Clickfree 120GB USB Integrated External Hard Drive

...that they were demonstrating the ClickFree external hard drive, and all you had to do was to plug it in to your USB port and wait. It would search and back-up every file on your hard drive without you having to click or do anything, and then once it had done its job, all you had to do was simply unplug it and put it away. This was something that would suit me down to the ground with its simplicity. I dithered not, and after doing a search and could ...
...I have since seen the ClickFree drive for less than £80 when I have Googled it.

The drive itself holds 120GB and can back up multiple PCs - up to 10 of them. I backed up my desktop running Windows XP, and then backed up my laptop and my wife's computer, both running Windows Vista. The files are viewable and usable from each PC, providing of course you have the necessary software to do so. There were one or two problems with my XP ... more

Having experienced one or two fatal computer crashes in the past and lost every single file on my hard drive and on the first occasion without a back-up, I have been very careful about backing up my files to DVD disks since, but it was quite a slow and laborious task waiting for those disks to burn, and then on some occasions I would get that dreaded message, "back-up failed!" appear on the screen and have to start all over again!

Watching the QVC shopping channel one Sunday morning, I noticed that they were demonstrating the ClickFree external hard drive, and all you had to do was to plug it in to your USB port and wait. It would search and back-up every file on your hard drive without you having to click or do anything, and then once it had done its job, all you had to do was simply unplug it and put it away. This was something that would suit me down to the ground with its simplicity. I dithered not, and after doing a search and could find none cheaper than the £87 asking price, placed my order on QVC's website, although it must be said, that I have since seen the ClickFree drive for less than £80 when I have Googled it.

The drive itself holds 120GB and can back up multiple PCs - up to 10 of them. I backed up my desktop running Windows XP, and then backed up my laptop and my wife's computer, both running Windows Vista. The files are viewable and usable from each PC, providing of course you have the necessary software to do so. There were one or two problems with my XP setup opening the Vista files, but both Vista systems opened all the files that were backed-up from my XP.

The [physical] size of the drive itself is small and fits easily into my pocket, (about the size of a pack of cards), so I can take it anywhere with me and will be able to use it on most computers, especially viewing photographs and videos, or opening Word documents and spreadsheets and the like.

Using the drive for the first time took about 20 minutes as I had around 50GBs of files in My Documents to back up, it also backed up all my e-mails from Outlook Express and my favourites from Internet Explorer. In fact, everything I would need to access from another computer.

I then decided to copy all the files on the ClickFree drive on to my laptop and this too was simplicity. When you plug the drive in, it will back-up, as I said without clicking anything. However, should you wish to, you can use your mouse to view your files or to select the restore function - that is to put your files back if ever you have to have a new hard-drive or computer fitted or you lose them in some other way.

There is then a drop-down menu where you can select which computer files you want to restore. This is the name that you have already assigned to your computer - (on each computer it will appear when you click the start button, it is usually at the very top of the window that opens).

When I wanted to copy my files to my laptop, I was given a choice to select what I wanted restoring or just restore everything. On this occasion, I selected everything and around 20 minutes later, everything from my desktop, on the ClickFree drive, was now copied on to my laptop, ready for me to work with.

The drive backs up automatically, because it comes with the back-up software already installed. And whilst it is click-free, you can use your mouse to select different options, cancel the operation or to select open to view the files.

The ClickFree drive doesn't require any external power source as it takes it power from your computer's USB port, but there is a socket at the back for plugging in an optional power cable (not supplied), or a second USB should just one USB connection prove inadequate to run it. But I must admit, I didn't have any problems with powering it up. My desktop being my oldest computer is around 5 years old and it works without a problem at all.

I have owned the ClickFree drive now for around 2 months, and I must admit, it has taken the hassle out of backing stuff up, and provided good peace of mind. 

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