Western Digital launches 20TB desktop storage system

[Shawn Knight]

The demand for local storage isn’t what it used to be thanks to the proliferation of cloud-based storage as well as streaming music and video platforms. That said, the need for massive quantities of storage does persist.

Not everyone is a fan of streaming and some need lots of space for work purposes. Still others simply prefer to keep their personal content off the Internet.

If you fall into any of these categories or otherwise have a need for gobs of local drive space, Western Digital’s latest product may be worth a look.

The Western Digital My Book Duo is an external storage system packing RAID-optimized WD Red hard drives (formatted NTFS out of the box) boasting speeds of up to 360 MB/s (sequential reads). Offered in capacities of 4TB, 6TB, 8TB, 12TB, 16TB and 20TB, the setup affords USB Type-C and Type-A connectivity as well as password protection and 256-bit AES hardware encryption with WD Security software built-in to ensure data remains secure.

The unit measures 7.09 x 6.3 x 3.94 inches and weighs between 5.05 to 5.25 pounds depending on drive capacity.

The My Book Duo is available as of writing from Western Digital’s website and select retailers. Pricing starts at $259.99 for the 4TB unit and tops out at $799.99 for the massive 20TB model. All are backed by a three-year warranty.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/70678-western-digital-launches-20tb-desktop-storage-system.html

 

[VitalyT]

Most people connect such things over 1Gb Ethernet, which means the speed tops at about 115MB/s.

 

[psycros]

"The demand for local storage isn’t what it used to be thanks to the proliferation of cloud-based storage as well as streaming music and video platforms."

With many wired ISPS now enforcing data caps, local storage has once again become very desirable. Why stream when you can download once and play it locally as much as you like with no impact on your usage? Oh, my hard drive died? I've got everything backed up for every machine in the house. Then you factor in the advertising, spying and malware that you're being exposed to every time you download or stream and local bulk storage is more appealing than ever.

 

[QuantumPhysics]

The absolute best products Western Digital makes are the MY CLOUD NAS.

I have a 4TB model but since these things have a USB 3.0 port, you can add any HDD size to it you want.

The 3TB and 4TB models are less than $200.

This 20TB model is cool, but you could just as easily get one of their MY CLOUD MIRRORS and swap the drives for whatever size drive you want.

I've used my My Cloud from Dubai, Seychelles, China and Japan - while it sat at home on my shelf in NYC. I absolutely love it.

 

[Evernessince]

WTF is with that pricing? I just got an 8TB External drive for $170. Any price checking customer isn't going to want to pay $260 for only 4TB. I'd expect NAS features for that much money with only that much space.

 

[Nobina]

It's to combat the new FF game.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

WTF is with that pricing? I just got an 8TB External drive for $170. Any price checking customer isn't going to want to pay $260 for only 4TB. I'd expect NAS features for that much money with only that much space.

A good NAS alone would cost over $299 for one with enough space to fit 20TB (most likely 4 drives). Considering that 4TB most likely is comprised of two drives, it doesnt seem that outrageous to me.

 

[Adhmuz]

The 20TB unit seems to be incredibly good value, try getting 20TB of storage without a NAS and you're looking at nearly $1000 as it is just for the drives. The only issues I have with this 20TB external storage unit, no RAID, that's a whole lot of data to potentially lose.

 

[Skidmarksdeluxe]

WTF is with that pricing? I just got an 8TB External drive for $170. Any price checking customer isn't going to want to pay $260 for only 4TB. I'd expect NAS features for that much money with only that much space.

A good NAS alone would cost over $299 for one with enough space to fit 20TB (most likely 4 drives). Considering that 4TB most likely is comprised of two drives, it doesnt seem that outrageous to me.

Not at the moment it doesn't seeing they're the only ones offering that amount of storage on a single drive but when Seagate and the others rock up to the races, and they will, the price will drop significantly.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

The 20TB unit seems to be incredibly good value, try getting 20TB of storage without a NAS and you're looking at nearly $1000 as it is just for the drives. The only issues I have with this 20TB external storage unit, no RAID, that's a whole lot of data to potentially lose.

Well you'll just have to buy 2 then

 

[Neojt]

WTF is with that pricing? I just got an 8TB External drive for $170. Any price checking customer isn't going to want to pay $260 for only 4TB. I'd expect NAS features for that much money with only that much space.

A good NAS alone would cost over $299 for one with enough space to fit 20TB (most likely 4 drives). Considering that 4TB most likely is comprised of two drives, it doesnt seem that outrageous to me.

But a good NAS has a Ethernet port on it.

I wonder if you can expand the 4TB version or if its a different box for the bigger tier

 

[Kibaruk]

WTF is with that pricing? I just got an 8TB External drive for $170. Any price checking customer isn't going to want to pay $260 for only 4TB. I'd expect NAS features for that much money with only that much space.

Sure, you can get a drive-less bay for that price. The drives inside also make the whole difference, it's like asking why WD Red drives are more expensive than the green ones.

 

[Evernessince]

A good NAS alone would cost over $299 for one with enough space to fit 20TB (most likely 4 drives). Considering that 4TB most likely is comprised of two drives, it doesnt seem that outrageous to me.

lol, what? I can buy a consumer 2 bay NAS enclosure for $80. What? Are you thinking of enterprise enclosures?

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000GK8LVE/?tag=httpwwwtechsp-20

FYI most 2 bay NAS should be able to support 2 10TB disks unless it's ancient or has firmware issues. It's not something that suddenly costs you more money. It's the drives themselves that are expensive. You can pay more for better NAS devices but it's not necessary unless you need the extra features.

4TB WD Reds are around $100. That's $180 retail for parts. Getting two smaller 2TB drives is just dumb. It just increases your chances of failure and consumes more power. The increased platter density of a 4TB drive increases read/write speeds as well.

WD likely makes these for under $100 and there are plenty of other better options on the market. Every external hard drive comes with the same software they are offering here, the only difference is they for some reason decided to include two lower end drives instead of one and decide to charge you more for the space and drive. SAD!

 

[Evernessince]

The 20TB unit seems to be incredibly good value, try getting 20TB of storage without a NAS and you're looking at nearly $1000 as it is just for the drives. The only issues I have with this 20TB external storage unit, no RAID, that's a whole lot of data to potentially lose.

10TB drives work out to be around $400 each on average

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01IA9H22Q/?tag=httpwwwtechsp-20
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822178997
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01DAI6JUS/?tag=httpwwwtechsp-20

Don't know where you are getting $1K for the drives alone. It also isn't a NAS FYI, so yeah...

That still doesn't change that the 20TB is a good value, unlike the lower end models.

 

[Kibaruk]

lol, what? I can buy a consumer 2 bay NAS enclosure for $80. What? Are you thinking of enterprise enclosures?

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000GK8LVE/?tag=httpwwwtechsp-20

You would be begging to loose your information if you purchased used NAS.

 

[Aaron Jones]

Most people connect such things over 1Gb Ethernet, which means the speed tops at about 115MB/s.

Did you read the article? Connectivity is by USB 3.0; there is no 8P8C Ethernet port.