PogoPlug Cloud Functionality Turns Seagate DockStar into Remote Storage
I thoroughly enjoyed using the PogoPlug from Cloud Engines earlier this year. The small device adds remote access to any external USB or flash drive, making it a “personal cloud” storage unit. Cloud Engines is expanding their reach today thanks to a partnership with Seagate. The FreeAgent DockStar looks like a standard external hard drive dock you’d expect from Seagate, but it integrates PogoPlug functionality through the networked mechansim. Simply drop your drive in the dock, connect the dock to your router and run through the simple PogoPlug configuration. Essentially, this solution “hides” the PogoPlug in the dock and offers the same functionality as before, but it is a cleaner solution.
Besides the new hardware news, Cloud Engines is looking to ease file sharing through software and services too. They now support full resolution photo sharing through Facebook, MySpace and Twitter, with no limits on file sizes, even if the social service does have a limit. How do you get around the limits? Friends will actually be viewing the files directly on your PogoPlug, not the social network — a slick way to deal with size limitations.
Interesting but I would have preferred to see a similar device that provides docking for SATA drives so I’m not tied to a specific manufacturer’s devices.
Seconded.
That, and USB 2.0 is slow for data transfers. A direct SATA connection would minimize the bottleneck.
This device is usb-based so don’t get the tied to a specific manufacture point. And all of the networks I attach to are much slower than the 480 Mbits of USB 2.0 . It’s these slow speeds that makes cloud computing less attractive for data intensive folks