With a need to share a reasonable amount of data over a network I have been looking around for devices that can allow this to happen flexibly, and securely, and with the ability to support a range of drives.

The most recent device I have had a look at is the Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex Net Media Sharing Device.

The GoFlex Net is, as its name suggests, a media sharing unit, into which you can dock up to two GoFlex portable drives (which are sold separately) or connect an existing USB based device. The device also supports Pogoplug so you can access your files anywhere in the world using a web browser.

Inside the box you get the dock device itself, the power supply (with adaptors for UK, US, and EU), an Ethernet cable, a quick start guide and the Warranty documentation.

The quick start guide is one of the quickest and startiest guides I have ever seen, it goes something like: “Connect it, Activate your account, Connect a USB drive or dock a FreeAgent GoFlex Drive. That’s it.” – just the sort of thing you need when your aim is to share data and not get bogged down with instruction manuals.

On the device itself are two dock slots (on the top), a connector for the power supply, a reset button (recessed), a network connector, USB connector (on the rear), status LED and drive gauge (on the front).

The status LED offers useful information from a blinking green indicating the unit is starting up, through green solid for normal activity, amber solid to indicate no connection, to yellow blinking indicating a message is waiting. The capacity gauges, which can be utilised with GoFlex drives, has four bars giving a general indication of drive space utilisation.

If using a USB drive you need to ensure it is pre-formatted before connecting it up as the unit. Also, one word of warning given in the quick start guide is that you need to click the option to “Safely Remove This Drive” from Windows, then wait for the drive capacity gauge (on the front of the device) to go out before removing a drive from the drive slot.

To share data over a network you can use Windows File Sharing (for a local network) which makes the drives available through Network Places on Windows (or Seagategroup on a Mac). A subscription to the Pogoplug service is included in the package which allows you to share information over the internet through a web based service and a small application can be downloaded which allows the drives to be assigned a drive letter.

Overall, the GoFlex Net is a quick and easy solution for sharing data over a network and you can get up and running very quickly. To learn more head over to Seagate: FreeAgent GoFlex Net Media Sharing Device.