![]() ![]() (The Pogoplug has been available since early 2009. It serves that purpose but sometimes you just want more options for controlling your hardware and running some. The Seagate DockStar is available as of Wednesday. The Seagate FreeAgent Dockstar aims to make all of your stuff available online. That feature-not currently available on Pogoplug's standalone product-should allow the DockStar drives to be accessible via non-PC DLNA-compatible network devices, including Seagate's own FreeAgent Theater+. That said, Seagate is planning to add SMB drive support to the DockStar via a future firmware update. With DockStar and Pogoplug both costing $99, we'd be inclined to go with Pogoplug's instead. That contrasts with Pogoplug's standalone product, which requires no fees. On the downside, Seagate is charging $30 per year for the capability to access the drive from outside your home network (after one year of free access). Even better, Pogoplug offers a free iPhone app that lets you access files via iPhones and iPod Touch handhelds. Alternately, you can download Pogoplug's software plug-ins for mapping the DockStar to a drive letter on Windows, Mac, and Linux machines. DockStar makes your stuff available to you anytime, anywhere. And once installed, you can attach your FreeAgent Go or any other external USB storage devices to it to make them available over your network in your home, and even outside your home. The Web interface works on any Web browser, it requires no software installation, and lets you set specific folders for others to access, as well as publish RSS feeds of your files to various social networking sites (Twitter, Facebook, MySpace). DockStar is by far the easiest to install and set up network device you will ever find. The system offers a Web interface for accessing the drive's files from any computer (on your home network, or worldwide via the Internet). That's a good thing, since Pogoplug's standalone product is exceptionally simple to set up and easy to use. Network access is enabled via technology Seagate has licensed from Pogoplug-in other words, it's just a Seagate-skinned version of Pogoplug's interface. However, instead of linking to your PC via USB, the DockStar uses its Ethernet port to live on your home network. Like the preceding Dock+ model, the DockStar can host a FreeAgent Go drive in its cradle, plus up to three other USB drives. Seagate's DockStar can support up to four USB drivesÄo you want to turn a USB hard drive into a cheap, easy network-attached storage device? Seagate's DockStar is designed to let you do just that.
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