As shockingly high proportion of PC users don't back up their data. Honestly, myself included. Why? Are we retarded? One hard-disk failure and we're out all our music, photos, and all those e-mails to our college sweethearts (in my case, Deanna Troi). I even have an external hard disk, for crying out loud! Why am I not using it?

Probably because it's nowhere near as easy to use as Maxtor's OneTouch 4 hard drives (made by Seagate), which will back up all your bits just by pushing the button on the front. Still too much work? You can also tell it to back up automatically at a scheduled time (right after Conan says goodnight is my preference). They're both Windows- and Mac-compatible.

The shiny new drives also include an encryption feature that will lock up any files you drag to a specific password-protected folder. Just put all your data in that, and if anyone steals your drive, all they'll have is a brick. Three different drives are offered: The OneTouch 4 Plus, the dark-shelled OneTouch 4 (which lacks the encryption feature), and the portable, iPod-size OneTouch Mini 4. They should all be out later this month (the bigger models may take till October). Follow the link for pricing info and a pic of the Mini 4.

OneTouch 4 Plus:

• $130 for 250 GB
• $200 for 500 GB
• $290 for 750 GB
• $360 for 1 TB

OneTouch 4:

• $100 for 250 GB
• $170 for 500 GB
• $270 for 750 GB

OneTouch 4 Mini:

• $100 for 80 GB
• $120 for 120 GB
• $150 for 160 GB

— Peter Pachal

Via Seagate