I have made many complaints with the active copy software as well. Most recently the same one as yours. Unable to use active copy unless you share those folders with the internet. I contacted support and they told me they did not change anything and that is the only way around it. I have also had problems with your current problem with your computer not showing up. Along with the old problem you might have to share those folders over the internet, but if that doesnt work you may need to contact support for an update. I have had a pogoplug device for over a year now and have always had problems with the active copy function. I was lead to believe that this was one of the main selling points of the device, however it fails most often. I have problems with the active copy not staying active (odd right?) I have had active copy commands disappear and i had to re-connect them. I have had the source folder not show up and also problems with the new features of the desk-top software.

Putting my computer on as a pogoplug device is, in my view, a very bad idea.

Furthermore, when I list things under drive P: (i use the one drive approach) I see folders that are NOT on a NAS pogoplug cloud device, but on a computer that is treated as a NAS pogoplug device. Not good because my LAN client computers are not on all the time, whereas my pogoplug NAS storage devices ARE on all the time.

The pogoplug drive P: should be pointing to NAS storage, not to other computers.

Suggestion: Keep both versions up to date and available.

Make it clear that the original version retains the clear distinction between LAN Clients and NAS "Cloud" Storage (the original superior version). It also supports backing up from a Client computer to a NAS Pogoplug device using the pogoplug program on your own computer.

The other newer "Clever" program force you to setup your client computer as a NAS storage Pogoplug device (which is a bad idea) for those who want to backup files to their NAS Pogoplug device using the local computer program instead of requiring users to go to the my.pogoplug.com website.

Option 3: Add the superior feature of the original pogoplug program that lets me setup a backup from a LAN client to a NAS Pogoplug device without having to register my computer and directory with Pogoplug.

But please keep the original vesion alive, and up to date -- it's smaller, faster, and retains the distinction between a client and 'server' cloud storage device.

wincel said: Is the old software available anywhere so I am not stuck with the obviously faulty active copy of the pogoplug.com website?

Yes, I kept a copy and am using it until they either fix the new vesion as I suggested above, or have their official support of the original software for those of us who understand the difference between a client user computer and a NAS storage cloud on-all-the-time server.

The "Active Copy" setup in the old program is so easy to use, and works perfectly as long as each LAN computer copies to a distinct NAS directory (not trying to share the same NAS directory for the backup).

Also, I'm using Google Desktop and added my pogoplug drives to the scan list, and it works great. I can now search through thousands of files using google desktop.

wincel said: I'm entered a support ticket as that is pissing me off to no end, if I buy a software that is advertised to allow backup I expect something that allows exactly that: backing up data. And that does not mean they force me to have all the stuff copied from one computer to the external to another but from all computer to one external drive! For the time being I switched back to GoodSync2Go, which allows backing up both sides on any drive from any drive - no matter how many write access from other users are on that file at the external. It is an insanely poor job on Pogoplug if they don't manage to lock the files for one process, have it update it and unlock again.

Wicel - backing up multiple computers to the same directory will fail, on any backup system.

Pogoplug allows backup just fine - and it doesn't copy data to their system and then back to your LAN NAS device, that's not the problem.

the problem is setting up the backups. Version 1 allowed the setup to be from a LAN computer client to the NAS Pogoplug device, whereas version 2 requires registering the computer in your pogoplug account, and setting up the backup only through the website my.pogoplug.com.

I don't see how any backup can use a common subdirectory without causing problems. for example, the DOC files on computer 1 get backed up, and the DOC files on computer 2 get backed up. If they go to the same target directory, that isn't a backup, that's a consolidated pile of files from two different sources which is nothing but confusing.

each computer should do their backup to their own subdirectories, but those directories can exist on the same NAS device (pogoplug drive).

My concern is this "registering" a computer that appears on the my.pogoplug.com website. I would never share a file directly from a LAN computer with a 3rd party because for one thing, I don't leave my computers on all the time, so the share would be completely unreliable (not there all the time).

the advantage of the pogoplug drive device is that the NAS units draw little power, and the only additional power is being drawn by the drives attached to the pogoplug unit. That's the key advantage.

As to making a computer a pogoplug device? That's not needed, it's too unreliable, it's not necessary, and it invites problems.

If you want the earlier version of pogoplug software, just send me your e-mail in a private message to me.

wincel said: Jeff, maybe before you say it is not possible you try GoodSync for a moment and see that it works very well. It is blocking write access when it works from one source, I used it for many month when writing my thesis at several PCs ... If two files are changed since the last backup, it either asks which to keep or you define a standard rule like "newest only, save the other with different name for security". That aside: No, the active copy function does not work as described for me. On one PC it works fine to copy files from my PC's harddrive to the external one. On the other it only allows the external one as a SOURCE - exactly as described in the starter post. It doesn't even allow me to backup to another folder from the second PC drive.

Undersand the issue: If two people are backing up their DOC file directories to the same target directory, the file names would be different, no conflict there, but how would you know in the future which file came from which user on the LAN?

As to your backup with pogoplug issue: The behaviors you are describing are the two methods pogoplug has tried: First, you could backup from directories you choose on your local drive using your local copy of pogoplug. Then you had to register the computer running the new pogoplug software, share a directory, then go to my.pogoplug.com to setup the active copy. it seems to me you have two different versions of pogoplug in your world, one that does it the right way, the other that is the newer more cobbled up version.

wincel said: Jeff, GoodSync makes a log for this, it asks specifically which one to keep or you can tell it how to rename it, that basically tells you what the distinction of origin is. Both pogoplug versions connect to the my.pogoplug.com and both computers are registered, both are the most recent. The only difference is: the order of registration (and my suspicion is, that for conflict avoidance active copy simply blocks two way writing to the external drive) and one is windows 7, the other is windows xp.

Wincel, what you're describing to me sounds like one user (you) with two LAN client machines, working on the same project, so backing up from two different LAN client machines isn't a major big deal.

If your lan clients were two different users, I doubt you're backup each distinct user's files to the SAME folder. You'd assign a directory to each LAN client (like they do on most every network giving each client (employee) their own storage directory - in fact the files aren't usually stored locally and originate and are stored on the server under each user's ID.

Writing the same filename to the same subdirectory on a LAN NAS device has to use semiphores in some way to avoid what you describe, but again, that is an entirely different issue than the one I am asking them to fix. I've written networking software for multi-user environments sharing files (insurance files, client files, etc.) and multi-user file sharing does need to be handled carefully when different users try to write back to the same directory with the same client file, so typically the person opening a file will be told in a popup that the file is in use by (name the user) -- please check back later. And the user can decide to open for READ only (no editing) or work on a different file until the client file becomes available (as indicated by an appropriate semiphore system).

File sharing, file locking, version control, etc., all important issues that are beyond the needs of most home users with a few computers on a LAN. Imagine two teenagers both working on the same user manual -- not likely.

J. Towle, Ph.D.