The Insight drive—simple and sweet
Posted by Kathleen Maher on September 22nd 2009 | Comments Closed |
Categories:
Hardware Review
Tags:
apple
storage
disk
verbatim
hd
backup
time machine
nero
Verbatim has been building its storage business with products that are easy to use and give customers a little something extra. Their latest product, the InSight drive, adds a small, 32x128, always on LCD display that includes the drive’s name and the amount of storage left on the drive. It’s a little thing, but in situations where there are a number of drives being handed around with video files, audio files, pictures, and backup data, it’s helpful to be able to see the name.
If you change the name of the drive, the Verbatim drive updates after a safe removal, but it is hot swappable. I’ve already pulled the USB out a couple of times without stopping the drive because that’s the kind of person I am. It didn’t complain but it didn’t change the name of the drive until I did stop the drive and safely remove the hard drive.
Verbatim includes Nero’s BackItUp 4 Essentials, a straightforward suite of backup tools. It searched out all my photos, videos, documents, etc. and proposed a backup scheme for my computer. Since I have everything in the Microsoft prescribed places, photos in the photos in the Photos folders, documents in Documents, etc., Nero was easily able to set up a mirror backup file.
After doing the initial backup, it’s easy to then setup a continuous backup so that the Insight drive can maintain all those precious files and it’s small enough to travel with. For non-Apple users, the setup fills that aching void caused by smug Apple users who tell you they have nothing in the world to worry about because they have Time Machine setup on an external disc drive. Windows 7, of course catches up on that feature with Backup and Restore Center but Nero closes the gap for everyone else and it works right now. The USB 2.0 link is fast enough. I was able to create a 20 GB backup in just under an hour.
The InSight drive is a good looking piano black USB 2.0 drive. It supports Windows Vista, XP, or 2000 and Mac OS 9x or higher. The drive is available in two sizes: 320 GB for $119.99 and 500 GB for $149.99.
What do we think?
When it comes to external drives, it’s all about looks and dependability. The Verbatim drive comes with a five-year warranty and the always on display is a nice feature. Best of all, the back up software means that back ups can happen automatically and prevent disaster.
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Commenting is not available in this section entry.Kathleen Maher
Kathleen Maher has worked as an analyst and journalist in technical fields for more than ten years. In addition she has been a founding editor for several publications including the Austin Chronicle, a successful politics and entertainment magazine which has won several awards and has launched the careers of many notable writers in the fields of political journalism, entertainment, and fiction. In addition Maher helped launch Interactivity, a monthly multimedia magazine that defined the need for informational resources for creative professionals. She was Editor-in-Chief of Cadence Magazine, the award winning resource for CAD users. Formerly, Maher was the Editor-in-Chief of The Peddie Report, one of the most respected insider reports published today. She is the author of several well received reports including the DVD Study and the regular Quarterly Report and a frequent contributor to several publications including Communication Arts.
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