Clickfree backup devices
Monday, 20 September 2010
Clickfree products are unique in that they require absolutely no software installation or configuration. All Clickfree products are designed to make backing up simple – this was once the domain of Apple's Time Machine alone, but some baulk at the lack of TM's flexibility. You simply connect via a USB port to automatically backup multiple drives to your Mac or PC (or both). Clickfree brings together features in a single backup product including file encryption, music import and email attachment extraction.
I looked at three of the products: the 16GB Clickfree Traveler, ClickFree Automatic Backup (250GB) which includes a drive, and Clickfree Transformer SE, a USB2 dongle which doesn’t have any storage capability but which converts any external hard drive into a Clickfree backup.
It kinda freaks me out, to be honest, that I would plug something in and it would download everything to it – why can’t I decided what I want backed up? If I plug in an iPod with 16GBs free, I can see the point of transferring contacts and other selected files to it, but not Adobe Creative Suite.
Actually, the Clickfree is well smarter than that – it does not back up apps or system files, only documents, and you get to choose the types and categories of documents, too.
Clickfree Transformer SE
I’ll start with the Transformer – this dongle (above) lets you use any external hard drive – or iPod, iPod touch or iPhone as a USB drive, but promises not to overwrite any existing files.
You connect the Transformer to your computer (actually any powered USB2 port, for example in a hub) then connect the USB hard drive, or iPod/iPad/iPhone.
I was loathe to try my iPhone (but I did!). I was scared it would fill up the free space with unspecified backups – then how would I get rid of them? I would want the space back for voice memos, new music and new apps.
Plugging it in launches iTunes (and ImageCapture, in my case) and does the usual sync etc via USB. I had 19.8GB free.
The first time you plug it in, a new mounted volume with the Clickfree app on it appears on your desktop. Boot this up and you’ll be pleased to note the process is nowhere near as dumb as I feared. You have about 40 seconds to click Options before it starts doing it’s job, and at this point you can select to back up (MS) Office documents, music, videos, photos, emails and messages, favourite websites and ‘all others’.
OK, we are singing from the same song sheet.
Choose your options, Clickfree finds the docs you want backed up and lists them (all in a nice, spinning-cube interface), and once done (my internal hard drive did spin-up alarmingly as it searched through it) you can click Start Backup.
With just Office docs, emails and messages and fave websites selected, it all came to just less than one Gigabyte, so I hit Start.
The process took about 40 minutes to my 32GB iPhone 3GS, for this 1GB of data.
Backup starts automatically onto the available free space of the connected product. The Transformer also has the ability to also archive all the music and playlists on an iPod, iPad or iPhone, as well as automatically restore music and playlists to iTunes.
The Transformer SE is available as an HDD/iPod/iPad/iPhone version (the SE, which I tried) $119 or as a network version (?!) for $149.
However, what about subsequent backups? Does it just do the whole thing again, the whole 1GB?
No, after the first backup, the app does launch, it checks through the files according to your presets, then figures out changes and does a fast catchup, much like Time Machine.
Of course, you may well need to restore the files, too. Once you’ve plugged the SE in, the app loads and then you have 40 seconds to override the back-up process and choose Restore.
This is pretty cool in practice – 40 seconds is plenty of time to press Options or another button. The Import Music button is for managing your music and other iPhone/iPod files, restore/transfer is for getting your files back. If you’re in a hurry, press Start to start the backup; the beauty of the whole system is that you can simply plug it in and go back to what you were doing – the backup you’ve tailored in options gets to work.
Of course, your iTunes boots and syncs first, also automatically, and while it’s backing up you’re getting a charge for the iDevice through the USB cable, which is a nice added benefit. A further benefit is the fact you can use the Clickfree app to import all the music from an attached iDevice – and you know how hard that can be! (That's under Import Music.)
Conclusion — it all works convincingly well, although it’s not as quick as I would have liked.
What’s great — easy! Small! Effective! Uses whatever device you have handy.
What’s not — I wish it came with a utility I could use to simply mount my iPhone on the desktop, identify the backups and just delete them. But you can delete files in the Tools tab in Options.
Needs — anyone with $119 and a spare hard drive they only want to back up when they feel like it, or who habitually carries an iDevice with some spare capacity.
8/10
What — Clickfree Transformer SE, $119 (network version $149). [Until NZ's unjust rise in GST, anyway, on October 1st.]
System — Mac OS 10.5 or later (and Windows, including Vista).
Available from — “leading New Zealand retailers”.
Contact — Clickfree NZ
