Canadian company Storage Appliance Corp. has promised to make computer back-up simple through its new Clickfree portable hard drives that, as their name implies, are truly plug-and-play devices. Connect one to any PC running Windows Vista/XP/2000 (w/SP 4) via USB and the drive is supposed to instantly back up all the files on your computer, from documents to photos, videos, and even e-mails. Then, just unplug the drive and you're good to go! It all sounds too good to be true, so I thought I'd try one out for myself.

The drives come in 250, 320, and 500 GB capacities for about $160, $180, and $200, respectively. Aesthetically, they certainly provide a positive first impression with bold colours (the one I received was cherry red), small footprint (about the size of an 8-track tape), and extremely light weight. The 250 GB HD225 I received has the capability to back up data from up to 15 different computers, each accessible separately via a drop-down menu in the software.

I opened the plastic packaging giddy with excitement, and was pleasantly surprised to see that the only things included were the drive, USB cable, and a Quick Start Guide. You can't get any simpler than that! The guide runs about 50 small pages, but that's only because it contains instructions in 11 languages. The English instructions are actually only two pages long, and simply advise to plug the drive in and wait. And that's all you really need to know if the only concern is to back up and go. There's no installation of software, licensing agreement to approve online, or even a folder to double-click and open. If you do wish to learn about customizable options, they are available online at www.goclickfree.com/support; but most are fairly self-explanatory once the embedded software is up and running on your PC.

As promised, the drive was immediately recognized once I plugged it into the USB port of my computer (which runs Windows XP). A pop-up window begun counting down the time to back-up from about 25 seconds, then it commenced its search of my computer, and finally the back-up process. It took about an hour and a half for the drive to back-up about 30 GB worth of files; but I was able to continue working as it backed up files in the background.

I was really impressed at the level of detail given beyond just the basic "back-up successful" report. The software advises how many files have been backed up in total, as well as how many new files have been backed up each subsequent time the drive is plugged in. It also breaks down the type of files that have been backed up, allowing one button access to each, including photos, videos, e-mails, music, text documents, spreadsheets, presentations, artwork & drawings, and favourite Websites. Click on any item, and you'll instantly see all the files in that category. There's also the ability to browse or search through files, view images via one click, or toggle between the various PCs that have been backed up.

Article Tags:  computer, pc, gadgets, accessories, hard drive, portable, windows, digital photos, digital images, files, backup