Subscribe to Pogoplug Family for $19.95, get a free Pogoplug
This new backup service looks pretty promising, but it's the free Pogoplug Classic (value: $49.95) that really seals the deal.
For the past year or so, Pogoplug has been steadily reinventing itself. After earning raves for its eponymous network-storage adapters, the company moved into consumer cloud storage, then introduced team-storage solution aimed at small and medium businesses.
Along the way, Pogoplug devices have been introduced and discontinued, and the aforementioned consumer storage service, Pogoplug Cloud, seems to have disappeared. As someone who's been following the company closely, I'll admit to being occasionally confused by Pogoplug's strategy and lineup.
But there's no confusion here: through Sunday, and while supplies last, you can get a free Pogoplug Classic device when you sign up for the new Pogoplug Family backup service.
That service costs $19.95 per year; a Pogoplug Classic normally runs $49.95 (and has no associated subscription fees by itself). So even if you're not interested in Pogoplug Family (and I think you will be), you're getting a steal on the Pogoplug hardware, which is useful for all kinds of things even without the service.
It works like this: you plug the Pogoplug device into your router, then connect up to four USB hard drives/flash drives to the device. That storage is made available to your PCs, mobile devices (tablets and smartphones), and the Web (privately, of course).
Pogoplug Family leverages that same storage for backup purposes, allowing you to automatically and continuously archive your Windows and Mac computers and your Android and iOS devices. According to Pogoplug, you can "create private accounts for each of your family members to keep backups separate and private."
Need more storage? Plug in another drive. Need access to important documents from the road? That's practically Pogoplug's raison d'etre. You can even stream music and videos from your shared storage to your mobile gizmos. Neat stuff.
Pogoplug's offer ends this Sunday, June 24. The device alone is well worth the $19.95 price of admission, and you've got a year to decide if the Family plan is worth continuing.
Your thoughts? Deal or no deal?