14 DAY TRIAL // Hard disk drives are Western Digital's game, but the company has just revealed a software product that may very well prove useful to owners of not just HDDs, but any USB-connected storage device.
That means solid-state drives, USB flash drives, SATA drives when housed inside a drive enclosure, and USB-connected RAID arrays.
WD SmartWare Pro is the name of the software. It is meant to allow owners of WD products, and even other brands, to quickly and easily back up their systems.
The application can do the same by using CLOUD storage, if available, like the type provided by Dropbox.
Once the backup is made, it is easy to retrieve the files in the case where they disappear for some reason, or become corrupted.
"The growth of digital content has continued to increase exponentially and our goal is to provide a simple and comprehensive way to ensure peace of mind that all of our content is safely backed up," said Jody Bradshaw , general manager of WD's consumer storage solutions.
"WD SmartWare Pro not only accomplishes secure backup of important photos, videos and files, but ultimately makes it easier to preserve precious digital memories."
Currently, the products compatible with WD SmartWare Pro are the My Passport and WD Elements portable hard drives.
WD network attached storage drives such as My Book Live are fully supported too.
What might be even more important though, for some, is that in the case of flash drives, it doesn't matter who the manufacturer is.
Up to 25 older versions of a file can be saved at any time, and a simple interface allows users to retrieve and restore whichever they wish.
By visiting www.wdstore.com, people can download a 30-day free trial of the program, after which $19.95 / €15.13 will need to be paid each month. It is a special promotion valid for up to three computers. For 10 computers, the price rises to $39.95 / €30.29 (also a promotion).
$29.95 / €22.71 and $49.95 / €37.87, respectively, are the standard prices.