Maxtor OneTouch III, Mini Edition

Maxtor's 7.2-ounce mobile hard drive, the OneTouch III, Mini Edition, earns high marks for its sleek aesthetics, ever-welcome OneTouch button, and blissfully simple software. The drive won't set any speed records, but this product is meant for backups, not blazing fast video editing work.

Compared with other 2.5-inch external hard drives, the Mini feels light and compact. The thin silver plastic feels a bit flimsy, but Maxtor never could have pulled off the Mini's 7.2-ounce weight with crushproof metal. On the plus side, this drive is shockproof, so your data will be safe if the Mini takes a tumble.

Setup is very straightforward: Plug in the drive and install Maxtor's software. Using the bundled USB Y-cable, we timed 1GB file transfers at an average of 1 minute and 32 seconds, or just shy of 11 MBps.

The real star of this show is Maxtor's included software, which features an easy user interface. Two levels of security–password protection and encryption–help keep your data safe should someone swipe your drive. Maxtor makes the encryption available as a right-click option within My Computer.

The Mini also supports Maxtor's much-anticipated Maxtor Fusion Web sharing service, which will give you and anyone else you deem trustworthy remote access to your files from any Web browser. The standalone appliance of Maxtor Fusion is expected  this summer, and the online service portion of Maxtor Fusion will be bundled with the Mini later this year.

Pressing the white, smartly recessed OneTouch button performs file and folder backups, although you can program these backups to happen automatically. Users can reassign this button to launch any program on their PCs.

Other welcome features include the ability to perform system rollbacks to a prior configuration and synchronization of data between multiple PCs. In practice, synchronization of work files between a desktop and two laptops proved to be our favorite feature. There are plenty of free software tools that perform these functions, but the Mini makes them much more accessible and user friendly.

Reasonably attractive, a good performer, and bundled with smart and simple software, Maxtor's OneTouch III, Mini Edition is well priced and deserves a place in your laptop bag.