Microsoft Back-Up Made Simple by Rebit
NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Microsoft (MSFT) - Get Report earlier this year responded to free office-tool competitors like Google (AAPL) - Get Report Apps and Zoho by stepping away from its traditional hard-sell product rollouts.
The company adopted a more Web-oriented, viral strategy: It promoted so-called release candidates of Windows 7. That is, fully functioning versions of the code that work for six months or so, then expire -- at which point a full license must be purchased.
Initially, I and millions of others -- Microsoft declined to say exactly how many downloaded the RC code -- loved the idea. I installed the Windows 7 RC, wrote about it and recommended it as a means of softening the upgrade from XP to Windows 7. Well, live and learn.
It turns out that if you decide to purchase a full license at the end of your promotional period, you must essentially reinstall the entire code from scratch. There is no one-step upgrade. The upgrade process we all went through six months ago to install the RC -- backing up your stuff, collecting your software, waiting all day to update Windows -- must be done again, from scratch.
To speed the process and calm my nerves, I took a fresh look at so-called one-touch back-up systems. These are hard drives that make saving your data super simple. The likes of
Hewlett-Packard
(HPQ) - Get Report
,
SanDisk
(SNDK)
and
Western Digital
(WDC) - Get Report
all make them.
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But one smaller firm,
, caught my eye. Its SaveMe software can be purchased directly, starting at $25, and put on any drive. Plus it comes attractively priced in pre-installed units. I tested the Rebit SaveMe preinstalled on a 1 TB Drive at a frugal $199.
What you get:
As promised, this is a ridiculously simple way to back up your stuff.
Though far from portable -- the unit is about the size of a business checking account book -- you are getting a full terabyte of storage, which is more than what your business will probably ever need. And setup was as-billed: Plug in the power supply, connect the USB connection, start the software pre-loaded on the drive. Enter your license keys. And that is pretty much that.
The system makes an initial copy of your disk in the background, with no apparent effect on your PC's performance. It took about two hours to do all my 60 or so GB of content. And then as long as it is connected, the Rebit made continuous back ups of my computer's files. I liked how the software emulated the existing Window Explorer architecture. No new directories to master. Plus it could manage up to 6 PCs, making it about right for a small shop.
What's not to love about that?
What you don't get:
Rebit's simplicity comes at a cost. It runs off your USB connection. So it does not support files on a network. And you cannot store files as a normal drive. It is a backup appliance only. So the six computers it supports must be plugged in one at a time.
Also, Rebit requires a separate boot disc to do a cold reinstall on a bricked PC. So make darn sure you don't lose that software. That would be bad.
Bottom line:
There is no reason not to have a Rebit tool handy. It is fast and idiot-proof. As long as you don't ask it to do the wrong things, it is a great little solution.
I wish I could say the same thing about Windows 7.
Jonathan Blum is an independent technology writer and analyst living in Westchester, N.Y. He has written for The Associated Press and Popular Science and appeared on FoxNews and The WB.
