Backup

As expected following Apple’s purchase of the iCloud domain from Sweden-based Xcerion earlier this year and the construction of a US$500 million iDataCenter in Maiden, North Carolina, the company has revealed details at WWDC of exactly what its iCloud service will offer. By storing user’s content in the cloud so it can be automatically pushed to various devices, iCloud will let users sync apps, media, documents, calendars and more between their various mobile iOS devices and a Mac or PC wirelessly. Read More

With so many of our pictures, videos and documents now stored in digital format, the prospect of precious data disappearing forever in the misstep of a HDD read/write head or infection from a nasty virus is even more catastrophic. About a week ago it was proposed on social networking site Reddit that a World Back-up Day would be a good idea to remind everyone of the importance of backing up irreplaceable data. The date of March 31st was chosen and, although that didn’t leave much time to spread the word, the idea quickly gained traction. Read More

Having been responsible for the daily tape backup routines in various office locations in a previous working life, I can tell you it's a royal pain in the behind. The PopDrive system from DHK Storage puts a couple of 2.5-inch form factor HDDs in a RAID configuration so that if one fails, it can be replaced without fear of data loss. The lightweight, pocket-sized unit's drives can be swapped out without the need for tools, and physical connection to a computer system is made possible via 3Gb/s eSATA or USB 2.0. Read More

Remember those innocent days when a humble cassette tape more than met our computer entertainment needs? As more and more of our lives have been digitized, our storage requirements have risen at almost the same rate as our impatience at waiting for files to travel from one place to another. Western Digital offers some relief with the announcement that it has upped the storage capacity and data transfer capabilities on its popular My Passport Essential, My Passport Essential SE and MyBook Essential external drives. In addition to offering up to 3TB of space for keeping digital memories, media, photos and files in one place, the range now also features USB 3.0 connectivity. Read More

Seagate has unveiled a new centralized wireless home storage and backup addition to its FreeAgent GoFlex hard drive solutions. The single-drive GoFlex Home storage system is said to benefit from easy setup and use, the ability to connect and wirelessly share USB printers or other devices, remote file access and a modular approach to higher capacity upgrades. Read More

Pogoplug, the multimedia sharing device we first saw at CES 2009, has added to its list of features. Now, as well as allowing users to access their media on any PC via the web, users can also stream content to Xbox 360 and PS3 game consoles from any local or remotely located Pogoplug. Additionally, the Pogoplug is now capable of offsite backup thanks to the enhanced Active Copy feature that automatically copies files to a Pogoplug in another location. Read More

Rather than tempt users with a raft of fancy (but infrequently used) features, the "Zero Crash" N4200 Network Attached Storage (NAS) unit from Thecus concentrates on providing peace of mind. Offering what's dubbed as a "6D" approach to storage stability, the unit benefits from running a second version of the operating software as a precaution against primary failure and a backup power supply. Read More

Sanho’s HyperDrive Album is designed for digital photographers on the move who require huge storage space or redundancy backup for their photos and the ability to view them anytime, but don’t want to lug a laptop computer around. With capacities of up to a whooping 640GB of storage the device is also capable of downloading 2GB per minute with full data verification. Read More

The zoomIt is an SD card reader for an iPhone or iPod Touch that, in conjunction with the zoomIt app, lets users access all iPhone OS 3.0 file types contained on an SD card including photos, music, video and miscellaneous files such as PowerPoint, Excel, Word and PDF files. It also lets users copy files stored on the iPhone or iPod Touch to an SD card without needing to connect to a camera, Mac or PC. Read More