Clickfree Shows No-Brainer, Wireless-Enabled Backup at CES

Canada-based and generically named Storage Appliance Corp., which makes the Clickfree automated desktop personal storage devices, launched a new wireless-enabled, portable backup drive for Windows PCs or Macs at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

The new Clickfree machine, cleverly called the Wireless Portable Backup Drive, backs up files from various computers in a network without needing to plug the hard drive into any system. It’s all done through the air.

This one requires no software to download or install into the system. Instead, users plug in the device to each computer they want to back up; the drive then finds and configures all relevant settings for that system, including for the wireless connection, and begins backing up files.

After the original setup and copyover of all the data, the drive can be placed anywhere in the home or office, and it will automatically back up all PCs in the network using 802.11n wireless connectivity, Clickfree said.

Wait — there’s more: Clickfree claims users can deploy the device to move files from one computer to another and search for and restore lost content using the same wireless connection. There is no information on how fast this performs; of course, every network is different.

Clickfree’s Wireless Portable Backup Drive comes in either a 500GB version for $180 or 1TB editions for $249. The new machines are available now on Clickfree’s Website.