I have a Drobo at home holding a zillion terabytes of disk storage, and noticed on the Drobo website that you can use the Drobo with a Pogoplug. I've heard of the Pogoplug, a little hardware gizmo that lets you build your own private cloud data storage system. I thought, cool, I could connect the Drobo to the Pogoplug rather than to the Mac Mini, and access my files from anywhere. And maybe I could set it up to let my girlfriend or others to store files on the Drobo as well. So, let's see what it can do.
There are three devices in the Pogoplug family Pogoplug Backup Device [Newest Version]
, Pogoplug Series 4 Backup Device [Newest Version]
, and Pogoplug Office Sharing Device POGOV4A401
There is also some software you can buy, as well as some kind of subscription service.
The differences are:-
In short, the Pogoplug is a small box with a USB port (either USB2 or USB3) for attaching a USB disk. Additionally you can attach SD cards.
If features continuous backup, that works even when you are away from home by transmitting files over the Internet.
You can access files stored in your Pogoplug from anywhere, through a web browser or iPhone/Android/iPad etc applications.
You can share individual files or folders with others via email. The person you're sharing with receives a link, via email, to access the files. Links to files can also be published to other services like twitter, or facebook.
The "Pogoplug Companion Software" is installed on your desktop computer to support several functions. First, this is the software which enables automated backup. Second, you can use this software as an alternative to the web browser interface to upload or access files. Third, it enables accessing the Pogoplug as if it were a local drive on the computer.
The Pogoplug can act as a streaming media server, so that media files stored on the device can be played back on a big screen via devices like the Xbox, Playstation, or media players (?Roku? ?AppleTV?).
The smart phone app can also access media files, playing them on the device, so that you can remotely access your media library. It also acts to automatically send any pictures taken with your smart phone to the pogoplug.
But - is it proper to call this a "Cloud device"? What would a "Personal Cloud" be, anyway? Isn't that a bit of a misnomer, "Personal Cloud"?
That is - "Cloud" is one of those marketing buzzwords that are devoid of real meaning. But what I understand as the meaning is, that a "Cloud" service is one that grows and shrinks on need, has automated systems supporting it, etc. The Pogoplug does none of that. Where "Cloud" applies to the Pogoplug is that it attaches to the Internet and the Internet is often drawn as a Cloud in diagrams. Rather than a NAS (Network Attached Storage), the Pogoplug probably should be called "Internet Attached Storage" (IAS) because it can be accessed from any Internet connection.
There are three devices in the Pogoplug family Pogoplug Backup Device [Newest Version]
, Pogoplug Series 4 Backup Device [Newest Version], and Pogoplug Office Sharing Device POGOV4A401 There is also some software you can buy, as well as some kind of subscription service.
The differences are:-
 Pogoplug Backup Device [Newest Version] | Base device. Support USB2.0 drives, Gigabit Ethernet, and SD flash cards. |
|---|---|
 Pogoplug Series 4 Backup Device [Newest Version] | Instead of 1 USB2 port, this has 2 USB3 ports for both higher speed and more expandability. It still has the SD card slot. Additionally it directly supports SATA/USM drives via an addon cradle to hold a bare drive. |
 Pogoplug Office Sharing Device POGOV4A401 | Adds support for multiple users, with up to five total users of the device. Hence, this version is appropriate for small workgroups to all share a data storage unit. |
In short, the Pogoplug is a small box with a USB port (either USB2 or USB3) for attaching a USB disk. Additionally you can attach SD cards.
If features continuous backup, that works even when you are away from home by transmitting files over the Internet.
You can access files stored in your Pogoplug from anywhere, through a web browser or iPhone/Android/iPad etc applications.
You can share individual files or folders with others via email. The person you're sharing with receives a link, via email, to access the files. Links to files can also be published to other services like twitter, or facebook.
The "Pogoplug Companion Software" is installed on your desktop computer to support several functions. First, this is the software which enables automated backup. Second, you can use this software as an alternative to the web browser interface to upload or access files. Third, it enables accessing the Pogoplug as if it were a local drive on the computer.
The Pogoplug can act as a streaming media server, so that media files stored on the device can be played back on a big screen via devices like the Xbox, Playstation, or media players (?Roku? ?AppleTV?).
But - is it proper to call this a "Cloud device"? What would a "Personal Cloud" be, anyway? Isn't that a bit of a misnomer, "Personal Cloud"?
That is - "Cloud" is one of those marketing buzzwords that are devoid of real meaning. But what I understand as the meaning is, that a "Cloud" service is one that grows and shrinks on need, has automated systems supporting it, etc. The Pogoplug does none of that. Where "Cloud" applies to the Pogoplug is that it attaches to the Internet and the Internet is often drawn as a Cloud in diagrams. Rather than a NAS (Network Attached Storage), the Pogoplug probably should be called "Internet Attached Storage" (IAS) because it can be accessed from any Internet connection.