Network-attached storage (NAS) devices come in all shapes and sizes; some even come without hard drives--with the intention that the users will add the drives themselves. There is even a relatively new category of NAS devices that don't have any internal drives at all, and instead use USB-attached drives as their storage source. These NAS devices are typically inexpensive and super-easy to setup and use. We've even looked at a couple of them: the Addonics NAS Adapter ($49) and CloudEngines' Pogoplug ($99).

Now a big name in the storage business, Seagate, has jumped onto this bandwagon and released its own USB drive-based NAS device, the Seagate FreeAgent DockStar. Instead of reinventing the wheel, however, Seagate chose to license the Pogoplug technology from CloudEngines and integrate it--with a few differences--into the DockStar. The most obvious difference between the Pogoplug and the DockStar is their appearance. While the Pogoplug is essentially a small white cube, the DockStar is a bit more svelte (3.39x3.351.50), with a cradle on top designed to work exclusively with Seagate's line of FreeAgent Go portable hard drives--in fact, the DockStar looks a lot like the Seagate FreeAgent Go Dock. Another major difference between the DockStar and the Pogoplug is that the DockStar has a total of four USB 2.0 ports versus the Pogoplug's single USB 2.0 port...



Link: HotHardware