Western Digital Gives Users Complete Control Over Data with My Cloud

Manufacturers of desktop and notebook technologies have had to make hard choices in the past couple years, as PC shipments start to be eclipsed by tablet shipments. In the case of Western Digital (News - Alert), however, it seems the choice has been a pretty natural one: Extend into cloud technology.

Indeed, the company has released its new My Cloud family of personal cloud solutions as a way to supplement its more traditional physical storage offerings. My Cloud is a complete solution that allows users to organize, centralize and secure digital content from both computers and mobile devices, making data accessible from any location, on any device.

Best of all, since users have complete control over their My Cloud personal drive, they can enjoy all the benefits of cloud storage without paying monthly fees or giving up data to a third party.

"We believe that there's no place like home for the cloud," said Jim Welsh, executive vice president and general manager of WD's branded products and consumer electronics groups. "Everyone is inundated with thousands of digital files scattered across multiple computers and mobile devices, and controlling that chaos is a challenge. WD's personal cloud is the easiest, most secure and most affordable way for customers to control that chaos, with access to all of their files anywhere, anytime."

As data use grows — Gartner (News - Alert) estimates the average household will own about 3.3 terabytes of digital content by 2016 — access to cloud storage will become more important for most users, especially since many mobile devices limit storage to, at most, 32GB. Western Digital believes that My Cloud is the perfect answer to this as it allows for easy access to files and even media streaming from a remote location.

My Cloud features a Web-based interface for easy setup and management of data, while desktop and mobile apps offer data management while on the go. PC users can even setup automatic backup with Western Digital’s SmartWare Pro software; Mac users can simply use Apple (News - Alert) Time Machine for the same functionality.