Idiot-proof backups for Windows users
Mac users may claim many reasons for feeling superior to their Windows counterparts, but there is one for which some smugness is justified - backups. With Leopard’s Time Machine, Apple turned the technology that normally makes you worry about such dull stuff as schedules and cycles into a tool you turned on and forgot about, safe in the knowledge that your important stuff is being saved without any further intervention.
Windows Vista, on the other hand, doesn’t even include a backup option in its Home editions and, while Windows 7 will address this, Microsoft has made little attempt to update its utility for the 21st century.
So, step forward Seagate and its Replica backup ’appliance’. The box promises ’Connect, Click, Back up, Relax’ and, while no mention is made of Time Machine, it’s clear that this was the model for this simplified approach to saving files.
The Seagate Replica is an external hard drive that plugs into a USB port. There are two models and, while both use 5400rpm 2.5in drives inside a plastic caddy a little larger than the firm’s Expansion portable drives, they serve different needs.
The Single PC model has a 250GB capacity and is intended, obviously, for use with one computer. The Multi PC has a capacity of 500GB, a stand that lets you mount the drive vertically and can be used with multiple computers, although it can only be plugged into one at once.
Installing either model is about as simple as it gets: just plug it into a USB port and run the set-up program that the Windows AutoPlay dialog box presents. Next, well, there is no ’next’. Once the brief software installation is complete, there’s nothing else to do. A blue LED on the Replica pulses to show that the drive is plugged in and, if you’re interested, the Replica utility in the Windows Notification Area shows when backups are in progress. You don’t need to choose which files to back-up, nor specify when backups are made. It’s all automatic.
