Backup

Scosche just announced that its goBAT II, a dual USB battery backup and charger, is now available. The goBAT II pairs a 5000mAh rechargeable lithium ion battery with dual USB outputs including a 10 Watt (2.1 Amp) port to meet the larger power requirements of tablets as well as a standard 5 Watt (1Amp) port for practically everything else. It also comes with a USB adapter that can be used for the Galaxy Tab.

It's 5 Watt (1 Amp) port allows you to simultaneously charge another USB powered device like an iPhone, Blackberry or Android device while powering up a tablet. The goBAT II also features an LED battery level indicator so you always know how much power is left. Also included is a micro USB cable for recharging the battery, which can also be used when charging any micro USB device from the goBAT II. The goBAT II also works with Scosche's free reVIVE charging app. The reVIVE app indicates how long a device will take to charge on any of Scosche's chargers and can also be configured to send an email notification once a device has been fully charged.

The Scosche goBAT II is available now at Scosche.com for $89.99

Back to school time is here. Whether you are sending your child off to college or have a freshman entering high school, there is a software product that is beneficial for everyone –StudentBackup.com.

Easy to install, StudentBackup protects valuable school work in the event of a computer crash or virus…even if the laptop is lost or stolen. StudentBackup provides unlimited storage and backs up student work files automatically…every single day. The automated process only requires that a student connect to the Internet each day. The software then scans the student's "My Documents" folder and transmits a copy of all files to an offsite data facility using military-grade encryption software via internet connection. After each daily back up the students receive a confirmation e-mail that their backup was a success.

Compatible with all current operating systems, StudentBackup is priced at just $49 for a one year subscription. A 2 year subscription is available for $89, 3 year $119, and a 4 year subscription is also offered for $149. Read more

Seagate just announced GoFlex Home, a new network storage system that allows you to wirelessly back up, store and share photos, music and movies on multiple computers connected to a home network. Working with both Windows and Mac OS X operating systems, you can also wirelessly stream media to network connected DLNA devices such as game consoles.

GoFlex Home is available in 1TB and 2TB capacities, with the ability to upgrade when needed by removing the drive from the base (no tools required) and replacing it with a higher capacity GoFlex Desk hard drive. You can also add more storage to the GoFlex Home system by connecting additional drives to the USB port. Read more

Cameras, camcorders, MP3 players and other electronics will likely be on the wish list of many people this holiday season. But have you thought about how you're going to protect the digital assets created from these devices? Western Digital has a complete line of backup devices that protect all of your music and memories -- with many priced under $100.

For those on the go:

WD's My Passport line of portable drives are not much bigger than the size of a passport, and are available in a variety of colors and capacities ranging from 320 GB to 1 TB. The drives quickly connect to a laptop, desktop or any media player with a USB port for instant viewing of your favorite movies, photos, or playback of all your music. Read more

The 2009 school year is coming to an end, and what better gift to give your graduating senior than something that will help him (or her) when they go off to college in the fall? SanDisk has a new Ultra Backup USB Flash Drive that is the world's first USB flash drive with push-button backup. It couldn't get much easier than that!

The SanDisk Ultra Backup USB Flash Drive is available with capacities ranging from 8GB to 64GB, and is great for backing up photos, music, videos, and of course, schoolwork. Backing up files has never been easier…simply touch a button. No wires and no software installation needed.

The drives are currently available and range in price between $49.99 and $199.99.

For more information visit www.sandiskusb.com.

What one item would you grab from your house if it were on fire? My answer is my Western Digital My Book World Edition.

Have you ever lost any data that was on your computer? Do you remember to backup your files regularly? Western Digital knows that you have lost your data before, and that you do not regularly back up that data. WD also knows that you have more than one computer in your family. Their latest solution for the entire family is the My Book World Edition in 1 TB (MSRP $229) and 2 TB (MSRP $449) capacities. The best part is the plug-and-play installation to ensure ease of use. This solution is both MAC and PC compatible. The device also has an integrated media server and iTunes Music server software to easily stream music. You can also share photos and videos easily with this amazing home storage device for your home network.

The main strength of the HP MediaSmart Server is central storage and media streaming for music and photos over your home network. Special iTunes support allows iTunes playback on connected computers that use iTunes.

You can serve photos directly from the MediaSmart server or upload photos to Facebook, Picasa or Snapfish. I do not see Flickr support in the announcement though.

In addition to media center type serving of music, videos, and photos the server also performs a network backup for Windows and Mac computers on a home network. To add additional redundancy you can add Amazon S3 for offsite storage. The HP Media Collector can schedule centralizing files from the other computers on the home network.

The HP MediaSmart Server ex485 will have 750 GB of hard drive space at $599 and the ex487 will double the hard drive storage to 1.5 TB and a price of $749. Storage can be expanded to 9 TB later. They both contain a 64-bit 2.0 GHz Intel Celeron processor and 2 GB of RAM. Read more