Pogoplug Series 4 user reviews

0.5 stars

"Beware, you may lose your hard drive" on December 31, 2011 by smfbuzzo

Pros: Easy to set up cloud

Cons: May have lost the use and data stored in my Maxtor one touch hard drive

Summary: Beware-- I set up my cloud and was pretty excited about it. 5 days later, though, I tried to access one of the hard drives I had connected to it, but I was told it was unreadable. I disengaged my hard drive from the pogoplug and put it right into my computer, but it told me it needed to reformat it. I tried 2 other computers and the same thing happened. I have been using this hard drive for the last 4 years without a problem, now, I fear I have lost 4 years of documents. I emailed pogoplug and am waiting to hear back from them.

Updated on Jan 1, 2012

I got support help New Year's Eve night. Everything has been sorted out. I would upgrade my previous rating to a 4-4.5 stars- assuming I don't lose my hard drive memory in the future.

3.0 stars

"Holy slow data!" on December 30, 2011 by bhs506

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.

2.5 stars

"I upgraded from a "Pink" (v.2) to a v.4 & am sorry." on February 4, 2012 by cnetcheapskate

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"

0.5 stars

"Buggy, unreliable and slow" on February 3, 2012 by lieving

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.