Pogoplug Series 4 user reviews

Pros Features such as 2 USB 3.0 ports, 1 SD Slot 1 USB 2.0 slot SATA connection. easy to set up the cloud and share photos (when it works).

Cons Speed is extremely slow over a hardwired connection.

Summary I have all my music (200GB worth), some photos and some videos on a Seagate GoFlex 1.5TB drive connected to one of the USB 3.0 ports. It is extremely slow to access my music, photos & videos from my PC and my house is hardwired. I'm not running it on a wifi connection. I just tried to ad some more music to it via the pogoplug software but the music never showed up on it. it's been 3 days and I still can't find the new music I added.

I don't get it. I was so excited about getting this for Christmas and it can't perform as it should. At one point it wasn't showing any data on the drive. I had to connect it to my PC and run a test on it. I saved all my data but no one can tell me why that happened. This is a brand new 1.5TB drive.

This has been more of a pain than pleasure to deal with. I cannot and will not recommend this product. Tech support is useless.

Pros Better profile than the previous models. Easy to setup (MAYBE). Versatility-Compatible with drives formatted any way as opposed to most other routers that allow for attached drives.

Cons EXTREMELY slow over wifi. My drive seems to keep dropping from the software, not seen by my medial player, and requires that it be manually unplugged/plugged back in.

Summary Overall, not as good as all the hype, but gets the job done. I realize that my data speeds are limited by my own wifi network, which has major interference issues, but still frustrating.

Pros - Version 4 software seems to be much better than previous versions.
- Pogoplug did offer to refund my money within 30 days of my purchase.
- SD card slot is a "bonus" (I haven't tried it yet)
- USB 3 ports can't hurt (but do they matter?)

Cons - if Patience if NOT your Virtue, stay away from this product.
- while optimizing video, the unit is pretty well useless. There is a huge delay accessing files.
- If you have ripped DVDs on your ext h/drive(s), the PP will never finish optimizing

Summary Originally, I had 2 x 2TB external hard drives attached to my "pink" Pogoplug. As these were newer hard drives, they were "green" therefore went into sleep mode quickly. Getting them to "wake up" created a frustrating delay.

I'm not sure how well PP software supports 4TBs of hard drive space/files (mostly pictures).

I have been happier with 1 x 2TB external hard drive & a USB flash drive which PP software seems to more easily support.

I doubt that the 2 x USB 3 ports matter. The CPU inside the Pogoplug probably can't fill a USB 3 pipeline, even if accessed via 1GB Ether.

I don't appreciate being charged to stream video outside my home network. I feel that should be included with the hardware purchase.

We solely access our Pogoplug via wireless laptops (1 x Win7, 1 x Mac). We are having trouble with the Backup routine on our Mac (Lion).

If anyone wants to buy my PINK v.2 Pogoplug, contact "pinkPOGOplug4sale@inboxalias.com"

Pros The Pogoplug sometimes works. The customer service is responsive to queries (although poor at solving problems). When Pogoplug works, it's great.

Cons The website is buggy and has frequent problems. The iPhone app is buggy and frequently crashes. The Pogoplug UI is complex and confusing. You need a special drive to hook into the Pogoplug...but it's up to you to discover which one to use.

Summary Bottom line - steer clear of the Pogoplug. The people behind it are more interested in adding features without debugging core functionality, like a bug-free website and the ability to get at your files, share files or upload files without a hassle.

Save your money and time and get a Dropbox / SugarSync / JungleDisk account. Yes, it'll be more expensive. But the fact that these products 'just work' and Pogoplug doesn't work reliably will make it worth your while.