I like innovative products and after spending some time with the Seagate FreeAgent DockStar, I think it’s just that. This thing is cool. The concept is simple, and thankfully, so is the product. All you do is insert a Seagate FreeAgent Go hard drive in the dock – or use a USB flash drive – and then the dock becomes not only a local network share, but also an Internet-connected storage device through Pogoplug. I’m pleased to report that it works without any hassle, but I still don’t think you should buy it.
To set this thing up, all you need to do is plug-in the power and Ethernet and dock a Seagate FreeAgent Go portable hard drive. Wait a few seconds for the little light to turn green – which tells you that the dock is connected to the Internet – and then navigate to this activation website. The website asks you a couple quick questions and then the device is activated. From there, it’s simply another Pogoplug device.
Well, what’s Pogoplug, Matt? I’m glad you asked, friend. It’s a service that allows you to easily share locally-stored info online. This dock turns a Seagate FreeAgent Go external hard drive or flash drive into a NAS that also has access to the Pogoplug service. Seagate has included one year’s worth of service with the device, but after that trial is up, you will be required to pay $30 a year to use the service. (keep reading, more on this farther down)
Read our review or watch the two demo videos on Pogoplug’s site for a good run down of the service. I found it easy to use and thorough. In fact, I think it’s the easiest way to share local content online either through a direct URL, email, iPhone app, RSS feeds or through social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook, or MySpace. There is even an option to send out a notification when files have been added or removed.
Here’s the downside though: The Dockstar must use the Pogoplug service even though the retail box states something different. The box states, “Files on your home network may be accessed by devices on the same network without subscribing to Pogoplug service” but Seagate’s chat support disagrees and I can’t figure it out either. If the drive is removed from the Pogoplug service, it doesn’t show up on the local network.
It’s kind of crazy that the dock doesn’t act like a NAS without subscribing to the service anyway. It’s such a simple ability to leave out. Sure, once Pogoplug knows your device, it’s available as a network share, but that seems hokey to me. It should be the other way around.
Here’s the main problem though, this dock doesn’t offer nearly enough benefits over the standalone Pogoplug device. For the same upfront cost of $99, you get the same exact Pogoplug service as the Seagate DockStar offers expect there isn’t a subscription free. Plus, you could use the same exact Seagate FreeAgent Go hard drives with the Pogoplug device because they are USB-powered or any other USB drive for that matter. The DockStar does have three more USB ports (2 rear, 1 side) but that isn’t nearly enough to compensate for the $30-per-each-additional-year fee that the dock requires.
Now, if the DockStar could be used as a standalone NAS and the Pogoplug service is just an added benefit, my conclusion might be something different. Consider this an open invitation to Seagate to show me how to use this device without subscribing to an online service. Until then, I cannot see a single reason to buy the DockStar over the standalone Pogoplug model.
At $100 outright, and $30 per year afterwards, I still think this is worth the cost. I don’t know about you, but I have a lot of data on my old USB drives that I can’t easilly access on my laptop’s mere 2 usb ports without unplugging something else… most notably, another hard drive. While I do agree that the whole concept of having to pay a subscription fee to allow me to access my hardware locally is complete bull, I do think that the addition of the 3 usb ports does increase the value of the dockstar substantially, as having to purchase 3 additional dockstars would cost more than 10 years of service from pogoplug, and would only use one connection on my switch.
That said, while I’ve been looking for something like this and pogoplug for awhile, I think I’ll be sticking to the old homebew NAS.
My name is Jon van Bronkhorst, and I work in the product marketing group for Seagate’s retail products. I thought I’d add a couple of comments here to help clarify some of the issues that are mentioned.
The DockStar product supports SMB (Samba) shares. These need to be enabled by the user. (SMB shares are enabled from the Settings screen within your DockStar account) Once enabled, the user no longer needs to access the attached drives by logging into the Pogoplug service. This works only within the walls of your local area network. So there is no need for additional subscription fees after the first year to access your local drives within your local area network.
So, to your point, the DockStar CAN be used as simple NAS, and the PogoPlug service is an additional element added on top. The only requirement is that you create an account to activate the DockStar, enable the SMB shares, and then access away!
I hope this helps. We love hearing all comments and thoughts on our products, and are working hard to be responsive to concerns and issues like these.
Thanks.
@ Jon van Bronkhorst
Thankyou for clearifying the SMB shares option, as before there was alot of confusion.
Where exactly can I change the SMB share options? I can not figure out how to log into my DockStar account. Can you provide the url?
Thanks.
THe SMB share settings are access through your Settings page on your main DockStar account page. This is accessed through http://dockstar.pogoplug.com (the main DockStar account login page). From here, log into your account (email address and password), and then click on Settings in the upper right hand corner. On the left hand side, you will see WFS – this is the link to the SMB settings.
I hope this helps!
Jon
Thanks Jon.
That is where I thought you meant.
So I guess the DockStar account and the Pogoplug account are the same thing.
I have gone there and all I see is a place to assign a workgroup name.
There is nothing I can do there besides change the workgroup name. I have tried that, but I still am not able to access the drive on my LAN.
Thanks.
I just checked again on my own DockStar account, and when I click on the WFS section, I am indeed given the opportunity to change the workgroup name, but also change the SMB settings for each individual drive attached to my DockStar.
If there are no drives attached to your DockStar, then there are no SMB settings to change – the settings are tied directly to each individual attached storage device.
Give that a try and let me know.
Thanks!
You are correct Jon, I see the drive(s) and have the ability to change ‘read/write’, ‘read only’, ‘disabled’,
but I still do not see this drive on my network, only online.
I have both Macs and PCs on my LAN, they all talk to one another just fine, but I cannot see this drive on any of my computers.
Thanks for helping me out. I love this device, but will probably return it if I can’t use it as simple NAS. If there is some specific forum I should also visit for additional info, please let me know.
Thanks for the confirmation and additional information.
As you have cycled through the options for the accessibility, your drive should now be showing on your network. It will not show up as your drive, but as the DockStar device, with a name that is illogical. If you go to your Network Neighborhood on a Windows system, or a simple finder window on a Mac with shares showing, you should see a new device (shows as a server) – that is the DockStar. Open that device and you will see the connected drives. I have done this in my own home installation without problem.
Let me know!
Jon
Jon,
Finally. I had done everything you said, with no luck.
I just power cycled the DockStar unit and now it all works as advertised.
Thanks so much.
That’s great. Thanks for letting me know! I will send off a note to the support folks that this required a power cycle.
Thanks for your patience with this, and for the discussion. Let me know if there is anything else that I can help with.
Jon
One more thing, please. From what I can tell, I still have to have the drive enabled as a share within the Pogoplug website. How to I stop the drive from being available online and have it only be accessible locally? And if/when I choose not to pay for the Pogoplug service, will I still need access to my account online in order to use the device locally?
J.R.,
Once you have enabled the SMB share, you no longer need to use the website to access the drive. Ever. The website will always be accessible to you, and your drive will be accessible to you through that website while you are logged in from your home for as long as you own it. From outside your home, it will be accessible through the website for the first year.
So now that SMB is enabled and working, you do not need to access the online account at all if you don’t want to. Yet you can if you do want to.
I hope that helps.
Jon
Continuing the discussion with Jon van Bronkhorst, I have two questions. First once the SMB share has been enabled will the drive show up in Windows explorer?
Second: I would like to be able to use DockStar with a computer running windows xp and another computer running windows 7 at the same time.
Will this be possible.
My new DockStar is on the way as I just lost my current NAS device.
Thank you very much
Chip,
To help with those questions – (1) once the SMB shares are enabled, yes, the DockStar and all attached drives will show up on your network. Open up Network Neighborhood, and the DockStar will show up. When you open up the DockStar device, your individual attached drives will show up. You can map these to drive letters for easier use.
(2) yes, once you have them set up as SMB shares, then they can easily be shared between computers, even computers running different versions of Windows.
I hope this helps!
Jon van Bronkhorst
Seagate Technology
Jon, Thank you very much for all of your help.
Thanks to you I’m looking forward to installing my new DockStar.
I’ve been having similar issues, I cannot access the SMB share settings. I just get the pull downs with read/write options. Nothing else.
After exiting the pogoplug bowser, and recycling power to the DockStar, I do now get the dockStar in my Windows Network with an illogical name. The Seagate drive appears as a folder in this device, but I cannot see any other attached drives. If I open up Pogoplug again the content and directory of all attached drives is present and correct. How do I get the attached drives no to show up in Windows?
John,
Sorry for the delay in this answer… My slip-up.
Please try this – go into the settings and select the pull down menu for EACH attached drive. Make sure they are all on Read/Write. Even if they show that, pull the drop down menu down anyway.
Then save the settings and try.
They should now all show up.
Let me know if this works for you. I need the feedback!
Jon
Jon, what about re-installing my Windows XP, especially more than one year after first Dockstar install ? Wil I have to pay something ?
Best regards.
Louis.
Louis,
If the drives show as SMB shares on your network, there is nothing else to install. There is no client software installed on the computer.
Jon
Jon van Bronkhorst
Seagate Technology
Hi John.
Did you obtain an answer from Jon Van Bronkorst on another site or by another mean ?
Planning to use the Dockstar as a home NAS only, I shoud be very interested in such an answer.
TIA.
Louis.