hello!

This is an incredibly handy gadget.

When you connect your pogo plug to the router (Internet) and plug the power cable it begins to boot and eventually connect to the main Pogoplug servers.

As I understand it the connection inside you home on the LAN side of the router is done using SMB. this means that all file transfers are kept inside your house and you really do not need an Internet connection.

However if you wish to connect from out in the world (WAN) side of the router then you need the "cloud". A loose definition of the cloud is an undefined set of networking and storage equipment somewhere on the Internet. In this case it is like a traffic cop, the servers at pogo plug read the IP address from your pogo plug and when you or another person wishes to connect to their account at pogo plug they are instructed where to find their pogo plugs on the vast Internet.

Apparently the files pass through the pogo plug servers on their way to your remote device (iPad, iPod, laptop, whatever). I don't understand this part because that is a lot of bandwidth that someone has to pay for. Perhaps someone from pogo plug can explain this to us. This connection in the cloud is what makes pogo plug so much easier than FTP. You do not need a static or fixed IP address. You can change locations and the system instantly adapts. In short you need not know much about computers and still have a fully functioning pogo plug.

I hope that this helps with your question.

Now i have MANY pogo plugs. I carry one with me so that family and coworkers can access files I have on the road with me. I have some other pogo plugs and dockstars in my home and in my office. They act as backup devices and an inexpensive NAS.

Hi Gary and Bestresearcher,

Gary, I don't think your description is entirely correct. Specifically, I think your Pogoplug must have an internet connection in order for the light to go green - i.e. no home LAN use without internet connection. I'm not at home to confirm this...

Second - I'd be leary of using the Active Copy for backups. You didn't say if that is what you were using but I've had corruption problems with files using that. No error messages or indictations that there is a problem during Active Copy, just discovering the odd file is corrupt after the fact.

Finally, Bestresearcher, there is vagueness about Pogoplug's right and level of access to YOUR Pogoplug and drives. There are a few threads on this board where people raised their concerns. I thought they sounded paranoid and didn't give them much further thought - "Big Brother is watching" types I figured. However, on one of my support calls, after I initially sent in a support request, the tech replied that they had reviewed my log files and scanned my unit and suspected I had drive errors. I'm more comfortable when support asks for log files first or requests to go over things with you where you can see and understand what they're accessing. That was a little too intrusive of first level troubleshooting for my comfort.

Homer

I have actually tried this and even if the green led on the front (indicates connection to pogo plug cloud servers) is amber I can still connect normally through layer 2. I can see detect and read/write to the attached pogo plug drives even if the led is amber.

I use a managed switch to access the Internet via DSL. It monitors and reports the volume of traffic on my DSL connection. I frequently transfer many gigabytes. I can report that the transfer speed I achieve exceeds the DSL line speed by a factor of 14. By this means, I have concluded that my internal traffic is kept inside my common layer 2.

I learned this as a result of a response to a dockstar question. As a result i purchased several dockstars to use as layer 2 (no Internet) NAS boxes.

Now with regard to backup. I use a 3rd party software for full backup. It has a verify function and I use it religiously. It runs just fine and so far i have had no issues. For the casual user the active copy is probably alright, but i run a business too and i need it to always work.

I recommend these pogo plug devices to all my associates and customers. They quite simply work.

I too am aware of the unprecedented access pogo plug has to these devices. But since i store nothing of a sensitive nature, i do not worry as much. I do keep sensitive files on other more secure devices. Since my other devices are kept on a secure layer 2 i doubt anyone can get to them.

Gary

Security is an issue so i do NOT leave sensitive files accessible (I unplug the USB drive).

Since the drive appears as a drive,