Pogoplug Hack

[Vennie Fireman]

I recently received a Pogoplug as a birthday gift. If you're not familiar with the Pogoplug, it is a small Linux based plug computer that allows you to share personal files over the web. You can think of it as your own personal cloud storage server. While you can always access your Pogoplug files through the web interface, it's nice to have local access to the files straight from your file manager. In this tutorial I'll show you how to mount the Pogoplug on Linux and how to get it to mount automatically when your computer boots. I'll be writing these directions for Ubuntu Linux 12.04, (I'm using Kubuntu 12.04 actually), but it should work similarly for other versions and distributions. I'm assuming that you've already plugged your Pogoplug into your router, activated it, and you can access your files through the web interface at

Finally, a word of warning. If you mess this up you could end up using all of your RAM and crashing your system. So if you're not comfortable with rescuing a broken system you may want to stop after learning to mount the Pogoplug manually.

pogoplugfs is the driver software you'll need to mount your Pogoplug as a local file system on Linux. There are two different versions of the software based on whether you're using a 32 bit or 64 bit version of Linux. If you're not sure whether you're using 32 bit or 64 bit Linux, open a terminal window and enter the command:

Now that you've downloaded the Pogoplug file system driver, you need to put it somewhere in your executable path. You could put it somewhere under your Home directory, but I prefer to put it in a place more generic to the system. I'm going to put it under /usr/local/bin. You need to do this as root, so for Ubuntu I'll use sudo.

Now you need to create a mount point for the Pogoplug. This is the location in your file system where the Pogoplug's files and folders will show up. Since Ubuntu normally mounts USB drives under /media, that seems like a good place for the Pogoplug as well.

You'll have to log out and log back in before the change takes place. (Make sure to bookmark this page so you can get back to it.) After you log back in, you can use the groups command again to verify that you're now part of the fuse group.

Of course, make the appropriate substitutions using the email address and password you used to register your Pogoplug. If you open your file manager and navigate to /media/pogoplug, you should now see some folders. There will probably be a folder called Team Folders that will be empty. This is used if you've registered for Pogoplug's team collaboration service. If you haven't registered for that service it will just be an empty folder. The other folder will be named however you named your Pogoplug device on the Pogoplug web interface.

If all you want to do is occasionally mount your Pogoplug, then you already know the command and you can just use that when you need it. I prefer to have the Pogoplug mount automatically every time I start up my computer so it's just like another hard drive on my machine.

The first thing you need to do is create a configuration file under /etc that will hold your login credentials for the Pogoplug. Create and edit the file as root using your preferred text editor. I'll use nano.

svcuser=[email protected]
svcpassword=YourPasswordUse [CTRL-O] to save the file and then [CTRL-X] to exit. Now it's kind of scary having your login credentials stored in plain text, so we'll change the permissions on that file so that regular users can't read the file. Unfortunately, we'll still need the file readable by the fuse group, so it's still a bit of a security risk for your pogoplug account if someone were able to gain access to your machine. You've been warned.

That's it. Your Pogoplug should automatically mount when you reboot your computer. This of course assumes that your computer is able to access the network during the boot process. If you can't get Internet access until you join a wireless network after logging in, then this won't work for you.

The sleep command in the pogomount script is there because I was having a problem on my computer where the script was trying to mount the Pogoplug before the network connection was fully up. I'm sure there's a more elegant way to handle this, but the sleep command works for me. If you find that your Pogoplug isn't mounting at boot time, try increasing the sleep time.

If your system is crashing, then reboot into recovery and get a root login prompt. By default you will then be in your system with read only permissions. You will need to remount the root file system with read write permission to make changes to the boot scripts. You can remount read write with

The Pogoplug is a really neat device and if you search the net you can even find them for under $30 sometimes. It's hackable and there are versions of Arch Linux and Fedora you can run on this ARM based computer. I just got another Pogoplug so I can use one unmodified and hack the other to try turning it into a media server. Have you hacked a Pogoplug or do you have plans to? What special purpose do you have in mind for it?

- Do not add entries to /etc/network/interfaces, rather just restart the network-manager (e.g. by restarting). The script will be run automatically after restarting if it is in the /etc/network/if-up.d/ directory.

Thanks for the update. I'm a bit behind on the upgrade cycle. I'm still using 12.04 as my main system. I had no idea that all those fuse packages had been removed from the default install in 14.04. I have no idea why they would do that. It doesn't make any sense to me.

Tried this on Linux Mint 16 Mate and it worked great.
Tried it on Fedora and nothing happens. There is not a fuse group, just a wheel group. Tried to mount Pogoplug with mount command and still does not work.
Thanks for the info, can now access in Mint.
All of my Linux distros are in virtual drives so if I mess one up I can just copy over a backup and try again. Still have one more to try this on, but it is also Unbuntu based so it should work on it as well.

Whoa .. found POGOPLUG folder in /media in file manager. Under that are folders of my two POGOPLUG drives and TEAM FOLDERS!! All expected content is shown in each folder. I guess I can't complain about that. Not exacly the end result I expected, but indeed ... my pogoplug iron does appear in File Manager.

I pounded my head on the desk for hours trying to get the automatic mounting to work and it was that little sleep command that finally did the magic. I'll have to go through this again soon since I just got another Pogoplug. My E02 is now running Debian with Plex Media Server to feed my smart TV.

Everything went perfectly ... until "Mount the Pogoplug on Linux Automatically". I followed instruction 'to the letter' .. and have not seen POGOPLUG in File Manager since. I am on Lubuntu 12.04 using PCManFM. I have increased the sleep time to 15 .. no joy. What is most upsetting is that:

does not (now) mount (or at least show in File Manager) either. It did before the 'automatic' step. Hopefully you will get back to me. If not .. hopefully 'reversing' the tutorial will take me back to the beginning. I am not a seasoned Linux user.

When we first reviewed the Pogoplug, we found its oversize wall-wart design to be refreshingly simple and compact, and its purpose streamlined. Although somewhat utilitarian, at least it didn't waste any space.

The Pogoplug Pro (like the second-generation Pogoplug before it) seems to have forgotten the lessons of the original product. The curved, awkward shape and bizarre springboardlike base, combined with its ribbed glossy minitower look, it can't help but make it come across like an iMac peripheral made in 1998. Thankfully, the Pogoplug Pro has shifted to a black color scheme, leaving the previous, frankly hideous pink design in the dust. At $99, the Pro is actually $30 cheaper than the second-generation Pogoplug was--essentially, the same as what the original Pogoplug cost in the first place. Plus, it has Wi-Fi.

Note: Despite its confusing "Pro" name, this is a consumer-oriented device that's the best version of Pogoplug, the one anyone interested should buy. A business-targeted Pogoplug with multiple user access functionality also exists, but it's called Pogoplug Biz, and costs a hefty $299.

The original Pogoplug got its name because it was a big wall wart: you could plug it directly into a wall AC outlet (though an extension cord was provided as well). Alas, the newer Pogoplugs need to stand on a table or other surface and use a long power cord by default. The Pogoplug Pro's squat and somewhat bulky box has three USB 2.0 ports in the rear and one poking out the front above a Pogoplug logo that lights up when the box is powered on. The box looks large enough to possibly house its own storage, but that isn't the case: you still have to plug in your own USB-connected hard drives or thumbdrives. With four attached at once you'll have an impressive, almost NAS-like online multidrive, but the setup will also look bulky and full of snaky USB wires. The Pogoplug Pro has a curved, springy stand that doubles as a cable organizer, but there's no rack or method for holding plugged-in hard drives. Hard drives can be unplugged and swapped easily, but we noticed that plugged-in USB thumbdrives got disturbingly warm after only a night of staying in the Pogoplug.

In terms of usability, the experience is straightforward if all you want to do is plug in and share a hard drive. The Pogoplug is compatible with NTFS, FAT32, Mac OS Extended Journaled and non-Journaled (HFS+), and EXT-2/EXT-3 formats, covering most bases for nearly any hard drive. Connecting a drive is as simple as plugging it into the Pogoplug after plugging the Pogoplug into a router via Ethernet and a power socket. The whole system recognizes itself and is ready to go, as advertised, after you log in to Pogoplug's Web site and register.

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