At the rate things are going, we'll soon be able to store 25,000 MP3's on a disk the size of a fingernail. A step in that direction is the Maxtor OneTouch III Mini Edition. This shock-resistant hard drive is about as big as an iPod and can back up your PC or laptop drive with the click of a button.
The OneTouch III is less than an inch thick and 5.2 inches long. A 60-gigabyte version of the drive is available at www.maxtor.com and elsewhere online for $150, and a 100-gigabyte version for $200.
The drive comes with an instruction booklet and a U.S.B. cable. For PC users, setup is simple: Maxtor has included a full user's manual and backup software on the disk itself, which is preformatted using the Windows NT file system. Once you plug it in, the installation system asks for a few basic facts about your computer. When you're ready to back up, simply press the glowing white button on the front. (Mac users will have to reformat the drive.)
The drive has a built-in encryption program for protecting data, as well as software that will keep data on a PC and on the drive in sync. JOHN BIGGS