As someone who has lost his share of data, spent hard-earned money on downloads, and amassed thousands of precious family photos, I was intrigued by the ClickFree story and product line when I hear their pitch at a recent product preview in New York City.  Storage Appliance Corp makes the ClickFree line of automatic self-running back-up software which can be embedded onto an external USB hard drive, or delivered directly on recordable DVD media for truly idiot-proof back-ups.

As a less-than-conscientious backer-upper, I can appreciate everything that ClickFree has to offer. If you want to save up to four-and-a-half gigabytes, or multiples thereof, you can pick up a three-pack, five-pack or ten-pack of their DVD Backup discs ($9.99, $14.99 or $27.99). Depending upon which type of files you want to archive, there are kits for Photo, Music and Office varieties.  Each of which automatically backs up the file types in question.

ClickFree's special blank DVDs are available in 3-, 5- or 10-packs, for Music, Photo or Office backup.

Simply insert one of the smart, one-time-use blanks into your PC's DVD+R reader/writer and the ClickFree software--already on the disc-- immediately, begins scanning for the appropriate file extensions (.jpg., .mp3, doc, etc.) and automatically copies them to DVD. The first time through it copies everything, but it gets smarter on future runs, copying only new files or files that have changed.  Have more than a single DVD+R can hold? Swap in another disc and ClickFree resumes its backup right where it left off until the job is complete. Working with DRM-protect content from sites such as iTunes is more complicated of course, but isn't it always?

These finished DVDs can then be tucked away for safekeeping or brought to another PC and either read or copied to the hard drive. Most elaborate is the Office DVD Backup kit, which recognizes more than 200 different file types, right down to our internet bookmarks and favorites settings, all of which can be painlessly carried over to our new computer in the event of a hard drive failure or upgrade.

When you have lots of assorted files to protect, consider one of their 120- or 160-gigabyte plug-and-play portable hard disk drives.

For larger-scale backups, there's the ClickFree Portable Backup Drives - USB hard drives with the same embedded backup software onboard.  The model HD701 (120 gigabytes, $130, available now) and HD801 (160 gigabytes, $150, available in August) hard disk drives will soon be visiting the Big Picture Big Sound labs for a thorough review.

These USB drives too are about as simple as plugging one in and walking away: they even draw their power via USB (one less wire to worry about), and again all of the necessary software resides on the drive itself, so no installation or setup is required, and nothing is left behind on your PC after a back-up (no additional software that is, the files themselves remain intact of course!).

Owing to its higher storage capacity, the Portable Backup devices can copy all files for up to ten different PCs, maintaining and remembering each back-up individually. You can also customize the software to meet your specific needs, such as skipping unnecessary folders or file types, but that does presume at least a few I.Q. points.

Find out more at: www.goclickfree.com