Which pogoplug do i have

That works, it's just more involved than we'd prefer for a one-off document. Since our last review, a few new features have been added. The iPhone app now allows photo and video uploads from an iPhone or iPod to a Pogoplug-connected drive, but we were never able to make it work without crashing. There's also an iPad app which works well, provided you're not uploading. Interfaces on all apps still don't feel smooth, though: it took deep diving into the iPhone app to even discover we could upload at all.

Pogoplugs can also connect to the PlayStation 3 and Xbox , use a NAS-like backup service called Active Copy to redundantly copy often-used files, and even cloud-print to an attached printer.

The Pogoplug's list of proffered features is long and eye-opening, but the more fantastic the promised features get, the less likely we found the Pogoplug to be able to deliver on them.

The PS3 and Xbox functionality is great in theory: music, photos, and videos all stream to a nearby console, which reads the Pogoplug drive like a nearby wireless drive. What's not to like about that? However, in our home usage it worked with major reservations.

First, setup wasn't intuitive. For some odd reason, Pogoplug-connected hard drives aren't automatically ready to stream--you have to check off a box in "media settings" on the my. We then had to access independent message boards and discussions to figure out how to activate the 's drive recognition, which didn't kick in automatically on our system we had to download a plug-in first and then restart.

When it finally did work, the drive showed up under the Video Library blade of the dashboard. Clicking on the Pogoplug, however, opened up a list-style system of browsing files that was inefficient. For videos, a list of more than 1, files stretched out with only confusing file names to identify them, and with no capability to search or preview before playing.

Photos worked the same way. Testing which videos could stream and which couldn't was a trial-and-error affair. For music, a slightly friendlier browser for albums, songs, and artists, along with visualizer, appeared--the same interface you'd see if you connected an iPod, Zune, or external drive. The same "playlist problem" of browsing thousands of songs remained.

Clicking the icon brings up a list of Music, Videos, and Photos folders that Pogoplug sets up for converted video files it will convert incompatible formats, according to Pogoplug, but our experience with that was mixed. Or, alternatively, you can browse the drive by file folder and pull up lists of files, resulting in the same trial-and-error playback. For both the Xbox and PS3, even when videos could play, they stuttered and were prone to pausing midstream.

The experience is hardly newbie-friendly, and isn't a good system for storing and playing shows and home movies, either. Photos and music do play well, but slideshows and file browsing are a pain. Also, on both consoles the list of media files didn't appear immediately; a file directory queued up after a painful delay, which on our connected Seagate hard drive took so long that we wondered if it would work at all.

Cloud Engines will not stop selling its Pogoplug devices or the Remote Access software. Bitcasa killed its Bitcasa Drive cloud storage service earlier this year. We may collect cookies and other personal information from your interaction with our website. For more information on the categories of personal information we collect and the purposes we use them for, please view our Notice at Collection. Become a Member Sign In. CNET editors pick the products and services we write about. When you buy through our links, we may get a commission.

Editors' Note: As of November , this product has been replaced by the second-generation Pogoplug. Wouldn't it be nice to quickly access your data from anywhere without a complicated network setup?

That's exactly what the Cloud Engines Pogoplug offers. The device itself is almost shockingly small; it's a tiny white box--measuring just 2 inches by 4. It comes with only two ports: a USB 2. The Pogoplug can be plugged straight into an AC wall outlet but it also comes with an extension cord in case you want to keep the power outlet clear.

By default it supports only one device but you can change that by using a USB hub. Once you've plugged in the USB drive, the included Ethernet cable running to your home network's router , and the power, you should get a couple of green lights on the unit indicating that it's properly communicating with your home network.

Then you need to go through the setup process. For most network devices, that's where the aggravation begins, but the Pogoplug setup process is about as simple and stress-free as it gets.

Just fire up your PC's Web browser, go to my. If the system doesn't automatically recognize your Pogoplug on the home network, you just need to type in the unique digit serial code printed on the unit. Finish up by creating a Pogoplug account mercifully, you need only supply an e-mail address and password , and you're done.

There are two ways to access files on the PogoPlug: via my. Plus, even if you use the Series 4 solely as NAS, you'd still have to deal with the iPhone and Android apps when you're on your phone and you'd need to rely on that unreliable web app to share files with others. Once a video starts playing, streaming performance is quite solid. I rarely had to wait more than five seconds for a video to start playing — if it was in a supported format — and music started almost instantly. Managing and exploring data on a drive is pretty quick, too — so long as the Pogoplug has had enough time to create previews of all your files before you start poking around.

There's a big tradeoff here, however: files aren't viewed at anywhere near their full size, and whatever compression is being applied is very apparent — photos and videos looked nothing like their original files yet another reason to avoid the Pogoplug software and use the Series 4 solely as network attached storage.

While your mileage may vary depending on your internet connection and the bitrate of your files, I only had a few issues with speed. The Series 4 is undoubtedly the best hardware the company's put out to date — it's small and light, and has just about every port you would ever need for an external hard drive.

It's also very simple to set up, but unfortunately the software just doesn't stand up. Everything the Pogoplug tries to do works most of the time without any problem, but you'll be very frustrated using the Series 4 those few times it doesn't do what it's supposed to.

After all, a few times is far too many on a device like this. There are few similarly-priced alternatives, but rather than dealing with this half-baked software, I'd pay fees for a server-side solution like Dropbox, which I know I can depend on to sync reliably.

While Pogoplug does have a history of supporting its older devices with software updates, there's just no way I can recommend the Series 4 as it stands today. It's a fantastic idea, but thanks to poorly executed software, the Series 4 isn't ready to be your sole link to your data. Cookie banner We use cookies and other tracking technologies to improve your browsing experience on our site, show personalized content and targeted ads, analyze site traffic, and understand where our audiences come from.

By choosing I Accept , you consent to our use of cookies and other tracking technologies. Pogoplug Series 4 lead Filed under: Reviews. Linkedin Reddit Pocket Flipboard Email. Setup Setup. Hardware Hardware Plastic and ports all around.