If you haven't noticed, your storage needs are on the rise. As we capture more photos and videos with more devices, we're quickly filling up the places to put them. In fact, the average household will require about 3.3 terabytes of storage by 2016, according to Gartner.
It's this storage-starved future that Western Digital hopes to serve with its new My Cloud drive. My Cloud is basically a speedy hard drive with an Ethernet connection so it can hook up to a home network. My Cloud is more than just network-attached storage (NAS), though. Owners can access the content from anywhere in the world, provided there's an Internet connection.
See also: 10 Things You Didn't Know Dropbox Could Do
The idea is that My Cloud works similar to Dropbox, Box or any other cloud service, except it doesn't cost you any monthly or yearly fees. WD's software — which includes apps for iOS, Android, Windows, Mac and the web — emphasizes ease of use with a visual-driven interface, and it integrates storage from other cloud services (Google Drive, SkyDrive and Dropbox) as well.
When you first set up My Cloud, WD software can seek out media on all the devices on your Wi-Fi network and start copying them over, fueling its primary purpose: to be a central hub for all your photos, videos and music, accessible from anywhere. It can also serve as a general backup drive, and there's a USB 3.0 port for hooking up even more storage.
WD is far from the first company to offer Internet-connected physical storage; Pogoplug has been doing the same thing for years. However, My Cloud has a dual-core processor and gigabit Ethernet connection that help ensure lickety-split performance — video files, for example, should start streaming within seconds of accessing them, provided connections on both sides are stable.
The drive isn't without limitations: iOS devices won't automatically back themselves up or even save photos to My Cloud, so you'll have to do that manually via the app. It can't even do automatic photo saving from an iPhone like Dropbox can (since WD is an Apple partner, it can't bend the iOS rules like some other companies).
Also, if you store anything on My Cloud that's not somewhere else, you'll still need a separate backup drive. There's also no Wi-Fi on My Cloud; you have to hard-wire it to your network.
Even with the caveats, My Cloud is a compelling idea: All of your media in one place, completely at the ready whether you're at home, work, on vacation or just out with friends. And no subscription.
There may be no recurring fees, but My Cloud isn't free. WD is selling 2, 3 and 4TB versions of the drive for $149.99, $179.99 and $249.99, respectively. The 2 and 3TB models are available now, with the 4TB version coming in November. WD says two- and four-drive configurations are in the works.
How do you like WD My Cloud? Let us know in the comments.
Images: Mashable, Christina Ascani