While browsing a retail store the other night I noticed a product I had not seen before. It was called Pogoplug. The price was $49.95. The package said it plugs in to your home router and allows you to plug in any USB storage device and access it like a “personal cloud” device. A quick check on my iPhone revealed there were 3 models: Classic, Pogoplug, and Pogoplug Series 4. The Series 4 model allowed up to 2 USB 3.0 devices and had a slot to directly plug in a SATA drive in to, additionally you could add a 3rd USB 2.0 device and a SD card. Clearly I needed the Series 4 version.

As luck would have it, my anniversary was only a day away and one local Best Buy store had it in stock and for the same price that Amazon had it listed for. My wife bought it for me and when I opened it, it said it was a 60 second setup. In truth I’m not sure it even took that long. You plug it in to your router’s available ethernet port, plug in your USB drive and open a web browser. It has you set up an account when your first log in the pogoplug.com. It has a companion piece of software that can be loaded on your PC, Mac, or Linux device. Once loaded the drive becomes available

as a local drive. You can also access your files via a web browser on any internet device and there is a free app available. I have it on my iPad and iPhone. I’m able to stream music or movies from home to work, and they stream well. Keep in mind I have fast internet at home and work. I think it may also have been a different story if I were using a USB 2.0 device.

The main reason I bought this device is so I could have all my cartoon related files available to me from anywhere. I had used a few different free cloud solutions,but I kept hitting a wall on storage. More recently I had been carrying a 1TB portable drive back and forth. I am very impressed with this device so far and recommend it highly. I’d recommend getting the latest version of the device, the Series 4. I got it for $79.99, but it usually retail for $99. If I had a complaint it would be that the homepage is a bit confusing. They also offer a service and it at first appeared I’d have to purchase this to make it work. After a bit of looking around I found the PC companion app and installed it. There are no fees for this device to keep using it.

One feature I had not paid much attention too, may be the biggest seller of them all for some of you. You have the ability to share individual files. You can send the link via email and that user alone will have access to that file. This could be great for sharing large files in the future and may be worth the purchase alone. You can also back up your home PCs using Pogoplug’s software. I really cannot recommend this device enough. I’m still learning about it as I’ve only had it for less than 24 hours, but I am impressed.