external hd

Im looking into buying a external hd to back up my M18x. I just bought this one for my xbox one

WD My Book 4TB External USB 3.0 Hard Drive Black WDBFJK0040HBK-NESN - Best Buy

so im wondering what is the difference between that one and this one

WD My Cloud 6TB External Gigabit Ethernet Hard Drive White WDBCTL0060HWT-NESN - Best Buy

 

Hey aliengamer,

The main difference would be that WD My Book is a DAS (Direct-attached storage) device that work as an external drive for storing backing up data (as well as other features), while WD My Cloud is a NAS (Network-attached storage) device that is accessible over the network (and internet) and can be used for other purposes such as streaming, ranged storage access and other (as well as everything a DAS can do).

Hope this helps! Feel free to ask if you have any questions,

Captain_WD

 

so I should use the My Book since I would be only using it as a back up. The My Cloud can be a backup but also be used as more HD space for my laptop?

 

You can use either of them The difference would be that WD My Book connects via USB cable while WD My Cloud is accessible through the network. Either of them can be used as expandable storage and for backups.
You can see them like this: WD My Book as a larger external drive and WD My Cloud as your own personal cloud (such as Dropbox or Google Drive, but located at your home that you can use over the internet or your local network wirelessly).

Captain_WD.

 

If it's just living at home then getting the network attached drive is likely easiest and you can then share data across all your devices.

 

ok thanks for the info! sorry if any stupid questions but ive never used a external hd so im wondering on the my cloud hd,my wireless internet is shared with like my parents and also my grandpa nextdoor uses it so would all my stuff be open to anyone using my wi fi or is it password protected or sumthing? also id like to back up my older alineware laptop because its probably ganna die soon so i can backup both my laptops on the hd?

 

WD My Cloud offers password protection on your data. Moreover, you can create separate accounts for you and for other people and actually configure who can access what. This way, if needed, others can be granted access and still be unable to see your data. The simplest thing would be to just have your own account and not share your credentials with others. This way only people who have your account name and password would have access. The only thing you need to decide on is if you would like to have your drive actually connected to your computer via a cable or you would like to use it wirelessly.

You can backup as many drives as you would like as long as you have enough space and enough partitions to do so.

Captain_WD

 

If remote access from the web is not needed (and for most of us it is not necessary for our personal files) just plugging a USB drive into the USB port on your router--unless you have a cheap or older model router that lacks that nifty feature--is a very simple and effective way of having inexpensive shared file storage on the home network. That will work fine for streaming music and videos to your smart BluRay player or network-connected TV set, too. I have a USB HDD I leave plugged into my router 24/7 for drag and drop file sharing and simple file archives.

 

thanks for all the info!! my cloud seems like the best way to go because I dont have alot of room to have a hd anywhere near my laptop right now..I already have a external hd there that is hooked up to my xbox one. and i have a cheap router right now so no USB on that.