If you can type in an email address and password, the Seagate GoFlex Net can make files stored on your portable hard drives accessible on your home network, on the road or to your friends—that’s the promise Seagate made me when they showed me the product. The GoFlex Net is a media sharing device that plugs into your home network’s router and then you supply the external hard drive. Seagate’s new GoFlex and GoFlex Pro portable hard drives (shown in photo) plug directly into the GoFlex Net, or you can use a USB cord to attach a drive from another manufacturer.
You then activate your GoFlex Net online with Seagate and log into the free PogoPlug account that you use to access your files. If you download and install the PogoPlug software, the files stored on your GoFlex Net hard drives will look like just another drive. And you can browse, playback and preview your files with a Web browser or mobile phone app (iPhone, Blackberry, Android or Palm Pre).
When you share files, you can make them view-only or enable friends and family to store their files on your GoFlex Net drive. It’s a great way for everyone to share photos or videos without uploading them to a sharing site.
To see the GoFlex Net in action, check out this video I shot with Seagate spokesperson, Gregory Falgiano.
