Origional article on my blog: http://media-sprout.com/backup-a-new-way

I purchased an additional Drobo (Drobo2) and filled it with 4 1TB hard drives (identical to the Drobo I already had).

Next I connected both Drobos to my local iMac and copied all of the data from my existing Drobo (Drobo1) to my new Drobo (Drobo2) thus giving me 2 Drobos with identical data on each.

I purchased 1 Pogoplug $120

I left Drobo1 connected to my iMac on my home network.

I connected Drobo2 to a Pogoplug at a friend’s house.

I installed the Pogoplug Drive Application http://pogoplug.com/downloads/ on my Mac so that any drives attached to my Pogoplug would show up on my machine as if they were locally mounted hard drives.

I purchased and installed ChronoSync $40 http://www.econtechnologies.com/pages/cs/chrono_overview.html

I setup ChronoSync so that Both target drives (Drobo1 and Drobo2) will be monitored for changes. Any changes detected will be copied to the opposite target drive. Basically, if I change, add, or delete a file on my Drobo1 the same file will be changed, added, or deleted from Drobo2 and vise versa. FYI: ChronoSync is the only application that I could find for Mac that would allow me to use the Pogoplug drives as targets.

I have to brag about the Pogoplug a little here… The Pogoplug not only gives me a way to access my files remotely but it allows me to access those files from any computer in the world using the web interface. Additionally there are sharing features so I can share a file on Drobo2 to anyone in the world via, Twitter, Facebook, direct link, etc…!

The Hardware List:
1x iMac 27″
2x Drobos
1x Pogoplug
1x Licensed Copy of ChronoSync

Backup that I don’t have to worry about PRICELESS!

Hey Peter!! Will you be upset if I post my planned usecase first and then come back and post my full list of usecases? I figure a little hope will beat your duldrums down, so I'll post twice, first now and then later, and you will be twice as happy. Right? :D

I am pretty much sold on the Pogoplug. I am even planning on delaying a RAM upgrade for the little device. So here is my planned use.

Planned use:

I am developing forked version of the OpenRPG virtual game table and it's been picking up steam in the community. The software is free and GPL but it has not seen quality active development in a long time, so I am excited to see happy users of my software. When I get my Pogoplug I just know I will be able to ease the strain many users have.

Currently the software has two archaic methods of displaying images on the table, but they both use a simple method of sending a URL to the users so the users can see the image. Providing an open folder so I can host images for users will certainly ease the strain users have in finding images. It will also reduce the learning curve and allow users to just open up a folder on my HD and get the images they want.

I would also like to run a server on my Pogoplug. The server software is really lightweight but in order to run it I have to have a computer running all the time. I think the reduced power consumption will be most awesome for my electricity bill. I am still looking into this to make sure I can. *hopes*

The third planned use will be a work cloud. I have on External HD, eventually that will expand, but I have to move the HD around, copy files back and forth and to be honest it just makes a mess of my work. $129 for some streamlining sounds most awesome.

I hope I inspired or brightened your day.

I'm pathologically mean about using up space on my C drive and have an innate suspicion of anything which messes with my bootloader. So instead of dual-booting Linux I wanted to see if I could run it from a USB drive attached to my Pogoplug.

I downloaded a Virtual Disk Image (VDI) of Ubuntu 9 and put it on the USB drive, then using Virtualbox on my desktop I created a Virtual Machine based on that image. Somewhat to my surprise it ran perfectly - I wouldn't say it was the fastest way to run an OS but it's perfectly usable (I was using Rhythmbox to listen to Internet Radio on it within a minute or so) and for occasional Linux use or if you wanted to run an identical setup on more than one machine it seems an excellent way to go. It also means you can try multiple OS's or Linux distros without clogging up your main hard disk.