Maxtor Expands External Range

Maxtor announced its first portable external drive today, the Maxtor OneTouch III, Mini Edition, which features password protection and one-touch backup.

The new drive comes in two different capacities, 60GB ($199) and 100GB ($299), and its DriveLock technology designed to password protect the data – even if the internal drive is removed and plugged into a PC.

Like other drives in the OneTouch range, the drive features a ‘backup’ button which loads EMC’s Retrospect software for straightforward archiving.

“According to IDC research, 60 percent of people are concerned about losing data, but only 15 percent backup weekly. So, we are doing a lot of education in the channel, and a lot of advertising. We’re telling people that if they’re not backed up, they’re in strife. We’re reinforcing the importance of backing up”, said Craig Davis, Maxtor Asia Pacific’s director of branded products group sales.

Davis said there were many factors driving the need for external storage solutions: “In business, and in the home, we record things. But people don’t hit the delete button – we are digital hoarders”.

After mobile storage, Network Attached Storage is the next growth area, according to Davis, due to the uptake of broadband and wireless technology: “In Dick Smiths and Harvey Normans the biggest selling devices are wireless routers, and people will want to share their content by plugging in a NAS and so two or more PCs have access.”

The unit weighs only 200g, is the size of a small paperback book and will fit in a purse or bag easily, and is shipping now.