DIY cloud box Pogoplug gets integrated wireless

Build-your-own-cloud company, Cloud Engines, has introduced an updated version of its disk sharing box, the Pogoplug. Pogoplug Pro Dubbed the Pogoplug Pro, the new - now black rather than fluoro pink - box adds 802.11n Wi-Fi to the package. The standard version only supports Gigabit Ethernet or lesser-speed wired links to a …

[Pen-y-gors]

Am I missing something?

Having looked at their website I think I'm, missing something here. They say that using their gadget you don't need to upload files, and there are now 'no limits'.

But surely with real 'storage in the cloud' yes, you have to upload the files once (at a very slow 0.5Mb/sec ADSL speed) but once it's done it's done - then any downloads will be faster as they're coming straight from the ISP servers. But if the 'cloud storage' is now on my side of the router then every time anyone downloads a file from my 'cloud' that file has to travel over the upload link on my router - slowly! And each time a file is 'downloaded' (i.e. uploaded) it will count towards any bandwidth limits I have with my ISP, rather than just doing it once.

Have I missed something? Or have they some magic way to transfer files via my router to somewhere else at high speed?

[Tony Smith, Editor, Reg Hardware]

Re: Am I missing something?

The storage is local, plugged into the back of the Pogo via USB. In that sense, 'uploading' is just a matter of unhooking drive, connecting it to PC, copying files, reconnecting drive to Pogo.

Uploading remotely is a different matter, of course.

[frank ly]

If I understand this correctly....

.... it's a NAS adapter with external storage (via multiple USB connectors) and a WiFi link (if wanted) to your router. It also has built in file serving/streaming utilities. Er,.... I've had one for six years now, except that mine (Plextor PX-EH 250) has built in storage of 250GB already, has only two USB connectors for external storage and can only run an FTP server, not file streaming.

If I wanted my own 'cloud' (i.e. local network file storage, accessible over LAN from my home network and with file transfer/streaming over the internet), I'd get a Synology DS110-J for £112, and fit it with a SATA hard drive. Then I'd have a big and fast network drive with much more than just file transfer/streaming.

They seem to be using the word 'cloud' as a modern, with it, cool, fairy-dust word, to sell a relatively cheap NAS adapter.

[xj25vm]

Title

I quite like this little box. And what it does. And the price. Just one thing. The "cloud" thing seems to be turning into the new fashion of the IT industry. A bit like the "e"-everything of the beginning of the 2000's. Everything new had to have "e" in front of it. Now a box which shares storage over a local network and further afield (which we all did in one way or another, with samba/nfs/dynamic-dns/vpn and any other number of technologies for a long time - is all of a sudden "cloud stuff". Hmm - I suppose we always need a fashion of some sort.

[Eponymous Cowherd]

Plugged up

PC World are currently flogging the V2 PogoPlug (the pink one) for £49.99. Considerably cheaper than anywhere else I've seen.

Considering the ease with which it can be converted into a LAMP server (search for PlugApps), this is cracking value.

IIRC, Cloud Engines provide a Wireless dongle for the pink PogoPlug, though this obviously uses one of the USB ports.

[AlAl]

Buy via BundleBox

Of course you can just buy the PogoPlug Pro from the BestBuy website and ship it back into the UK via BundleBox, http://j.mp/97EKSu. I use it for a lot of "gray imports" and even with International Shipping it generally ends up cheaper than buying it here in the UK. For instance the non-Pro Pogoplug is $99 in the US, €99 in mainland Europe and £99 here in the UK. At current exchange rates...? *sigh*

[Lionel Baden]

O Good God No !!

If i even attemtp to copy from my laptop to my PC at home via the wireless It will take around 10 X longer than with a cable and thats with 5 bars !!!

Please just have a network cable in every corner of every room !!!

[Patrick O'Reilly]

@Pen-y-gors

Yes you missed the point entirely, it's not stored in the cloud, it's never stored in the cloud.

Basically it's a box that gives your USB key a URL that people somewhere else can then login to and view the content.

Basically it's a hardware version of Opera Unite.

[Nigel 11]

What I wish for

I really wish that they'd ship one of these beasties, or something like it, with SVGA graphics and a decent chunk of RAM. Then as well as being a home fileserver, it could be an always-on web-access point, meaning that a lot of the time you'd not need to boot the "real" computer at all.

And/or give it an ADSL port or a second Ethernet port, because Linux is quite capable of being your router. Or the other way around, add USB2 ports and VGA to a Linux-based wireless router so no-one needs a PogoPlug.

[kingosticks]

Is this it?

Have you come across the GuruPlug Display? It sounds like what you are talking about. However it's not available yet.

[David Hicks]

Can we stop with the cloud stuff please?

It's basically just a small linux server. You could even call it a NAS.

To use the term 'cloud' for this shows just how meaningless the term 'cloud' has become.

is 'the cloud' limitless remote storage? Is it SaaS? Is it processing power on demand like EC2? Is it webapps? Or is it now just anything with a network port?

getting sick of this nonsense.