Setup

The Maxtor OneTouch is easy to set up on any system with a current operating system. All you need to do is connect the AC adapter to the hard drive and then connect the hard drive to your system via the USB cable. Keep in mind that this hard drive uses USB 2.0. Older systems with USB 1.1 will work with this drive but the throughput speeds will be horrible so you may be better off upgrading your box with a USB 2.0 PCI card. If you want to use FireWire (IEEE 1394), then make sure to purchase the FireWire version of this hard drive. Maxtor also manufactures OneTouch hard drives that include both interfaces.

One connected, you should format the drive to the appropriate file system for your computer. On my system, I used NTFS for both speed and security reasons.

Maxtor includes a CD full of drivers and software for your particular system. Drivers are only necessary for older OS's such as Windows 95. If you are using Windows XP, then the Maxtor OneTouch will show up without any additional software needed. Plug and Play works afterall!

One application that gets installed on a Windows system is the Maxtor OneTouch Settings program which manages the OneTouch drive. Through this small applet, you can control what application is launched when the front button is pressed.

You can also control the power management features of the hard drive - powering down the drive when there is no usage occurring after some time.

Maxtor also includes the Dantz Retrospect Express backup software for anyone looking to use the OneTouch hard drive as a backup device. Since Maxtor offers a range of drive sizes in the OneTouch family, there is bound to be a size that will fit your home needs. The OneTouch drive is not sufficient for business backup needs since a portable hard drive is still susceptible to the catastrophic failure. However home users who do not need the disaster recovery solutions that businesses need, will find the OneTouch a viable alternative to using tape backups or DVD-R's. I still recommend a more permanent backup system for critical data that you absolutely can not lose.

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