Author's product rating: 
| Advantages: |
Easy to use, cheapish to buy and does what needs to be done . |
| Disadvantages: |
A wee bit noisy . |
| Recommend to potential buyers: |
yes |
The Concept.
Most PC users experience data loss at some point in their lives.
Most of us know that back up is important, sensible, worthwhile and the proper thing to do.
Most ways of doing it are a bit complex, a bit costly or just too much bother.
Here is a way of keeping safe easily.
The Product
It looks the part - brushed aluminium, embossed with the maker's logo, and the compulsory blue light at one end.
It can be used flat on the desk, or upright in a base provided.
Set-up.
All that you need by way of cables and software comes with the product.
It is an easy, well documented process to set it up.
It takes a while to do so, as the Maxtor needs to do a complete scan and backup of all your data. The option of USB2 and Firewire connections does speed this process up and is a nice touch if your computer has the facility.
Operation.
I set mine to automatically backup on Friday evenings, once a week. You can set your own fequency and times to suit your needs.
It does the job each week for me in about ten minutes, and I can keep using the PC while it is doing so if I wish - though it is a bit processor hungry, and lesser PCs might struggle.
Then there is that blue light. It's not there just to impress visitors to your computer room, you know! Just one touch on it anytime, and an instant backup is done for you.
This is how backup should be - really easy and instant.
Storage
It is of course possible to use all that storage space for other purposes as well as using it for backup at the same time.
It's handy to keep disk hungry stuff like digital photos all albumed away on the Maxtor and keep that main drive freed up.
The Maxtor will simply appear on My Computer as another hard disk, and you can drag and drop til you drop.!
Cons
I have a noisy PC - 7 or 8 fans - it helps create the impression that I am really hard at work on a brilliant PC !
When the PC is on, there is no obvious extra noise from the Maxtor.
But when the PG is off, the Maxtor does purr away noticeably.
Silence freaks will have nightmares wondering what this unbearable noise is ! Engineers will love the soft purring sound that just speaks quality !
Conclusion.
You need to backup your data.
You can do it easily with this Maxtor.
It's less than a hundred quid, and some of your work is worth much more.
This product has not yet been reviewed. 
