Make zero-click backups with the ClickFree system

I harp on it constantly, but I know how hard it is for some people to get their act together enough to actually make backups of their data, no matter how easy it might actually be. Well, here's an end to the excuses: ClickFree Backup is a solution that requires no clicks whatsoever. You plug the custom hard drive into your PC, and you're done. No joke!

ClickFree Backup's flagship product is a 120GB hard drive that's pre-loaded with its own custom backup software. Literally the hardest thing about using it is taking it out of the box. Plug it in to your computer with the included double-headed USB cable (I tried using a single USB port and it didn't have enough power to work; use the included cable for best results), and the ClickFree software automatically runs. If you want to customize things, extra options are there for the clicking, or you can just sit back and wait. ClickFree will automatically start searching for files to back up in 20 seconds. A progress bar keeps you informed of the process status all the way.

The company says 90 percent of users running XP or lower will never have to click anything. If you've got Vista, you will likely get one Windows security pop-up that you'll have to deal with.

In my test (not using any of the manual options), the automatic backup found 65GB of data (40,000 files) and took almost 2 1/2 hours to complete. There were no files immediately apparent as missing when the backup completed, but you can't easily browse the file structure in Windows to find and restore your data: Instead you have to use the ClickFree file manager, which is difficult to navigate, at best.

The 120GB hard drive is $130, about a $40 to $50 premium over a typical 120GB external drive. That's a sizable extra expense, so you'll have to decide whether the convenience is worth it. If you're the kind of person that's too lazy to install backup software or manually copy files from one hard drive to another, though, it probably is.

ClickFree also offers a series of DVD-based backup systems, each focused on a particular type of backup (one for digital photos, one for music, and one for office type files). Just drop the DVD into your drive and it finds files of the appropriate type, then backs them up onto the disc. Naturally you need a DVD burner for this to work. I suspect most people will prefer the higher capacity, greater flexibility, and faster speed of the hard drive solution. ($10 gets you three DVDs.)

LINK: ClickFree