It’s not often I am impressed with a $25 computer accessory. I have spent the last couple of days with a Pogoplug V2. Pogoplug is a very easy to use backup / personal cloud storage device. You simply hook your external hard drives up to it, hook it up to your network, and then walk through a brief activation at my.pogoplug.com. Once activated you can log on to my.pogoplug.com and get familiar with the web interface. It takes about five minutes from when you open up the box of your Pogoplug, until you are able to see your files and data that reside on your external hard drives. Most external hard drives and USB Flash drives work fine, but just in case you are concerned that yours won’t work there is support at Pogoplug.com that will help you find out.

Pogoplug allows you to share files with anyone. As soon as you upload files to the Pogoplug account you can then create links to certain folders and files. Those links can be emailed to friends which gives them instant access to those specific files.  Pogoplug can stream music, movies, and pictures. Any file that you create or you can see on your computer can be uploaded to the Pogoplug. Once uploaded it can be accessed anywhere in the world with an internet connection.

As of me typing this post you can go to Ebay and get a Pogoplug for $25 from Buy.com. This seems like a great deal for what this does. It is basically a file server that takes no technical knowledge at all to set up. The only cons to owning this product is that it relies on Cloud Engines Inc. (pogoplug.com) to function, let’s hope this company stays afloat and is around for a long time.  Even if the company went under there is a hacking community out there now that is developing alternative software that will run on the Pogoplug. But for $25 I think the rewards of owning a Pogoplug outweigh the possibility of not being able to use it someday.

The least expensive Pogoplug uses a wired connection to your router, so make sure you have one available. Most routers have four network connections available on the LAN side. There is a wireless adapter available that will allow the Pogoplug to connect to your router wirelessly, it’s cost is $29.  It also needs to be plugged into a power outlet, one nice thing is that it is a straight power cable to the wall outlet with no stupid power bricks.  Other than that there really isn’t anything else you need besides an external hard drive.

You can manage your Pogoplug with either a web interface, or a standalone piece of software Pogoplug makes available to you. The standalone software called Pogoplug Backup has more features than the web interface, and allows you to drag and drop folders into your cloud storage. The speed of downloading your files depends on your internet connection upload speed, and the speed of the download connection of where you are located.

Pogoplug also gives you 5gb of online storage space. This should be used for ultra important data that will be lost in case there is a fire at your house. Remember Pogoplug is a great way to backup, but it does no good if something catastrophic happens at your house along with your computer where the data is also stored. Sending data to the Pogoplug does not mean you should delete data off your computer, you need important data in two places not one.

Edit – Buy.com raised the price, they still can be found for $25 at jr.com 

Edit 2 – Ok now they are $29.99 at JR. I can’t keep doing this  :/

Pogoplug UPC # 850877002245