WD My Cloud Pro Series PR4100 NAS – The Unbiased Review

Wondering who needs a Network-attached storage (NAS) like WD My Cloud Pro Series PR4100 NAS? Well, it’s the prosumers like photographers, SOHO’s, creative teams, SME’s, content creators like me and even content consumers who like to store media.

In my case, I’m both a content creator and content consumer. As a content creator, I’m always shooting photos for my websites and videos for my YouTube channels. On an average, I shoot 4-5GB of data each day which needs to be stored somewhere safe. I’ve a dozen memory cards and portable hard drives to store all the content I creating.

Similarly, for media consumption, I store tonnes of documentaries, series and movies. Don’t judge me, I’ve subscription for Netflix, Hotstar Premium, Amazon Prime but at the same time I’m old school, and I like archiving documentaries and series for offline consumption.

The WD My Cloud Pro Series PR4100 NAS is loaded with features like multiple RAID configurations, password protection, 256-bit AES volume encryption and upwards of 32TB of storage capacity. What makes it stand out from the competition is its ease of use through WD’s proprietary software WD SmartWare Pro and the My Cloud Dashboard. And this NAS drive is not limited to your home or office WiFi, users can also use PR4100 to remotely edit, save and share their projects using the My Cloud mobile app for Android and iOS. The bonus is the Adobe Creative Cloud Connectivity.

Before we start the review. Let’s have a look at the specs-

My Cloud Pro PR4100 Specifications

• Capacities and Models
  • 0 TB WDBNFA0000NBK-NESN
  • 8 TB WDBNFA0080KBK-NESN
  • 16 TB WDBNFA0160KBK-NESN
  • 24 TB WDBNFA0240KBK-NESN
  • 32 TB WDBNFA0320KBK-NESN
• Interface
  • PR2100: 2 X USB 3.0 (Expansion Ports)
  • PR4100: 3 X USB 3.0 (Expansion Ports)
  • One-touch USB import button (Front)
  • 2 x Gigabit Ethernet
  • 2 x Power Supply (DC in)
• Dimensions
  • Length 9.13 in (232.00 mm)
  • Width 6.69 in (170.00 mm)
  • Height 7.56 in (192.00 mm)
• Operating Specifications
  • Operating Temperature 0°C to 35°C
  • Non-op Temperature -40°C to 70°C
• System Requirements
  • Windows 10, Windows 8 or Windows 7 operating systems
  • Mac OS X El Capitan, Yosemite, Mavericks or Mountain Lion
  • DLNA/UPnP or Plex-enabled devices for streaming
  • Router with Internet connection
• Supported Browsers
  • Internet Explorer 10 or higher
  • Safari 6 or higher
  • Firefox 30 or higher
  • Google Chrome 31.0 or higher on supported Windows and
  • Mac OS platforms
• Kit Contents
  • NAS
  • Ethernet cable
  • Power supply and cable
  • Quick Install Guide
• Warranty
  • Diskless: 2 years
  • Pre-configured: 3 years

Photo Gallery

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Design and Build

The PR4100 has a slick design and adds value to the desk. As most of the workstations or desktops are black in colour, it fits in well with other components. In terms of dimensions, the My Cloud PR4100 is compact with 5.82 inches height and 4.28 inches width. On the front is the Status LCD display with scroll buttons on the left for easy navigation, then there are the Power and One-click copy button along with a USB 3.0 port, and four drive bay with status LEDs. Thanks to the Status LCD you don’t have power up a system or connect through a mobile to check a lot of things including IP address and drives statuses. If you work in dark or low light, then you can disable the Status LCD display and also save power.

But the main thing on the front are the four tool-less/tray-less 3.5-inch drive bays, that you can open by simply pulling the handle to swiftly remove or install a drive. Even though the latch mechanism is extremely easy to open or close, be rest assured that drives are very secure once they are snapped into place, and the doors are closed. But, if you are worried about drives being stolen or tampered with then, unfortunately, you can’t lock the bays with a key.

Moving on the back of the device, where are all the ports and the system fan. Don’t go by the huge fan that takes up the entire rear of the device as it is a very quiet device. The connectivity/functionality is located along the right side, consisting of a reset button, a USB 3.0 port, two Ethernet ports, and two external DC-in power ports. The Kensington Security Slot is placed at the bottom left of the back panel.

Software and Performance

For the success of any hardware, its software UI & UX plays a critical role. So is the case with WD My Cloud Pro Series products, the user experience is so streamlined that it enhances your work. Be it the My Cloud Dashboard or the mobile apps, the ecosystem simply adds more value to package.

Through the dashboard, users can access the device’s internal settings, options, and features. To set it up or to access the dashboard, simply attach the PR4100 to the same network and type the name or IP Address of the My Cloud device in any web browser. 

To access the NAS storage on mobile, users have to download My Cloud OS app for iOS or Android. With the app, users can access the content from anywhere at any time.

For a seamless experience, users can access any setting of this NAS through the top navigation bar. 

During our tests, with 100% write and 100% read activity, PR4100 showed impressive write activity with 708 IOPS in iSCSI and 720 IOPS in CIFS, while measuring 353 IOPS and 335 IOPS, respectively.

The Unbiased Verdict

The WD My Cloud Pro Series PR4100 NAS is an investment that you would love. Since we got this unit for review, the performance boost we got in our workflow is unprecedented. It sure does cost a bomb, precisely INR 58,500 on Amazon.in or $499 on Amazon.com without any storage drive.

Disclaimer: This was a review product sent to us by WD India, and we used it over a month before publishing this review.