Cloud Engines, Inc., makers of the Pogoplug line of devices and accompanying software, are launching a new hardware product today called Pogoplug Mobile. The device works like the company’s current Pogoplug product – you attach your hard drive or drives, plug it into your router and instantly have your own personal cloud. In short, it’s like a NAS (network-attached storage) box for your home.

But with the new Pogoplug Mobile, the system has been optimized for use with mobile devices. It’s more of a “mobile accessory,” says CEO Daniel Putterman. That’s why you’ll soon find it on the shelf next the Bluetooth headsets, and not hidden away in the hard drive aisle, he says.

Pogoplug devices have typically appealed to the DIY, “host-it-yourself” crowd, who eschew using the cloud storage offerings maintained by big companies like Google, Amazon, Apple or Microsoft, or the online services from smaller startups like Box.net and Dropbox. Instead of paying for storage as a service, often through monthly or yearly fees, Pogoplug only requires a one-time investment: the cost of the hardware and software.

For Pogoplug Mobile, that price is $79.99 – a bit cheaper than the original device, which is still $99. The software product, which also works with the newly launched hardware, is $29. However, the software is an optional, if highly practical, add-on.

With the Pogoplug Mobile device, which works with iOS and Android via mobile apps, there are new features that the original Pogoplug doesn’t offer. For example, Pogoplug Mobile automatically backs up the photos and videos on your mobile phone to your home network. For those familiar with Google+’s “instant upload” feature for Android users, the effect is the similar. Requiring no effort on your part beyond the initial configuration, your mobile photos and videos are not only archived for you, but also converted to streamable and bite-sized formats for easier mobile sharing.

Users can control whether the syncing occurs over 3G or Wi-Fi, and whether the original media, the converted file or both should be sent back home. Android users also have the option of syncing additional directories, too, via the Settings.

So why would anyone want to use a Pogoplug when there are other options out there? As noted above, some prefer a one-time charge over a recurring fee, while other simply prefer being in control themselves. Plus, even in the case of Apple’s forthcoming iCloud, only the most recent 1,000 photos are stored in the cloud for 30 days – in order to not lose them, you still have to sync your device to your PC or Mac to keep them forever. With Pogoplug, there’s more of a “set it and forget it” appeal.

Still, despite its desire to be seen as more of a mobile add-on, the company will likely be challenged to explain these sorts of differences to end users, who are wooed by Apple’s “it just works” marketing surrounding iCloud. Why buy hardware when Apple does everything for you? Indeed, why think at all about where files live and in what format? Although Pogoplug has always had a bit of geek appeal, its desire to go mainstream is clearly visible with this product launch. Whether it can cross over remains to be seen.

Features

• Built-in file server, WebDAV server, DHCP server, and BitTorrent client
• Supports disk volumes up to 128 PB
• MSRP $65

Pros

• Small, easy to use
• Provides UPnP
• Can share one USB disk and one USB printer, or two USB disks

Cons

• Only supports NTFS, FAT32 and exFAT volumes
• Cannot format attached media
• Cannot browse attached media from the device’s interface

Review
Things have changed a lot in the two years since I reviewed the original Addonics NAS adapter. Dropbox and its myriad workalikes have gained incredible traction. The PogoPlug has evolved into several distinct versions. The cloud has expanded to offer considerably more functionality. In short, there’s no shortage of ways to store and access your data today. Addonics’ offering back in early 2009 was pretty novel, but frankly their offering in 2011 is underwhelming.

The web based interface is entirely serviceable, but not really pleasant to use, as you can see above. You can enable SMB and WebDAV, and UPnP. For the first two you can create specific password-protected user accounts as well as enable the default password-less Guest account. Users (including Guest) can be granted read-only or read/write privilege to any directories on the media attached to the USB port labeled “storage”.

Although you can plug two USB drives into the NAS 3.0 Adapter, only one of them can be shared with any kind of granularity. If you plug a drive into the “printer” port, it will be world readable. Only the drive connected to the “storage” port will permit you to selectively share content to users you create.

It is not possible to format media from the NAS Adapter itself. You need to format your media before you connect it to the device. Depending on your environment, this may be problematic, as the NAS Adapter only supports NTFS, FAT32 and exFAT. I was unable to get the NAS Adapter to recognize a USB stick I had formatted from my Ubuntu laptop, even though I had partitioned it as FAT32. When I used my Mac Mini to format the USB stick as exFAT, the NAS Adapter saw it just fine.

The claim to support volumes up to 128 petabytes is a bit silly. If you have a 128 petabyte volume, you’re almost certainly not going to connect it to this doohickey.

I liked the original Addonics NAS Adapter, but the version 3.0 Adapter falls flat in comparison to the myriad other options available today.

Product Page: Addonics NAS 3.0 Adapter

I’ve been using a basic PogoPlug appliance on and off for a while now and on the whole I like it, though it’s not without its warts. You’re freed from having to upload source files to a place like Dropbox or Amazon Cloud Storage, and the new PogoPlug Video will allow you to eschew services like Vimeo for hosting videos of your cat; but you do still need to copy the source files to the PogoPlug device itself. The PogoPlug interface is a little awkward, with some weird UI elements, but it’s functional and incurs only a one-time cost.

The advantage of the PogoPlug software is that you no longer need to transfer files from your computer to the PogoPlug appliance: you’re simply sharing what’s already there. This will be a real time saver when you want to privately share a huge photo gallery or gigantic video with someone: it’s already on your hard drive, so just use the PogoPlug software to share it with them. All the recipient needs is a web browser. Easy peasy!

Mac users looking at the PogoPlug software: be advised that this works only with OSX 10.6. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to upgrade my ancient Mac Mini so that I can take the PogoPlug software for a spin.

This small business NAS can now be configured with four 3TB hard drives, making a 12TB storage device. If that’s too much storage, or you’re business credit card can’t handle the $1,899 price tag, the 440 also comes in 8TB and 4TB flavors for $1,499 and $849, respectively. All the drives are hot-swappable and available in a RAID 0, 1, 5, 10 or JBOD configurations. The 440 also supports remote access, system backups, and USB printer sharing. But 12TB, damn that’s a lot in a NAS.

It plugs into your router and provides the usual NAS services: streaming media to compatible devices, automatic wireless backup, and so on. But what makes it a GoFlex? Glad you asked. While you’ll buy the Home with a 1TB or 2TB drive included, you can swap out the one you bought with a larger GoFlex drive or add storage to the USB slot on the back, there.

I’m not sure I see the utility here. If you’re planning on buying one of these and then, say, upgrading it in a year, why not just spend the money now on a Drobo or another multi-drive NAS? Simplicity is one answer, of course, and the GoFlex Home seems to be pretty much plug-and-play, but 2TB for the whole family is going to fill up pretty fast and you’re going to wish you had three or four drive slots to put naked HDDs in.

Anyway, the 1TB will run you $160, and the 2TB will go for $230. It seems like a bit much to me, considering the variety of NAS systems out there. GoFlex is a good idea for power users, but for the home NAS market, it doesn’t seem to bring much to the party.

Plextor, Plextor… Seems they have a new Network Attached Story for you to consider. It’s the PX-NAS2, and it’s the company’s first NAS. Two bays in this bad boy—that means you can slip two hard drives in there, if you please.

A NAS is a NAS, yes, so there’s not too much to the PX-NAS2. You stick the hard drives in there (or get a model that includes hard drives right from the get-go), plug it into your network, and off you go. “Of you go” means you can see and share documents all over your network from the same NAS.

There’s the standard backup software (Memeo, for the record) that will automatically backup all your stuff to the NAS. She’s DLNA 1.5 certified, so there.

The plain old model, without hard drives, costs $225, one with two 500GB drives is $355, and one with two, 1TB drives will set you back $565.

Buffalo announced a slew of new SSDs [JP], HDDs [JP] and NASes [JP] in Japan today, all of which might soon be available outside this country, too. Available with 32GB ($160)/64GB ($230)/128GB ($440) and 256GB ($840/build-to-order) on board, the four 2.5-inch SSDs are part of the Buffalo SHD-NSU2 series (pictured above). All of these SATA devices support Windows XP/Vista/7 andMac OS X 10.5, are equipped with 64MB of DRAM cache and come with a USB 2.0 interface.

The new external USB HDDs, all part of the HD-CXTU2 series (pictured above), will be available with 500GB ($130)/1TB ($180)/1.5TB ($240) or 2TB ($310) on board.

Buffalo also unveiled two new NASes today, one storing 2TB (LS-Q2.0TL/1D for $500), and the other with 1TB capacity (LS-Q1.0TL/1D for $350). The 2TB model is pictured above.

Buffalo plans to ship all of these storage devices in Japan next month, but hasn’t said anything yet regarding an international release.

Honestly, I don’t see NAS devices as being that difficult to set up, but my experiences may be different from most users. The myDitto is a pretty standard NAS, with two drive bays, one of which is populated with a 1TB drive when the unit is purchased. The intention behind the myDitto is that you don’t have to install software to use it, just plug in one of the two included USB keys, and the software will start up and allow you to back up and restore files as needed. Admittedly, that could be considered easier then setting up a backup process on your home computer, but most the time you can just install the software, set up the schedule, and then forget about it. Full featured devices like the IoMega ix4-200d are just as easy to set up, it’s just a matter of perception.

Dane-Elec’s myDitto isn’t available yet, but it’s expected to retail for $279 in a 1TB configuration.

[via Gadgetwise]

From the press release:

With game console support, Pogoplug owners can now easily access, share, and stream their media directly to their Xbox 360 or PS3 from any local or remotely located Pogoplug. Gamers can watch home movies from their Pogoplug connected external hard drive on their Xbox 360 or PS3, share slideshows or listen to their entire music library without ever putting down their game controller. The Xbox 360 or PS3 automatically sees the drives connected to the Pogoplug and the contents of other shared Pogoplugs.

Active Copy enables users to backup folders on their computer to a Pogoplug connected drive. Whenever new files are added, or changes are made to an existing file within the Active Copy enabled folder, these files are automatically copied to a chosen destination folder. Now users can also use Active Copy to automatically backup key files from one Pogoplug to another off-site Pogoplug, for additional safety and redundancy.

Both of these features originated from user requests. And although there’s a healthy developer community around the PogoPlug, it’s nice to see the company working to roll popular new features into the official release.

Pogoplugs should automatically update themselves with the new firmware today.

Devices like the Iomega iConnect allow us to place storage space on our internal networks and expose that data to the world, as needed. However, the iConnect also creates a local iTunes share, adds a Time Machine back-up location, and performs a few other tricks all for $99. While it’s not perfect, it’s pretty cool.

Features:

• Four USB ports
• iTunes/Time Machine support
• Printer support
• Wireless

Pros:

• Shares data locally and with the world
• Compact
• Built-in Ethernet port

Cons:

• iTunes sharing not selective
• Set-up a bit wonky
• Doesn’t work with Drobo

The Iomega iConnect Wireless is, in short, a NAS without drives. You can stuck up to four devices onto this thing and even print wireless over your network. When you need to grab a file from one of your drives – and if you’re like me, you have plenty – you just connect to that drive. When you take the drive out of the network it disappears. Add it again and it reappears. The system also offers a remote access service with your own private URL mapped to the iConnect.

The device is fairly easy to set up. You connect to a network, run the enclosed software, and add a disk. As soon as a disk is plugged in it appears as a share on your network. A click and you’re in.

Setup is very straightforward. The desktop UI is barebones and the web UI isn’t much more complex. It isn’t for the average user but you could set it up for Grandma and tell her how to watch her soaps. Besides, it has a Torrent client built right in so she can DL her things on the DL.

For $99 you get a lot of features. Is it better than something like the Netgear Stora? That depends on how many loose drives you have in your collection. If you need to get your data online in a hurry, however, this is a good solution.

In the comments for our quick look one reader, Bryan, found that the device doesn’t support the Drobo, which is a problem. It also seems to only support FAT, FAT32, and NTFS, which could be a problem for larger files. However – and I haven’t tested this – most devices like this will handle large files thanks to the sharing properties and protocols used. The disk format seems to be invisible to OS X.

Product Page: Iomega iConnect

Ever since Iomega announced the iConnect Wireless at CES we’ve been thinking long and hard about our NAS usage. Do we really want a NAS with built-in drives? Why can’t we be free of NAS hegemony?

Well, the $99 iConnect promises to break our shackles. It’s a NAS without a drive. Here’s a quick hands on and we’ll do a full review this week. The press release, for your edification, follows.

Iomega’s New iConnect Wireless Data Station: Share Files, Manage Torrents,
Access Your Data Remotely, Backup Your PC and Mac
And Much More for Only $99
***
Transform Your USB Hard Drives and Flash Drives into “Smart” Network Storage

SAN DIEGO, January 5, 2010 – Iomega, an EMC company (NYSE: EMC) and a global leader in data protection, today announced the worldwide launch of the Iomega® iConnect Wireless Data Station, a powerful and yet inexpensive device that provides a simple way to bring all of your USB storage into your network, allowing you to connect, share and access files anywhere, even over the Internet – all for only $99.99.

On display this week at the Consumer Electronics Show (Booth # 31823, South Hall 3) in Las Vegas, the iConnect Wireless Data Station has no onboard storage, instead allowing users to bring all of their desktop and portable USB storage into their network. Connect the Iomega iConnect device to your router in either a wired or wireless configuration*, and it’s as easy as plugging external USB drives or USB Flash drives (any brand) into any of the four USB ports on the Iomega iConnect device, making the drives automatically connected to and accessible from any computer on your network or remotely via the web.

With that simple set up, users of the iConnect Wireless Data Station not only have incremental storage on their network to save, share and enjoy, they also enjoy such capabilities as a UPnP™ DLNA Certified AV Media Server that streams photos, audio content and videos to a variety of media devices; a torrent download manager for managing peer-to-peer file transfers; Time Machine® support for Apple® users; device-to-device replication for data protection; print serving to the network and much more.

“For computer users with plenty of USB-connected storage devices, the new Iomega iConnect Wireless Data Station is great way to save money and make your USB storage drives ‘smart’ at the same time,” said Jonathan Huberman, president of Iomega and the Consumer and Small Business Products Division of EMC. “For less than $100, users now have a NAS device that offers everything from remote access to torrent download capability to a built-in iTunes and media server. The iConnect Wireless Data Station is a great way to utilize what you already own in a whole new way.”

Benefits and Features of the new iConnect Wireless Data Station
The new iConnect Wireless Data Station utilizes the acclaimed EMC LifeLine™ software, a fully-developed Linux operating environment and suite of applications that is designed for cross-platform support with Windows®, Mac® and Linux computers. Users of the iConnect device interact with an easy-to-understand interface that provides all the latest in multimedia serving as well as remote access features, making it a breeze to access your own data, whether in the office, the home, or anywhere else in the world.**

Among the many value-add features of the iConnect Wireless Data Station:

• Easy file sharing, data backup and print serving from any networked Windows® PC, Mac® or Linux workstation.
• Gigabit Ethernet and wireless connectivity by connecting directly to your router in either a wired or wireless (802.11b/g/n wireless protocol) configuration.
• Remote access allows you to connect securely from anywhere in the world and get full access to pictures, videos, files – everything stored on the connected USB drives. An added bonus: remotely access and administer the iConnect device through a personalized web address.
• Simple expandability means you can add storage capacity by simply connecting more or larger external USB drives.
• Device-to-device replication for data protection allows you to define a job to copy and/or synchronize files to and from the connected USB drives or any other shared storage on your network. Iomega makes it easy with one-touch copying with the QuikTransfer button on the front of the iConnect device.
• Print Serving with intelligent print sharing capability for up to two USB printers.
• Time Machine support allows Apple users to easily backup any Mac computers running OS X (10.5 or later) using Time Machine.
• UPnP™ DLNA Certified AV Media Server provides the ability to stream photos, audio content and videos to a variety of media devices, such as game consoles (Microsoft Xbox® 360, Sony PlayStation® 3), audio bridges, iTunes® players, networked digital picture frames, Iomega® ScreenPlay™ products and more.
• Photo slideshow capabilities with an integrated utility based on the Cooliris™ technology for quick browsing of pictures stored on the connected USB drives.
• Torrent download manager allows the iConnect device to manage peer-to-peer file transfers without the need of a dedicated PC.
• Picture Transfer Protocol (PTP) provides no touch, automatic transfer of photos from digital cameras via one of the four USB ports on the iConnect device.

Backup and Security Software for a Total Data Protection Solution
The new Iomega iConnect Wireless Data Station comes complete with a portfolio of backup and security software, including native security support with robust username and password authorized access. RSA® BSAFE® encryption security technology is included, too, for protecting installs and upgrades from viruses or malware. RSA is the security division of EMC that protects digital data at many of the world’s largest banks.

Also included with the iConnect Wireless Data Station is the Iomega Protection Suite of software. Available via download, the Iomega Protection Suite includes Iomega QuikProtect for simple scheduled file-level backup; a choice between EMC® Retrospect® Express or Express HD to back up your data, plus applications and settings; and a free subscription to a market-leading software that protects your PC with anti-virus, anti-spyware, and web security protection.

Compatibility
The iConnect Wireless Data Station is compatible with Windows®, Mac OS®, and Linux® PCs. The interface is localized for 11 languages (including English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Traditional and Simplified Chinese, German, and Russian).

Price and Availability and Warranty
The new Iomega® iConnect Wireless Data Station, on demonstration at the Consumer Electronics Show (Booth # 31823, South Hall 3), January 7-10, in Las Vegas, will available worldwide starting in February for $99.99. (Pricing is U.S. suggested retail.) The iConnect Wireless Data Station is backed by a three-year warranty (with product registration).

Short Version: Hard drives that claim to do it all are a dime-a-dozen. Finally, however, I’ve found one that delivers on those claims.

Features:

• Mac/Windows/Linux compatability
• Built-in Windows Networking, UPnP features
• Web accessible sharing
• Two SATA/SATA II compatible slots
• USB 2.0 port supports USB HDD or printers

Pros:

• Small size
• Expandable
• Seamless Windows Networking

Cons:

• Front panel is flimsy
• Some web UI issues
• Obtrusive app loads at login

Review:

We’ve seen a lot of hard drives at CG so far. Some of them, like the the IoMega Home Media Network Hard Drive seemed to deliver what they advertised, namely a centralized server for media in the home. However, in my experience I’ve always come away slightly disappointed with the web-based sharing systems many of these hard drives had to offer.

When I opened the Netgear Stora I was expecting the same “meh” reaction. After all, I’ve seen UPnP compatible drives before. However, on hooking up the Stora I was pleased to discovered that things worked as advertised.

First, the drive appears on your computer as a Windows Share, DLNA, and UPnP-compatible storage location. It is literally as plug and play as you get. If you want to get fancy, however, you need to create a login. This will then place the drive on the Internet, allowing you to browse and share files with anyone in the world. For example, you can stick your collection of photos on the drive to share with your family or you can stick on important files that you can then play or download remotely. The Stora has a built-in web interface that is quite robust and useful and, more importantly, it’s quite fast. The software comes from HipServ, a company that has produced web solutions for other hard drive OEMs including Iomega.

The version I tested, a 1TB drive, came clad in a black plastic case and was completely silent. The biggest issue I found was that the front panel, designed to hide the drives inside, popped off far too easily for my liking. If this drive is designed to sit quietly in a corner, that’s fine. However, if you have nosy kids around they could put a sandwich into the open drive slot.

That leads us to the second drive bay. The $229 version comes with 1TB drive already installed. You can add a second SATA or SATA II drive and the drive supports RAID 1 mirroring.

Some problems: the Stora application, which is essentially a launcher, starts itself automatically when you turn on your computer. This is bad. The web portion also includes a 30-day trial of the premium Stora services which include Flickr and RSS support. You don’t really need this, but I suppose it’s nice to have. I also ran into some problems with Flash playback of videos. This is minor, however, as you can easily download the file to view it.

Bottom Line
The Stora just works. It’s not too expensive for a NAS and mirroring makes it a bit better as a back-up solution. The included software and web-based management system will seal the deal for most home users.

Product Page: Netgear Stora MS2110 Product Page

Features:

• Dual gigabit ethernet
• Comes in 2TB or 4TB sizes
• Case well ventilated, looks nice
• LCD display provided up to the moment information on storage, status

Pros:

• Supports Bittorrent
• Compatible with most backup programs
• Crazy number of features

Cons:

• Cost – you can’t get it without hard drives
• Too many features, might be intimidating
• Setup can be tricky

A good NAS should be invisible. You should be able to set it up, start your schedule for your backups, plug the thing in, and forget about it. As such, reviewing a NAS is a very difficult thing to do.

So let’s talk about the basics. The ix4-200d supports dual gigabit ethernet, along with a laundry list of compatibility and features. Want to use it with Windows Backup? No problem. Time Machine user? It’s got you covered. Something more esoteric, like VMware, iSCSI, or BlueTooth picture transfer? It’ll do that too. The ix4 will even work with Axis network cameras to function as a DVR, and record from up to 5 different video sources.

The NAS in itself isn’t terribly impressive looking, but it doesn’t have to be. There’s a power button, three status lights, a USB port, and an LCD display on the front. The LCD display shows you that status of the device, including if there are any jobs working, and how much space you have remaining. The back has two gigabit ethernet ports, and the power plug in point. Oddly, the cover to the case sits sideways, meaning that the drives are mounted sitting sideways as well, instead of facing out of the front of the case. Iomega puts four drives in the NAS for you, and you can select from the various RAID configurations to choose the one that works best for you. Drives are hot-swappable of course, based on the level of RAID selected.

The problems start when you install the software that comes with the device. I’m an experienced user, and consider myself to be quite knowledgeable, so it was a bit of a disappointment when I was unable to get the NAS set up at first. After reading the instructions further, I was able to determine that you must install the software first, before you plug the NAS into your network. That will allow your computer to talk to the NAS and set up the various network options and formatting, and allow the system to work. Once the software is installed and configured however, it works perfectly with any computer on your network. Back up processes happened as scheduled, and never missed a beat.

One extremely convenient function is the QuickTransfer. You can plug a USB device into the front of the NAS and press the transfer button, and the data on the device will automatically download into the storage device. This could be a USB drive, or flash drive, and I even used a memory card reader and downloaded photographs directly into the file server. It’s fast, efficient, and easy to control from the LCD screen.

Conclusion

Overall, I liked the ix4-200d. It did what it was supposed to do, without issues, and worked as intended. As far as the feature set goes, it’s almost too much. This makes the set up a little difficult, but once you get through the process it’s seamless. Additionally, as a photographer, I love the QuickTransfer feature. I’d come home from shooting, plug my card reader into the NAS, push the button, and it would automatically back up my images. This made backing up really easy.

The Iomega ix4-200d is currently available from your favorite electronics retailer, for a MSRP of $699.99 for the 2 TB version.

At the suggested retail price of $129, the PogoPlug offers a lot of bang for the buck.

Here’s the full press release, for your enjoyment:

Second Generation Pogoplug™ Unveiled Today

Next-generation Hardware Design and Software Provide Enhanced Storage, Multimedia and Social Media Capabilities

San Francisco, Calif. – November 20, 2009 – Cloud Engines, Inc. unveiled the second generation of the award winning Pogoplug multimedia sharing device today giving consumers more flexibility to store personal content safely in the home and access, manage, and share it from anywhere on the Internet. The new Pogoplug hardware sports a new design boasting multiple USB ports supporting up to 4 external drives for expanded data capacity. The new Pogoplug also gives users improved sharing capabilities, an easy drag-and-drop interface to create engaging multi-media slide shows, seamless media playback, and enhanced sharing with friends on Facebook, Twitter and MySpace.

Pogoplug acts like a gateway from your home or office through the Internet. It allows you to access, share and even stream your personal digital media directly to anybody, anywhere in the world. Your content always remains physically in your home or office, making it secure, convenient and available on your terms. Pogoplug is perfect for those individuals with increasingly mobile lifestyles and small businesses in need of simple, inexpensive mobile data access solutions.

“The reaction to the Pogoplug has been incredible. By listening to user feedback and following our own product roadmap, we are bringing a great second-generation product that gives our customers access to a host of new features that both improve the function of the Pogoplug, and add to the fun of using it as well.” said Daniel Putterman, CEO of Cloud Engines, Inc. “We are committed to giving our customers the best way to access their data from anywhere in the world, pushing the envelope with both product quality and design aesthetic. The result is what you see here today.”

NEW HARDWARE
The new Pogoplug design retains the simplicity and ease of use of the original while listening to consumer feedback and adding the ability to directly connect up to 4 external hard drives at once. The resulting product boasts an improved design with greatly improved functionality for users with multiple drives and an increasing need for easy synching and sharing of their digital libraries. This upgrade turns the Pogoplug into an even more prominent feature in the modern digital home or small business.

NEW FEATURES
Automatically Synchronize Photos, Videos, Music and Other Selected Content
Users can synchronize their Pogoplug with their PC or Mac to automatically import new content from popular applications such as iTunes, Windows Media Player, and iPhoto. This feature allows Pogoplug owners to “set it and forget it” and always have access to new photos, videos and music from anywhere on the Internet.

Drag-and-Drop Music and Photo Slideshows
Users can easily create and share fun and engaging slideshows using their stored photos, videos and music. Creating a slideshow with Pogoplug is as simple as drag and drop, and sharing these slideshows is just as easy as ever. Once a user’s link is shared and viewed, their slideshow will immediately begin with the photos, videos and music they selected, playing seamlessly in the viewer’s browser.

Easier Sharing with Pogoplug Address Book
Pogoplug Address Book greatly improves the speed and ease of use of sharing with a user’s friends and family. Pogoplug automatically remembers all email addresses entered in a user’s previous shares – even if that share no longer exists – and makes them available in an easy to use address book to make sharing truly one click away.

Global Search Across Multiple Drives and Pogoplugs
With support for multiple drives on a single Pogoplug (and multiple Pogoplugs on the same account) Pogoplug has added “global” search support across all of a user’s Pogoplugs and drives. Search filters are now a distinct feature, allowing users to view all of their photos, videos and music in a single organized view, or to search for a specific file across all Pogoplugs and drives.

Organize Your Music, Photos and Videos
Pogoplug automatically displays music by Album, Artist and Genre, and shows cover art for quick access to a user’s favorite music. Photos are now displayed by photo timeline and videos are only a click away, including the ability to watch a preview in the thumbnail itself.

Play movies directly from my.pogoplug.com, or even to the iPhone
Pogoplug now supports the playback of videos directly from a Pogoplug, with support for the most popular cameras, video cameras and mobile phones. Movies can be shared and viewed directly from the Pogoplug website – or even from an iPhone!

Pricing and Availability
We are currently taking Pre-Orders for Pogoplug at www.pogoplug.com Units will ship before the end of the year – just in time for the Holiday Season. The Pogoplug has a suggested retail price of $129, with no additional service fees.

USEFUL LINKS

• Pogoplug web site: www.pogoplug.com
• Product photos: www.flickr.com/photos/pogoplug
• Twitter feed: www.twitter.com/pogoplug
• Pogoplug online community: www.pogoplugged.com

ABOUT THE POGOPLUG
The Pogoplug is a device that connects up to 4 external hard drives to the Internet. It is designed for consumers who have an external hard drive and have high speed Internet. Consumers can securely access and share all of their content [Files, Photos, and Video] from any Web browser or enabled mobile device with no additional monthly fees. Free your inner drive.

ABOUT CLOUD ENGINES, INC.
Founded in 2007 by experienced entrepreneurs from the digital media and security industries, Cloud Engines is located in San Francisco, California. The company was formed with a mission to change the way personal content is stored and distributed over the Internet. The Cloud Engines philosophy is that by making a product simple, open and affordable, the community will participate in making it better. For more information, please visit our Web site, www.cloudengines.com.

The Thecus N0204 will use either HDD or SSD drives, with a maximum capacity of 1TB. Due to the fact that the NAS only has two bays, you are of course restricted to RAID 0, 1, or JBOD. The best part? The price. The Thecus N0204 retails for just $150; you’ll have to provide your own drives, though.

The Thecus also functions as a print server, which could be handy. It’s compatible with both Mac and PC networks and will work with Wi-Fi orGigabit LAN via the ethernet connection on the back of the unit.

[via Legit Reviews]

Simply download this app package and drag your drive onto it. The script adds the drive as a Time Machine capable device and then you can simply add it under Time Machine System Preferences.

The full script is right here if you want to roll your own:

on open names
set volumeName to names as text
set macAddress to (do shell script "ifconfig en0 | grep ether | tr -d '\11' | sed s/ether// | sed 's/ //g' | sed s/://g")
set hostName to (do shell script "hostname -fs")
tell application "Finder"
set theSize to round (((capacity of startup disk) / 1024 / 1024) / 1024)
end tell

end open

via MacOSXHints

The ix2-200 is available now from your favorite e-tailer, and prices vary based on storage size. The 1TB version is priced at $269.99, the 2TB version is at $369.99, and the price goes up for there.

From the press release:

SAN DIEGO, October 8, 2009 – Iomega, an EMC company (NYSE: EMC) and a global leader in data protection, today announced the next generation of its popular double-drive desktop NAS appliance with the worldwide launch of the new Iomega® StorCenter™ ix2-200. Based on industry-leading enterprise-class EMC® storage technologies, the versatile yet affordable StorCenter ix2-200 wraps ease-of-use around big business data management functionality and advanced media serving and other consumer features that make it the ideal NAS appliance for small business users and home users.

Available in 1TB*, 2TB and 4TB capacities, the new ix2-200 utilizes a very simple four-step setup to be operational in a matter of minutes – be it in a business setting or in the digital home.

Starting at less than $270.00, the ix2-200 employs an easy-to-understand interface to provide robust data management and protection for the serious business user, as well as the latest in multimedia serving and remote access features that makes it a breeze to access your own data, whether in the office, the home, or anywhere else in the world.**

Among the standout business features of the new StorCenter ix2-200:
· Device-to-device replication for business continuity and file recovery
· iSCSI block-level access for efficient storage utilization
· RAID 1 configurations for optimized data protection
· Windows® Active Directory support
· A new front panel QuikTransfer button for easy copying of selected files
· User replaceable hard drives
· Multiple IP security camera support
· And for the forward-thinking small business, VMware® certification for virtualization installations.

The new StorCenter ix2-200 also has a treasure trove of features for the digital home, including:

· A DLNA® certified UPnP® AV Media Server that makes the ix2-200 the central repository for serving up all your movies, pictures, music and other files to any compatible device on your network
· Serves as a Time Machine® target for Apple® computer backups
· Built-in torrent support for file-sharing without the need for a dedicated PC
· Bluetooth® capability for uploading all kinds of digital content from a smart phone
· Cooliris™ slide show plug-in allows for easy photo viewing
· And remote access to the ix2-200 from anywhere in the world

“The new StorCenter ix2-200 is definitely the easiest to use small office and consumer network storage appliance in the marketplace today,” said Jonathan Huberman, president of Iomega and the Consumer and Small Business Products Division of EMC. “Combining EMC’s world class enterprise storage and security technologies with advanced media serving features makes the ix2-200 a versatile and affordable NAS appliance that gives smaller organizations, work groups and home users not only cost-effective and robust network storage but some of the same sophisticated data management capabilities as a Fortune 100 corporation – but without any need for IT experience.”

The new Iomega StorCenter ix2-200 NAS appliance is now available in the Americas and Europe from retailers, VARs and IT resellers, including valued Iomega partner CDW.

“When it comes to managing and protecting digital content, small businesses today face many of the same challenges as much larger organizations,” said Matt Troka, vice president, Product & Partner Management, CDW Corporation. “Iomega’s new StorCenter ix2-200 delivers cost-effective network storage with advanced enterprise features at extremely affordable prices. For the budget conscious small business with a need for dependable network storage that is easy to setup and maintain without any internal IT expertise, the compact StorCenter ix2-200 offers a great value proposition, which makes it a viable data storage and back-up solution for our customers.”

The Little Compact Desktop NAS Appliance with Lots of Capabilities

The new StorCenter ix2-200 NAS desktop appliance utilizes the acclaimed EMC LifeLine™ software, a fully-developed Linux operating environment and suite of applications that is designed for cross-platform support with Windows®, Mac® and Linux computers.

The LifeLine operating system presents a simple-to-use graphical interface that makes it easy to perform valuable business tasks while remaining confident that your data is securely stored, protected, and accessible whenever and wherever you need it.

Small office users will enjoy the ix2-200’s fast Gigabit Ethernet connectivity and high-performance embedded architecture, which boosts productivity by making data readily accessible and secure over a local network at the office or in the home. The ix2-200 also boasts the versatility of three USB 2.0 ports for adding printers or additional storage capacity with external USB drives.

Netgear’s got a new home network hard drive system called Stora. It’s a $229 NAS system with a 1TB SATA hard drive built in and a second open SATA slot, allowing you to easily add a second drive in the future (that second drive can be set up to mirror the first).

Files can be shared and accessed by various devices across your home network thanks to UPnP compatibility and a web interface (MyStora.com) lets you share files with friends and family as well as retrieve files yourself remotely.

There’s also Facebook, Flickr, iTunes and mobile features, although mobile and Flickr access costs $20 per year. According to the press release:

Stora enables consumers to easily centralize photos, music, movies and files and use them on nearly any network device. With a smooth user interface designed for non-technical users, Stora lets consumers easily share their photos and videos with friends without the time-consuming process of uploading them to Internet sites or transferring them over email. Through an intuitive and graphical user interface on www.MyStora.com, users and their designated friends and relatives can remotely access their media files from any Internet-connected device, such as laptops, PCs and smartphones.

More info is available at Netgear’s website and the Stora is apparently available for purchase now, although the “Buy Now” link on the website is currently going to a broken page.

MS2110- Stora [Netgear.com]

The N2R1 (what a name eh?) is coming out later this year, and features two drive bays, a DVD player/writer, a memory card reader, and most interestingly, a wi-fi connection built in. Unfortunately, LG decided to go with the slower 802.11g protocol, instead of the faster 802.11n, but most users won’t really notice the difference. Priced at $299 for 1 TB, and $399 for 2 TB, it’s looking like a good deal for a nice bit of hardware. LG also states that it is compatible with Windows, Linux, and Macintosh.

From the press release:

ATLANTA, Sept. 10, 2009 – LG Electronics introduced a new Network Attached Storage option for consumers looking to protect their multimedia entertainment files, this week at Custom Electronic Design & Installation Association (CEDIA) EXPO 2009 (Booth #2623).

To help safeguard treasured family memories, photos and music, LG’s Network Attached Storage (NAS) model N2R1 uses a proven system of multiple hard drives used for sharing and replicating data to prevent possible damage or loss. Called RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Discs), this system automatically backs up and restores files for added security in the event of a hardware failure.

With up to two Tera-bytes (TB) of storage, the N2R1 provides a wealth of storage capabilities, allowing consumers to continue building their digital libraries of music, movies and other multimedia files. For an enhanced level of convenience, the N2R1 includes a DVD Re-Writer and Playback feature for additional back up or file sharing options.

“Consumers continue to create digital memories, from photos to family videos and it’s important that these irreplaceable moments are saved in a secure place,” said Peter Reiner, senior vice president, marketing, LG Electronics USA, Inc. “With LG’s Network Attached Storage, consumers now have a virtual ‘Library on Command’ that allows them unlimited access to their favorite memories, whether at home or on the road.”

Connectivity and Compatibility

For consumers who cannot be tied down by wires, the N2R1 has integrated WiFi connectivity for easy connection to any 802.11g wireless home network. The MyMedia feature allows consumers access to videos, photos and music through a DLNA-certified media player, placing digital entertainment libraries within easy reach of the big-screen. For music aficionados, the N2R1 also has iTunes™ connectivity for a networked music option.

The Network Attached Storage is compatible with a variety of operating systems such as Windows, Linux and Mac operating systems, allowing for installation in any home entertainment environment. It also provides remote support with easy access to files from anywhere an Internet connection is available, allowing consumers to show off their favorite pictures or movies even when they are away from home.

The N2R1 will be available online and at national retailers early this Fall for the manufacturers suggested retail price of $299 for 1TB of storage and $399 for 2TB of storage.

LaCie has a rather nice selection of NAS units to choose from, but the latest should get some attention from Mac users. Both the Big Disk Network (left) and the d2 Network (right) sport the classic LaCie design, which is obviously inspired by H.A.L 9000, and are compatible with Apple’s Time Machine.

Not only that, the d2 Network comes with up to 1.5TB of storage for $299 and supports eSATA and USB for further expansion. The Big Disk can RAID together up drives and start out at $380. Both drives can also stream media to any UPnP device. With all these NAS system now available, there isn’t a good excuse for not owning one besides, well, not having a job.