One of the things I like about my new laptop is the eSATA port—even though I don’t have any eSATA external hard drives yet. (I’m sure there’s someone out there who could correct that little oversight.) SATA (Serial ATA) is a faster way to connect your hard drive to your motherboard; most newer computers use it instead of the older EIDE standard. An eSATA port has a speed of 3,000 megabits per … [Read more...]
Hey! You! Get off of My Cloud!
Review of the 3X Remote Backup Appliance The headline of the pitch I received back in November read “3X Systems Launches Private Backup Cloud Appliance for SMBs”. The notion of a “private cloud” intrigued me, so I decided to follow up. (Besides, no one quoted in the press release used the word “excited,” so they get extra points.) We all talk about “the cloud” as if it’s some amorphous collective … [Read more...]
Backing Up the Crazy Nikon Lady
My mother has attracted quite a following on Picasa since acquiring her D90 in 2008. She takes pictures everywhere: the grocery store, the airport, the hospital, the back alleys, the freeways, the kitchen, the dog park… She’s also started to fill up the hard drive on her much-abused Sony Vaio laptop now that she shoots in RAW (which Nikon calls NEF) format. Despite a growing facility with Adobe … [Read more...]
Hopped-Up Rebit Increases Cuteness Quotient
Rebit sells itself on ease of use, but the most inescapable characteristic of this “ridiculously simple” backup device for Windows is cuteness. How can even the most technophobic Windows user feel threatened by that cute little frog? And look at the announcements you get if you’re a backup blogger or tech columnist: “Rebit to Donate to SavetheFrogs.com. […] Rebit will celebrate international “Save … [Read more...]
Call for Reviews: Dmailer Backup and Dmailer Sync
I did actually have a plan for what to write about this week. Two plans, even, depending on whether the VIA ARTiGO A2000 I’m supposed to be reviewing arrived. But the ARTiGO has yet to show up, and while I’ve taken a quick look at the demo and downloaded some of the sales docs for Hosted FTP, I haven’t had a chance to examine it properly. (And we won’t even go into the argument I lost with my CD … [Read more...]