FileSlinger™ Backup Reminder 12-3-04: Shopping for Storage

‘Tis the season for making backups—at least according to PC Magazine, which included the new Maxtor One-Touch II on its list of recommended gifts, and the Transcend 1.8″ portable hard drive among this week’s Editors’ Picks.

And then there was the ad I got in the mail for the Logicube OmniSCSI One to One, a stand-alone hard-drive copier which allows you to copy the contents of one SCSI drive to another at a rate of 2.3 GB/minute.

1.8″ drives are at the heart of the iPod. Toshiba’s latest model holds up to 60 GB. They are designed in much the same way as the 3.5″ hard drives used in desktop computers or the 2.5″ drives used in laptops—they’re just smaller. More and more manufacturers are starting to produce them as portable backup tools, and they are being incorporated into MP3 stereos in new cars. The 40 GB Transcend model (review; company information) has a USB 2 connector, weighs 6 oz, and has a list price of $293. It includes built-in backup software and a leather carrying case.

If you want something even smaller—a true stocking-stuffer in the storage department, though not sufficient to back up your whole drive—there’s always the USB Flash Drive. The most popular, according to those who use CNET’s website, is the 512 MB SanDisk Cruzer Titanium (about $66), which the editors give a 9 out of 10 rating. (Full review; PC Magazine reviews 14 more.)

The 250 GB Maxtor One Touch II is probably your best bang for the buck in this lineup–at approximately $250 it holds as much as 6 of the Transcends–and weighs as much, too. It comes with Dantz Retrospect Express and DriveLock password protection, and it makes bootable copies of Mac systems. Automatic backups come pre-scheduled, though you can adjust the schedule. (Full CNET review.)

Though I am always suspicious of claims that you can just press one button and back your drive up, and the Maxtor drives of a few years ago seem to have had a high failure rate, it’s still probably worth checking out.

And the Logicube? At 8 lbs and nearly $2000, it’s a present for Professional Hardware Geeks from Very Rich Relatives. If you’re curious, read all about it on the company’s website.

But don’t let all this shopping prevent you from making your own backups!