My Book World Edition NAS server gets update
Western Digital releases new firmware that makes the device's Web interface more responsive and intuitive but doesn't do much to improve the remote-access solution.
I reviewed Western Digital's new My Book World Edition NAS server (the white light version) a while ago and complained about its sluggish Web interface, which contains confusing information suggesting that you would need to download software to make the MioNet remote-access solution work. The remote-access solution itself seemed useless.
Western Digital informed me on Friday that it has released an update to its My Book World Edition firmware to address these issues.
It was very easy to update the firmware. You just need to log into the device's Web interface, click on "Advanced Mode," then click on "Update." Here you can click on "Check for New Firmware," then on "Download." The rest will be done by the device itself. Depending on the speed of your Internet connection, the update process will take up to 10 minutes.
Although the firmware updates to version 01.00.14 from version 01.00.02, the version number of the MioNet remote-access solution remains the same, at 2.3.9.13.
After the update, the device's Web interface seemed a lot more responsive, and the "Remote Access" section doesn't tell you to download the software, which is not necessary anymore. Unfortunately, the remote access itself works the same as prior to the update.
The biggest shortcoming of the solution is the fact that it offers only one way to access data: you can work on only one file at a time, and only by opening it directly from the NAS server. This might work fine with a small documents file (like Word or Excel documents), but for large files (movies and music), most of the time, all you'll see is the hour glass.
It would be a lot better if you could download files and folders (even better by just dragging and dropping) onto the remote computer before opening them. Overall, the remote access offered by the My Book World Edition NAS server is still arguably the most limited among those of NAS servers I've tested.
Nonetheless, other than the remote access, the device is still one of the most easy-to-use and affordable NAS servers currently on the market, and the firmware update only makes it even better. If you own one, I recommend you complete the update right away.
