backup

Lexar ships thumb drives as backup solutions

Thumb drives are becoming more viable as backup solutions as their storage capacities continue to grow. On Tuesday, Lexar announced two new thumb drives that come bundled with backup software designed specifically for Netbook and notebook users.

The two drives are the Echo SE and the Echo ZE. Both are flash-based and offer very high capacities for their physical size. The Echo SE is a compact thumb drive that can hold up to 64GB of storage; the Echo ZE is an ultracompact thumb drive that offers up to 32GB of storage space. The Echo ZE is just slightly longer than … Read more

Fry's free $180 Norton software bundle returns

I'm hoping this doesn't sell out as quickly as I think it will.

As I've said before, I have mixed feelings about security and utility software. Sometimes I think they do more harm than good. On the other hand, the latest versions of certain programs are vastly superior to their slow, clunky, trouble-causing forebears.

What's more, I always love getting something for nothing, especially when it's a software bundle worth $190.

Fry's is offering Norton Internet Security 2011 (three-user license), Norton Utilities 15 (three-user license), and Norton Ghost 15 absolutely free--if you're … Read more

Top five NAS servers of 2010, so far

If you don't know what an NAS server is, it's basically a storage device that connects to your network, much like an external hard drive connects to a computer. An NAS server, therefore, provides storage space for every computer in the network, not just one particular machine.

Over the years, NAS servers have become more and more sophisticated, and now all are much more than just storage space hosts. Features that used to be considered cutting-edge--like Media Server, which allows the NAS to automatically stream digital content to other devices in the network such as computers or game … Read more

Apple quietly ushers out Time Capsule "backup" update 1.0

Apple recently released a small update for Time Capsule users, which tackles an issue where backups made on OS X 10.5 are unavailable for people who upgraded to 10.6. The update does not really fix much, but instead will just verify the current backup and then start you over with a new backup disk image. UPDATE: Apple does not make it very clear that this update will remove your backup history and start you over with new backups. Keep this in mind if you apply this update.… Read more

Free backup utility outshines Windows 7's built-in disk imager

You can create a disk image in the Enterprise, Business, and Ultimate versions of Windows Vista, but if you use Vista Home Premium, you need a third-party app to image a disk or partition. I was delighted to find a disk-imaging component added to the Backup and Restore applet in the Home Premium version of Windows 7.

Why it took Microsoft so long to include disk imaging in a nonbusiness version of Windows is a mystery. Even more puzzling is why the company didn't try harder to make Win7's disk-imaging tool as fast and simple to use as … Read more

Sneak peek at IE 9

As much bad press as Microsoft gets for Internet Explorer, we can't fault the software giant for continuing to develop what remains to be (for better or for worse) the world's most-used browser. In response to criticism, Microsoft started showing what it terms an Internet Explorer 9 Platform Preview. We're told that the forthcoming IE 9 will include modern browser tricks, such as video that can play in the browser without a separate plug-in, better graphics performance, and the HTML5 Web standard that will let the browser handle a more complex class of Web apps. Although IE … Read more

Issues with restoring a Mac from a Time Machine backup made on a different machine

If you are faced with a situation that requires you to restore your Mac (Mac OS X 10.6.x Snow Leopard) with a Time Machine backup that was made with a different Mac, you may experience some issues. There are, however, some steps to take to avoid those problems.… Read more

'Swiss Army knife' of Mac maintenance

Xupport is another good option for people who want to optimize and fiddle with specific and global settings on their Macs. This multipurpose utility (billed as a "Swiss Army knife" for OS X) can help you navigate files, perform backups, search for Unix commands, and alter a wide array of settings on your Mac, all within a simple interface that's organized around Settings, Maintenance, Optimization, Sharing, Backup, Browser, Unix, and Info. Recent updates bring full support for Snow Leopard (important for a system-tinkering app), better stability for PPC Macs, and better performance for Intel Macs.

You can … Read more

Griffin TuneJuice iPhone or iPod battery backup

Does your iPhone battery never last as long as you'd like despite our tips to give it more juice? Do you need additional backup power? If so, then you need a battery pack.

Griffin's TuneJuice, which I tested this week, gives an iPhone as much as 2 hours to 3 hours and 30 minutes of extra talk time depending on the type of batteries used. I purchased it because it uses AAA batteries and I wanted to add it to my emergency supplies. I'll keep it primarily for hurricane season, but it will come in handy during … Read more

Comcast launches online backup service

The company that's known for giving you access to the Internet now also wants to be entrusted with storing your personal files.

Comcast, one of the biggest Internet service providers in the U.S., on Thursday launched its online backup service called Secure Backup & Share for its high-speed Internet customers. This service is powered by Mozy, a known online backup provider currently owned by EMC. It was a CNET Webware 100 winner of 2009.

According to Mozy, some 140,000 hard drives crash in the United States every week. Files can also be lost other ways, too, including … Read more