The PogoPlug is a great idea that's being poorly executed. The idea that you can have a local backup, nicely organized and available anywhere, is fantastic. In reality the PogoPlug doesn't "just work" - and also doesn't give you the tools you need to adequately troubleshoot when things aren't "just working."
I got my PogoPlug from Amazon's Gold Box sale on 3 days ago. Today, I'll be returning it. Here's why:
When I initially setup my PogoPlug - things were going well until it came time to attach the hard drive. I bought my PogoPlug along with a brand new USB 3.0 Western Digital 3TB hard drive. But the PogoPlug wouldn't recognize the drive. I went online to see if I needed to format the drive - and could hardly find any guidance beyond PogoPlug telling me to use Windows or OSX tools to check for hard drive errors. There were none, and still my PogoPlug wouldn't recognize the drive.
I figured I"d contact support, and found that my only option for user support is via email. If I want to live chat or call someone, I need to upgrade to one of PogoPlug's paid subscription plans. Which is frustrating.
So - I tried reformatting. 3 different times. On the 3rd try, my PogoPlug finally recognized the drive. (Horray!) I went about setting up my backups, then left things happily running and went to bed. In the morning, my PogoPlug had again lost its connection to the drive. I plugged the drive in to my computer and checked for errors. Everything was fine.
For me - that's enough failure to give up on the PogoPlug. I wish it worked, it dosen't.
Part of the challenge is that PogoPlug has a philosophy of making things very simple for the user. That's a good idea - but once you discover that something doesn't work properly, you're extremely limited in your options for fixing the problem. There's no way to see - for example - why your PogoPlug won't recognize your drive. Everything happens through the online interface - and there's no way to directly get an informative error message from your device. Coupled with the company's lackluster support - this makes for a very frustrating user experience.
The other frustration was the backup process. By default - PogoPlug's computer software only backups your user folders, "My Documents", "My Music", etc.. on PCs, and the mac equivalents. You can add other folders manually - but that's about it. Compared to something like BackupBlaze's software - that intelligently backs up your entire system while excluding things like your OS - or Time Machine that just backs up everything -PogoPlug's software feels clunky and far from, "it just works".
I hope that either PogoPlug improves their products, or they get some serious competition. Because the idea of having easy, affordable local backups -- coupled with online availability of your files -- is quite appealing. Sadly, for now, it's just an idea. Not yet a reality.
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I love it
After being a satisfied user of Pogoplug Pink E02, I decided to buy this Series 4 to add to my toy collection. This series 4 is also very well supported by Arch Arm Linux community. It can be setup to do much more stuffs than what it is originally intended to do. With Arch Linux, this Pogoplug can be made to run Transmission P2P, Samba file server, DLNA server, Nginx Web server, PHP, MySQL, etc, etc. I love it!Update Mar 28, 2013:My Seagate Backup Plus 1 TB USB 3.0 Portable External Hard Drive STBU1000103 fits perfectly well on the top SATA port of this Pogoplug series 4. For those who are not familiar with Seagate Backup Plus STBU1000103, be advised that you can take the USB 3 connector part off and it will reveal its SATA connector. Connecting through SATA port seems to be much faster than through the USB 3 port. (By the way, I am no longer using the Samsung SSD as the disk died on me)Like what I did with my Pogoplug Pink E02, I have also replaced the Series 4 with Arm Arch Linux operating system. I am not sure if this can be categorized as "jail-break". Anyway, both my Pogoplug are running 365x7x24 non-stop. Don't worry, they draw very little power (less 10W each). The Arm Arch Linux community is doing a good job providing a free very stable and powerful alternative software to run on many NAS devices including Pogoplug. They also provides adequate step-by-step instructions on their websites. If you are technically inclined and don't mind foregoing your Pogoplug warranty, I would personally recommend Arch Arm Linux. The Pogoplug software which allows you to access files remotely on your harddisk runs as well under Arm Arch Linux. If you need your files to be backed up to the Pogoplug unlimited storage storage, you can certainly use the optional Pogoplug paid subscription service.Update: March 31, 2013Pros:1. SATA port in addition to USB 3 and 2 ports2. Great value for money/ very affordable3. Low power consumption4. Fanless and noiseless5. Very compact size. Can be hidden inside a book case.6. Gigabit ethernet port7. Easily "rootable" which enable users to turn it into a Linux headless server.8. Availability of the free Pogoplug app for iPad.9. Free (as well as optional paid) cloud service.Cons:1. Slower processor. From the Arch Linux Arm website I learned that Pogoplug series 4 actually uses a 800Mhz procesor which is slower than the older Pogoplug V2 which use 1.2Ghz processor. Same also in the size of RAM (memory), i.e 128MB only vs 256MB of Pogoplug V2. I really wonder what the folks at Pogoplug were thinking when they decided to put slower processor and lesser amount of RAM on Series 4.2. No on/off button. Not a big deal but an on/off like what Seagate Goflex Home has would be nice.
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Reviewed in the United States on October 12, 2012
Reviewed in the United States on February 6, 2013
After being a satisfied user of Pogoplug Pink E02, I decided to buy this Series 4 to add to my toy collection. This series 4 is also very well supported by Arch Arm Linux community. It can be setup to do much more stuffs than what it is originally intended to do. With Arch Linux, this Pogoplug can be made to run Transmission P2P, Samba file server, DLNA server, Nginx Web server, PHP, MySQL, etc, etc. I love it!
Update Mar 28, 2013:
My Seagate Backup Plus 1 TB USB 3.0 Portable External Hard Drive STBU1000103 fits perfectly well on the top SATA port of this Pogoplug series 4. For those who are not familiar with Seagate Backup Plus STBU1000103, be advised that you can take the USB 3 connector part off and it will reveal its SATA connector. Connecting through SATA port seems to be much faster than through the USB 3 port. (By the way, I am no longer using the Samsung SSD as the disk died on me)
Like what I did with my Pogoplug Pink E02, I have also replaced the Series 4 with Arm Arch Linux operating system. I am not sure if this can be categorized as "jail-break". Anyway, both my Pogoplug are running 365x7x24 non-stop. Don't worry, they draw very little power (less 10W each). The Arm Arch Linux community is doing a good job providing a free very stable and powerful alternative software to run on many NAS devices including Pogoplug. They also provides adequate step-by-step instructions on their websites. If you are technically inclined and don't mind foregoing your Pogoplug warranty, I would personally recommend Arch Arm Linux. The Pogoplug software which allows you to access files remotely on your harddisk runs as well under Arm Arch Linux. If you need your files to be backed up to the Pogoplug unlimited storage storage, you can certainly use the optional Pogoplug paid subscription service.
Update: March 31, 2013
Pros:
1. SATA port in addition to USB 3 and 2 ports
2. Great value for money/ very affordable
3. Low power consumption
4. Fanless and noiseless
5. Very compact size. Can be hidden inside a book case.
6. Gigabit ethernet port
7. Easily "rootable" which enable users to turn it into a Linux headless server.
8. Availability of the free Pogoplug app for iPad.
9. Free (as well as optional paid) cloud service.
Cons:
1. Slower processor. From the Arch Linux Arm website I learned that Pogoplug series 4 actually uses a 800Mhz procesor which is slower than the older Pogoplug V2 which use 1.2Ghz processor. Same also in the size of RAM (memory), i.e 128MB only vs 256MB of Pogoplug V2. I really wonder what the folks at Pogoplug were thinking when they decided to put slower processor and lesser amount of RAM on Series 4.
2. No on/off button. Not a big deal but an on/off like what Seagate Goflex Home has would be nice.
Update Mar 28, 2013:
My Seagate Backup Plus 1 TB USB 3.0 Portable External Hard Drive STBU1000103 fits perfectly well on the top SATA port of this Pogoplug series 4. For those who are not familiar with Seagate Backup Plus STBU1000103, be advised that you can take the USB 3 connector part off and it will reveal its SATA connector. Connecting through SATA port seems to be much faster than through the USB 3 port. (By the way, I am no longer using the Samsung SSD as the disk died on me)
Like what I did with my Pogoplug Pink E02, I have also replaced the Series 4 with Arm Arch Linux operating system. I am not sure if this can be categorized as "jail-break". Anyway, both my Pogoplug are running 365x7x24 non-stop. Don't worry, they draw very little power (less 10W each). The Arm Arch Linux community is doing a good job providing a free very stable and powerful alternative software to run on many NAS devices including Pogoplug. They also provides adequate step-by-step instructions on their websites. If you are technically inclined and don't mind foregoing your Pogoplug warranty, I would personally recommend Arch Arm Linux. The Pogoplug software which allows you to access files remotely on your harddisk runs as well under Arm Arch Linux. If you need your files to be backed up to the Pogoplug unlimited storage storage, you can certainly use the optional Pogoplug paid subscription service.
Update: March 31, 2013
Pros:
1. SATA port in addition to USB 3 and 2 ports
2. Great value for money/ very affordable
3. Low power consumption
4. Fanless and noiseless
5. Very compact size. Can be hidden inside a book case.
6. Gigabit ethernet port
7. Easily "rootable" which enable users to turn it into a Linux headless server.
8. Availability of the free Pogoplug app for iPad.
9. Free (as well as optional paid) cloud service.
Cons:
1. Slower processor. From the Arch Linux Arm website I learned that Pogoplug series 4 actually uses a 800Mhz procesor which is slower than the older Pogoplug V2 which use 1.2Ghz processor. Same also in the size of RAM (memory), i.e 128MB only vs 256MB of Pogoplug V2. I really wonder what the folks at Pogoplug were thinking when they decided to put slower processor and lesser amount of RAM on Series 4.
2. No on/off button. Not a big deal but an on/off like what Seagate Goflex Home has would be nice.
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