Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Computing
  3. News

Plug transforms an external hard drive into your own personal cloud

Mike Flacy
By
plug-hard-drive
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Exploding through a $69,000 goal on Kickstarter and rapidly heading towards the $1,000,000 mark with more than six weeks to go, Plug is a network connected device that allows you to convert a portable hard drive into private cloud storage shared between your personal computer, work computer, tablet and smartphone. While there’s always elements of risk when using third party cloud storage services like Dropbox, the creators of Plug are attempting to create a more secure cloud service to preserve all of your data.

To get started with the Linux-powered Plug, all the user has to do is connect the small device to the home’s router using an Ethernet cord and connect a storage device to the opposite side via USB. In addition, the user can connect multiple storage devices to the Plug by adding a USB hub. After the user installs the Plug application on their computers and mobile devices, files can be shared, snyced, downloaded and uploaded on all the user’s devices. The concept is pretty much identical to Box.com, Google Drive, Microsoft Skydrive or any other cloud storage service. 

plug-usb-hub
Image used with permission by copyright holder

One of the main benefits to creating your own cloud storage is the potential to add tons of storage space. While a service like Dropbox charges $795 per year for unlimited space, a Plug user could simply spend $200 for an additional portable hard drive each time they needed an additional 4TB of space. However, it’s likely that most users won’t need any more than 1TB for the foreseeable future. Regarding drive failure or electricity outages, you could also purchase a second Plug installed at another location in order to have a backup of all your data.

Recommended Videos

Each time you access and change a file using Plug, that version of the file is stored at home. If you happen to make a mistake overwriting a file, you have the ability to roll back to an older version if needed. If you need to send files to another person, the creators have included a file sharing tool that simplifies transfers of large quantities of data like photos or video. It likely sends a private link over email that allows the recipient to download data off the connected hard drive.

Plug-mobile-interface
Image used with permission by copyright holder

In addition, users have the ability to stream media from your home storage device. If you have tons of movie rips on your external device, you can stream that video on a mobile device like an iPad assuming the video formats are compatible. The mobile application for tablets and smartphones organizes the data by file type, thus allowing  users to browse through all their photos, videos or music in one place. Regarding the tech used within the Plug, all your devices connect over an asymmetric encrypted VPN. When it comes to speed, the creators have opted for USB 2.0 over USB 3.0, specifically to keep the cost of the device down.

Related

According to the Kickstarter project page, the first batch of the Plug device should head out to backers by December 2013. The cheapest contribution level is currently $79 and the device is expected to retail for $150 after the project comes to a close. The creators of the plug are offering multiple color options as stretch goals as the total funding level climbs to $1 million. While the Plug team has included a project timeline for the development of the hardware and software, be aware that delays in manufacturing often push back delivery dates of Kickstarter-funded products by weeks or even months.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Mike Flacy
Mike Flacy
Contributing Editor
By day, I'm the content and social media manager for High-Def Digest, Steve's Digicams and The CheckOut on Ben's Bargains…
How to clean up your hard drive
A hard disk drive that showcases the inner components.

Performing regular maintenance is crucial for ensuring a PC delivers a smooth experience for the system owner and keeping all the core functionality of the computer intact. Generally, as time goes by, data, files, applications, folders, and more all play a part in cluttering hard drives.

Without cleaning your hard drive, HDDs will ultimately turn your machine into a shadow of its former self — opening programs is now a tedious and drawn-out process, performing simple tasks takes longer than usual, and nothing operates as efficiently as it once did. Before you know it, your PC’s hard drive has reached a state where you have no option but to rely on external hard drives to store files on.

Read more
How to choose an external hard drive
Samsung T5 SSD review

When it comes to learning how to choose an external hard drive, you need to consider what you want to do with the drive, how fast you need to be able to access the data on it, and how much you have to store on it. There are external hard drives with plenty of physical protection against the elements, external SSDs that give you super-fast data transfer, and huge external hard drives that are better for long-term backups. The best external drives often tick most of those boxes.

If it's not obvious what kind of external hard drive you need, or you need something that can do a little of everything, here are some more in-depth tips on how to choose an external drive.

Read more
Prime Day external hard drive deals 2021: The best sales you can still shop
All the latest Amazon Prime Day external hard drive deals and sales
how much space does security camera video footage require western digital passport external hard drive

Amazon's 48-hour summer blowout event has finished and the dust is still settling, but you've still got a chance to expand your local storage with a new brand-name external hard drive and save some cash in the process. That said, you'd better act fast before time runs out and all these remaining Prime Day deals are gone for good, because we're probably not going to see prices like this again before Black Friday.

After buying what you need from the post-Prime Day external hard drive sales that are still going on, check out these offers from Amazon and other retailers for more home office essentials. We've also rounded up all the best remaining Prime Day monitor deals, Prime Day printer deals, Prime Day wireless keyboard deals, Prime Day wireless mouse deals, and Prime Day router deals to save you precious time.

Read more