The PocketCloud is a modular storage solution designed to function as a portable hard drive, a backup device for camera SD cards, and a network-attached storage solution with wireless and wired capabilities.
It does all of that thanks to a two-part design. Most of the hardware is built into a small, portable gadget that lets you use an M.2 2280 SSD to back up or access your data on the go. But there’s also a docking station that you can keep in your home or office. The dock features a second M.2 slot that you can use to backup and sync your data plus additional ports (including Ethernet).
PocketCloud is made by Firefly, the company behind the Station PC line of products and it’s expected to begin shipping in August, 2025. But you can reserve one now by backing a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign: Rewards start at $199 for just the portable PocketCloud device or $289 for a PocketCloud + Dock bundle.
Those price include discounts off the suggested retail prices of $299 and $428, respectively.
There are a few things to keep in mind before making a pledge though. The first is that you’ll need to provide your own storage, which will drive up the overall cost of ownership. And the second is that… this is kind of a weird device that’s positioned as a jack-of-all-trades storage solution, but which may truly live up to the second part of that adage.
For example, the portable PocketCloud device has USB ports, an SD card reader, and WiFi, but no Ethernet. And it has only a single M.2 2280 slot for a PCIe 3.0 or PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD. So if you don’t get the docking station, there’s no redundant storage option – this thing is just a glorified portable SSD with multiple ways to connect it to your other devices.
If you do opt for the docking station, you get that Ethernet port plus support for a second SSD. Connect the PocketCloud to the dock and it can automatically sync your data to create a second copy of your data for safe keeping. But it doesn’t use RAID to create an actual duplicate of your data – Firefly positions that as a pro, but I can imagine some people would view it as a con.
For what it’s worth, Firefly says its system is more versatile because it allows you to, for example, put a 1TB SSD in the PocketCloud and an 8TB SSD in the dock. That lets you save money by purchasing a cheaper SSD for use on the go while still having plenty of storage space to save your backups at home… but it also means that if anything happens to the SSD in your dock you could lose your data since you don’t have a redundant backup (unless you’re also backing everything up to the cloud).
Firefly says its system is relatively cost-effective though, especially compared with another unnamed portable NAS that sells for $599. But it’s worth noting that the company is almost certainly talking about the UnifyDrive UP6, which is more of a portable computer complete with an Intel Meteor Lake processor, a touchscreen display, six M.2 2280 slots, and RAID support.
By comparison, the PocketCloud has a low-power Rockchip RK3568B2 quad-core ARM Cortex-A55 processor and a small 0.96 inch LCD display and a knob for controls. It has only a single SSD unless you opt for the optional docking station
The PocketCloud itself measures 153 x 93 x 27mm (6″ x 3.6″ x 1.1″) and weighs 364 grams (13 ounces), not including an SSD.
and has a plastic and aluminum alloy body, a 23.04 Wh battery (good for up to 6 hours of active use or 20 days standby time), and a set of ports that includes:
- 1 x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C (10 Gbps & 12V/2.5A power input)
- 1 x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A (5 Gbps)
- 1 x SD card reader
There’s support for WiFi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2, and the system has 4GB of LPDDR4 memory and 32GB of eMMC 5.1 onboard storage. It runs a custom operating system called Stahttps://nas.stationpc.com/pages/stationcloudtionOS and you can interact with it using the knob & display or a StationCloud app.
Firefly’s optional PocketCloud Dock measures 175 x 50 x 41mm (6.8″ x 1.9″ x 1.6″) and has a 2.5 GbE Ethernet port, two more USB ports (1 x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C and 1 x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A), and a second M.2 2280 slot.
