Five gigabytes of cloud space doesn’t excite folks the way it did just a few months ago, but it seems everybody with free server space is offering off-site storage.
And when it’s free and compatible with a device that meshes your free, off-site cloud of media with unlimited local storage and easy access through home, office and mobile devices, well, that’s worth looking into.
The device is the Pogoplug Series 4 ($99). And it works — mostly.
Pogoplug Series 4 is similar to a network attached storage device in basic functionality but without the complicated, involved setup process that even the most casual consumers have learned not to tolerate.
Their website claims the device can be up and running in 60 seconds, which isn’t true. It takes at least 90 seconds to plug it into a wireless router using its one-gigabit Ethernet port, make space on your power bar, hide the wires and admire your work.
And opening up the company’s website to register for a free account takes longer than 60 seconds, but it is still obscenely simple.
The Series 4 doesn’t have any storage capacity per se. It’s best described as a hub with a gaggle of connectivity options including a side SD card slot, two USB 3.0 slots around back, an easily accessible USB 2.0 slot and a serial advanced technology attachment port (also known as a SATA port), which is revealed by removing the top panel.
With SATA compatibility, one could conceivably pull a six-centimetre hard drive from a notebook, plug it into the device and gain access to all its stored files. Practically, a portable external SATA drive like Seagate’s FreeAgent GoFlex series is a better option. The space surrounding the port accommodates the drive’s housing perfectly and the Pogoplug is featured in images on Seagate’s website — go figure.
Easiest access to the Pogoplug is through an Internet browser interface, which can be done remotely or on your home network. It’s also possible to mount the device as a drive in either Windows or OS X environments, dragging and dropping files directly to and from the Series 4.
But to get the most out of the Pogoplug, look no further than the palm of your hand, if it happens to be holding an iPhone, iPad or Android device. The free app offers much the same access to files as the desktop interface, allowing the user to browse folders and files or download to their mobile device or stream media. The app can also be set to automatically upload videos and photos.
So, how does it work? Fairly well, but mobile performance depends on the speed of the network it is attached to and even more on upload speeds of your Internet provider, which are typically a fraction of download speeds.
For photos, files and music, it works well without hiccups. But when it comes to video — especially high definition files — there are issues. Because of the sheer size of HD video files, it’s not always practical to stream or download them at full resolution. Instead, the user can opt to have the app transcode the file to a smaller, mobile-friendly size. This process proved too time-consuming.
The Pogoplug Series 4 also streams content to PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360 gaming consoles and networked televisions.
Christian Laforce is a photographer for The Chronicle Herald.
