PogoPlug Series 4 Introduced; USB3.0 Meets The Cloud
by Jason Inofuentes on December 14, 2011 1:52 PM EST
PogoPlug has been making appearances in a number of products for a few years now. The premise is simple: take a low-power ARM computer, give it a NAS optimized Linux build, add storage and network access and you have what's been termed the "personal cloud." Access your files anywhere from your PC, phone or tablet; and never beholden to a data center. PogoPlug's particular hardware has been integrated into branded docks and also to OEM branded storage solutions. PogoPlug recently improved its service to include 5 GB of cloud storage available free to anyone interested.
Today, PogoPlug introduces their Series 4 device, an update that adds one key addition. Like the original Seagate DeskStar dock, the Series 4 acts as a dock for Seagate GoFlex mobile hard drives and includes an SD card reader, Gigabit ethernet, single USB 2.0 port and two USB 3.0 ports. The USB 3.0 addition is new, and while the added throughput might be wasted to slow broadband and cellular access, the performance should help with local streaming.
We can expect more personal cloud devices coming our way. While the convenience of storing all your data in a massive redundant data center is great, having to contend with network difficulties and service fees can be less than ideal, particularly the high costs of expanding storage. Personal cloud devices remove the fees and storage barriers, and leave users with the task of optimization and network upkeep. If you're up to the task and interested in expandable cloud storage, this may be one of the best options around.The Series 4 is available now at your favorite e-tailer for $99.
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IBM650 - Wednesday, December 14, 2011 - link
They have a history of destroying NTFS drives, hopefully they have fixed this.jameskatt - Sunday, March 10, 2013 - link
They still do.Shadowmaster625 - Wednesday, December 14, 2011 - link
For $99 why not jsut go to goodwill, craiglist, or garage sale, and pick up any old computer from the last 8 years for $40 and put your drive in there? Duh...MeesterNid - Wednesday, December 14, 2011 - link
Well, for one, because that would mean an ugly metal box will be taking extra space up wherever it is you put it. It will produce unnecessary heat, noise and draw power. Not to mention the fact that you would have to spend time maintaining it's operating system and any components that will die off.JasonInofuentes - Wednesday, December 14, 2011 - link
+1blueeyesm - Wednesday, December 14, 2011 - link
1) Power consumption - older systems will consume more power than a unit like this, esp. mechanical drives2) Unknown working condition - You don't want to buy a flaky system
3) Warranty - even if you bought it for 20 bucks, if you have to spend money 2 weeks later to fix, then the investment was not worth it
4) Time to set up and configure - too many people don't have that kind of time
5) Older units tend to be noisier
It's admirable to try to re-purpose a used system, but it's far more worthwhile to have the materials in that older system be recycled.
JasonInofuentes - Wednesday, December 14, 2011 - link
+1JasonInofuentes - Wednesday, December 14, 2011 - link
And you still aren't going to get the benefits of the PogoPlug cloud services.jameskatt - Sunday, March 10, 2013 - link
The PogoPlug Series 4 has a critical file bug in both PC and Mac formatted drives: It loses meta data such as the creation date. This is crucially lost information when storing video or photos. It still hasn't been fixed by PogoPlug since June 2012. I have had to retire my PogoPlugs because of this bug. This bug makes them useless for back-ups.The best solution is to get PogoPlugPC - their software - which turns a PC or Mac into a PogoPlug. When you couple this with a Mac Mini or Inexpensive PC Laptop - which cost $300 these days or less - then you have a very effective backup system, which draws little power, doesn't cause much noise or heat. And it is much faster in use than the PogoPlug device. Realize that the PogoPlug device is a mini Linux PC with a slow CPU. The PogoPlugPC solution is the best solution overall - with unlimited storage that you control, that is not somewhere in the cloud where hackers can break into or PogoPlug can lose.
ant6n - Wednesday, December 14, 2011 - link
If they added 4..6 sata ports, it would be much more interesting.