Clickfree's Transformer turns any USB drive into a backup device

Sun Microsystems used to say, "the network is the computer", but in this case, the smarts are all in the cable. Clickfree's Transformer cable contains their backup and restore software, and uses the "autorun" feature of Microsoft Windows to automatically launch their backup/restore whenever the device is connected to your PC. None of the software is ever copied to your hard drive, but it does run each time you insert the cable directly from the device. We had a chance to get a quick demonstration from Clickfree's CEO, Bryan McLeod.

At first glance Clickfree's software looks complete and compelling, but we thought the company's claim that it turned any USB drive into an AUTOMATIC backup device was a bit overstated. The automatic part in this case was just the fact that the software launched EVERY time the device was inserted. We were hoping that automatic would have been more like Apple's Time Machine, where backups were handled quietly without user intervention. The product currently is targeted at Windows, so Apple users will have to wait.

Clickfree also showed us their upcoming Backup Card. This device is about the size of a "thick" credit card and is offered as a complete backup solution with both the Clickfree software and either 32GB or 64GB or storage.

We're look forward to performing a complete test in the future.

Dave Weinstein