Posted 04/28/09 at 07:09:25 PM by Mark Edward Soper

This week, Seagate announced its latest backup devices, the Replica backup appliance family. Replica is available in two versions: a single-computer 250GB model ("Single PC") and a 500GB version ("Multi-PC") that also includes a dock.

Replica's 'plug it in and forget it design' is intended to make it  a close hardware equivalent to online backup services in terms of ease of use, but it's not designed to be as flexible - or as fast - as a traditional USB hard disk. Seagate refers to Replica as a "backup applicance" for good reason: the included software makes a backup copy of your entire system, and you get a bootable recovery disc that helps you restore your system in case it dies.

While you have the option of restoring the entire PC, or just dragging individual files from Replica back to your PC in case you deleted your latest draft of the Great American Screenplay, Replica won't do drag and drop copying from your PC to Replica. Seagate's reasoning: if you want an external hard disk, get yourself a Seagate FreeAgent or FreeAgent Go, or a Maxtor OneTouch or OneTouch mini. By contrast, Replica is designed for users who don't want to think about anything after installing the software and plugging the drive into a free USB port.

So, how much will Replica cost? To find out, and for your chance to sound off, join us after the jump.

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