HP today announced the HP SimpleSave external hard drive series for customers needing a simple and automatic backup for photos, video, music and data. 

Protecting personal content with SimpleSave is as easy as plugging the drive in to a USB connection, so families can feel confident that their precious memories are safe.

“With SimpleSave, once connected, backup is automatic and virtually hands-free,” said Charl Snyman, vice president, Personal Systems Group, HP Europe, Middle East and Africa. “As the worldwide leader in personal computing, our goal is to make technology simple and useful, ensuring no learning curve and no complicated choices to make.”

The new SimpleSave hard drive family consists of two products, the SimpleSave Portable, available in 320- and 500-gigabyte capacities, and the SimpleSave Desktop, available in 1- and 2-terabyte capacities. Both devices feature pre-installed backup software.  SimpleSave software automatically finds and backs up the data on the PC, and after the first backup, automatically updates the backup with file changes whenever the computer is idle.

A single SimpleSave drive can be used to back up all the PCs in the home, with data from each PC clearly identified by name on the drive to make finding and restoring a specific PC’s data a snap.

The SimpleSave hard drives are designed with heat-dissipating cases that stay cool and run quietly without a fan.  The SimpleSave Portable is powered by the PC’s USB 2.0 port and does not require an external power supply. In addition, the 2.5-inch portable model is designed with a shock-resistant case to protect the drive from the bumps and jolts of everyday usage. 

Other features include:

• Hundreds of file formats supported: Supports the most common file types for photo, music and documents including AAC, BMP, DOC, GDF, GIF, JPG, MP3, MPEG, PPT, PDF, TAX, TIFF and XLS.  
• Frequent backup update – Backs up new and changed files every time the PC is idle for five minutes.
• Plug-and-play storage – Ready to use when connected to a USB port.
• Support for large files: NTFS file system offers improved support for metadata and use of advanced data structures, improving performance, reliability and disk space.
• Two-year warranty

Pricing and Availability

SimpleSave external hard drives will be available in August. Manufacturers recommended street pricing:

• SimpleSave Portable:  320GB, £79.99 (1); 2.5-inch hard drive, 500GB, £109.99
• SimpleSave Desktop:  1TB hard drive, £104.99 (1); 2TB hard drive, £114.99