Now that the entire Mac line — except for the long-in-the-tooth Mac Pro — sports USB 3.0 connectivity, Mac users have access to a wide range of inexpensive, back-up/secondary drives. The Backup Plus portable from Seagate Technology (http://www.seagate.com) is one of the best such products.
The drive — available in 500GB/US$109.99 and 1TB/$129.99 versions– is especially suited to the MacBook Air, with its limited storage capacity. However, the BackUp Plus devices are good companions for any Mac as most of us don’t need Thunderbolt’s power to back-up our work or to connect an external drive.
Seagate’s drives offer easy setup, one-click backup and the ability to save and share your content on Facebook and Flickr. They offer a single-click method to Save (download) and Share (upload) personal videos and photos to these sites.
And, naturally, the Backup Plus devices work just fine with Mac OS X’s Time Machine feature.
You can also use the Backup Plus for Mac portable with FireWire 800 or Thunderbolt. However, you’ll have to spring for adapters from Seagate, which are a not-inconsiderable $80 or so each. I’d recommend sticking with USB 3.0.
You can choose from two easy backup options: automatic or scheduled. The Backup Plus is also portable; bus powered, its needs no external power supply.
Rating: 8 out of 10
— Dennis Sellers
