Seagate has just launched a new line of backup products called Backup Plus. In addition to launching the hardware, this is the introduction of the Backup Plus brand, which will supersede, if not completely replace all the other Seagate product names that you may already know like GoFlex and UserAgent. The overall goal is to make things simpler and easily identifiable for end users.
Beyond the mere presence of a hard drive, Seagate Backup Plus also comes with software that makes it easy to backup, thanks to a new Dashboard app that has basically one bit “backup” button. Seagate could have called it the “easy” button. Of course, you will find the classic file backup methods, but you can also use Dashboard to upload files/photos to your social networks (Facebook, Youtube, Flickr are supported today). Dashboard can also download existing photos from those services. If you already own Seagate hardware, the new Dashboard software is backwards compatible with a number of devices.
The backup software is for PC users as Mac OS X ones can use Apple’s Time Machine. On the Dashboard, PC folks can either choose to backup right away by clicking on Protect Now, or setup a custom backup plan which can be continuous, scheduled or just a one-time thing.
I’m personally in favor of continuous backups, but that’s really up to you to choose which type of backup you want. One thing is for sure – even one backup is infinitely better than nothing at all. If you want to be ready for a disaster, you can also use Seagate’s Cloud service which runs on remote servers.
As storage is a commodity, Seagate is focusing on what’s important: the software and the user experience. Storage companies typically come out with very geeky backup systems that can be very good, but often very intimidating as well. Seagate also thought of building tutorials that everybody can understand.
In terms of hardware, these small drives come in 4 colors (blue, red, silver and black). They are USB 3.0 out of the box, but the modular design allows users to switch to FireWire or Thunderbolt by changing the connector in the back. Now the question is: do you backup your data? If no, why — and if yes, what’s your setup?