My dad gave me a WD My Cloud Duo 16TB NAS (he refused to listen to me at the time, and was convinced every drive is the same) even though we had two Synology's at the time. He wanted it for his photos (he uses photoshop) and money doesn't matter to him. He eventually realised it need to be connected to the internet to be able to use it, that wasn't going to work for him, he didn't have the energy to return it and gave it to me.
Unfortunately, he took the time to set it up before he gave it to me, so now whenever it gets full (I think less than 5TB), or shuts off because its hot, it "phones home" (his email is associated with it) to tell him, then I get yelled at (he is 70)
I get it, he doesn't want his house to burn down, but still.
My strategy/current plan is.
I want to buy a normal 16TB, no NAS, no fans nothing, backup/clone the source drive, then turn it off, take the drives out, wipe them both, and have two free 8TB drives.
I see the pro's the only con is the price of a new 16TB drive. It's cheaper if I get it online, it will take a few days, but if I buy it today and get started on it, it's more expensive.
The difference would be about $200
I have tried in vain to stop it "phoning home" and I can't figure out a way to remove his email, I even tried getting onto his computer and blocking WD sending him emails, but either he reversed it, or they found another way.
Is there any other avenue I can consider? will this work?