Seagate's Replica makes backup copy of entire PC
The single-PC version of Replica doesn't come with a dock.
(Credit: Seagate)Seagate's new Replica drives are designed to do one thing and do it simply: back up your entire Windows PC. They literally make a replica of your system, operating system and all.
The Replica comes in two configurations. The entry-level $130 Replica (250GB) is geared to single PC backup, while the $200 version (500GB) comes with a dock and is capable of backing up multiple PCs.
We have the multi-PC model in our labs now and we're putting it through its paces. There isn't much to test because all the Replica does is make a copy of your PC. If your hard drive goes down, you can then reinstall the copy on a new drive. Initial backup takes at least 40 minutes, depending on how much junk you have on your PC. But after that the Replica incrementally backs up your system as you add or change files.
The one drawback to the system is that you can't drag and drop select files to the drive. To reiterate, this thing does one thing--copy your Windows PC (sorry, no Macs, which feature built-in Time Machine backup software)--and that's it.
We'll have our full review up later this week. In the meantime, you can view complete specs here.
Hunkered down in New York City, Executive Editor David Carnoy covers the gamut of gadgets and writes his Fully Equipped column, which carries the tag line "The electronics you lust for." He's also the author of "Knife Music," a novel. E-mail David. Follow David on Twitter. 
The nice part about the Vista complete backup is that all you need to restore is just the windows install cd to boot from, and of course the external drive. Seems alot cheaper to take this route like the OP says.
Not completely true. With Vista's Backup/Restore feature, the user must refresh the backup periodically else it gets stale. (e.g., install new software, change program settings). With the Replica (and with http://www.rebit.com) the image backup is constantly refreshed. Like Time Machine for the Mac, a restore can be performed from your choice of backup dates.
Just another example of the Windows world being way behind Apple.
I ALSO have shadow copies enabled on my local disks, and can instantly get back older versions of files withough even accessing the file server backup.
You don't need a specially designed hard disk for better versions of Vista. A 500 GB external disk is about $70 currently, so you must be paying about $130 for that backup software. Personally, I'd give my money to Microsoft for a better version of Vista than to Seagate for a single app on an external disk.
- by dataBoy June 18, 2009 8:53 AM PDT
- I really have that the call these single pc and multi pc versions. The multi pc version has no more capabilities than the single pc version, it's just bigger. you can still plug the single pc version into as many pcs as you want, provided you have enough room and you can only plug the multi pc version into 1 pc at a time
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