500GB SimpleTech SimpleDrive

SimpleTech by Hitachi

The 500GB SimpleDrive by SimpleTech may not be as small as a portable Maxtor OneTouch Mini 4, and it is not as wide as from the Seagate FreeAgent Pro 750GB drive. As with the 250GB SimpleDrive model, the 500GB drive housed in a slippery, tapered case styled by Ferrari sports car designer Pininfarina.

SimpleTech SimpleDrive offers a sleek design. Body designed by the legendary Pininfarina design company. Yes, that Pininfarina, designer of the Ferrari. It sports a handsome Aerodynamic tapered design with the parties and the signs suggest that the panel move forward. Drive size 8.25 inches long, 1.5 inches high and 5 inches wide. Capacity comes in six different colors, but all have large, oval button mounted on top, surrounded by the capacity meter ring. All houses 7200 rpm 3.5-inch hard disk drive.
The back edge houses the power jack and USB port. Currently, only the USB 2.0 model is available, but USB / FireWire version – called SimpleDrive Deluxe – will be available in the near future. Setup is simple: just connect the drive to a PC using the USB cable, plug the drive into the power outlet, and power on – from plug-and-play.

A One-Click Backup button at the top of the unit sports the SimpleTech logo and is surrounded by illuminated, the capacity meter oval. One of the knocks against the 250GB model is the oddball size of a CD disc containing the backup software. (Its 3cm disk prone to getting snagged in slot-loading optical drive.). The people in the SimpleTech decided to take the software ArcSoft’s TotalMedia Backup & Record (for Windows) and TotalMedia Backup (for Mac users)-which is actually on the drive. TotalMedia Backup & Record makes it easy to perform full or incremental backups of photos, music and video files, or you can choose the time to document the archive e-mail, MS Office and Works files, IE Favorites, Web pages, and ACT! contact file.

SimpleDrive is available in six capacities: 160GB, 250GB, 320GB, 500GB, 750GB, and 1TB (currently, not all the capacity that was represented at the SimpleTech Web site). Drive comes preloaded with ArcSoft Total Media Backup and Record software, which you can install by opening the folder and double-clicking on the drive setup in use. ArcSoft Total Media provides a clean, easy to use interface for setting up backup profiles. You can select files by category, file type, or use the Advanced tab, select individual files and folders. You can set the backup target as either SimpleDrive or CD / DVD burner. Backup can be a one-time events, or you can schedule the time they occur on regular intervals, and each occurrence can be a full backup or increase (where only changed and new files are supported). It should be noted that ArcSoft Total Media can only backup files and folders; can not create a bootable backup of your operating system or backup system settings as you can with the EMC review of software packages with the Western Digital MyBook. However, you can use the program to burn data and music discs (the badnews: backup software can not create bootable backup of OS; CD / DVD burning utility for Windows users only). Once you have a backup profile set, you can press the top-mounted backup button to initiate a backup sequence

Advanced Backup that lets you select the specific files to backup from the Explorer-type menu. If you decide to back up your data to CD or DVD media, not to the SimpleDrive, ArcSoft tells you how many discs of each type of recording media you need to backup your file selection. You can also select a specific day and time to perform each backup. After a scheduled backup session, you can use the Click the button to start the process immediately rather than waiting for the scheduled time. Unfortunately, no software can make a complete, bootable backup of your operating system. As a bonus, TotalMedia Backup and Record akan rip and burn audio CDs and duplicate discs, and create a DVD video from VIDEO_TS folders.

SimpleTech collection each SimpleDrive with a free account with 2GB Myfabrik.com, an online storage service (SimpleTech is owned by Fabrik). If 2GB is not enough for you, you can purchase additional space for 49 cents per GB. Myfabrik account that allows you to upload files to Fabrik server and access it anywhere via a web browser. Once uploaded, files can be tagged, organized, and shared among your friends. This new version with a simple interface Myfabrik with Photobucket and Flickr by providing folders into which you can drop the images and then automatically push out to these sites. If you already have photos uploaded to Flickr, you can Myfabrik your account to your Flickr account and will automatically take their Myfabrik file.