Feature: Peace-of-Mind Backup

For residents of the Gulf Coast, this hurricane season has been unimaginably devastating. For the rest of us, among other things, it's been a reminder that we all need emergency plans for surviving a catastrophe.

Mobile professionals in particular have had a wake-up call: If you don't have an emergency data backup plan, get one. Now. No excuses.

The good news is that it's easy to back up regularly critical files and take them wherever you go.

Back Up on Your Keychain

Recently, I've been testing PowerHouse Technologies Group's 2GB Migo Smart USB device ($240), and it's finally given me--a resident of seismically active San Francisco--some peace of mind in the data backup department.

The Migo data synchronization software runs on USB flash-memory devices, such as PowerHouse Technologies' own Migo Smart USB as well as devices from other vendors. The software is designed to synchronize your Microsoft Outlook content (e-mail, calendar items, and such), browser bookmarks, desktop wallpaper, and data files onto the portable device.

Once you've synchronized the USB device with your home computer, you connect it to another Windows computer and launch the Migo software that's stored on the USB device. The software loads your original computer's profile onto the borrowed computer. Your e-mail messages from your PC now appear in Outlook on the borrowed PC. Similarly, your bookmarks are there for you in Internet Explorer, and you can open your files--provided the borrowed computer has the authoring applications.

When you're done, you synchronize your changes to the USB device using Migo, unplug the device, reconnect it to your computer, and synchronize again. Boom--all the changes you made on the borrowed computer are transferred to your PC.

Migo's main purpose is to enable you to shuttle between multiple computers, taking your settings and files with you. You might even avoid having to take a laptop with you.

But Migo also provides an extremely convenient form of backup. Think about it: On a tiny USB device that attaches to your keychain, you've got your recent e-mail, audio files, Word documents--anything you want to back up. Provided you back up to the device regularly, you could just grab your keys and run out the door in an emergency, taking your data with you.

Minor Caveats

Like any product, Migo isn't perfect. Most keychain-friendly USB devices are 2GB in capacity and under, which limits how much data you can store on them. If the USB device is your only backup and you lose it, then you could be out of luck in an emergency. You can password-protect your Migo device, but according to PowerHouse Technologies, that could make it difficult for you to use the device and Migo software on public computers where you can't act as the Windows administrator, such as those at libraries. (I didn't test this particular feature.)

Those minor complaints aside, I've found the Migo software to be exceptionally easy to use. I recommend it strongly for mobile professionals--or any computer user, for that matter. If you synchronize your files daily to a Migo USB device, plus perform weekly or at least monthly backups to an external hard drive, DVD, or other media, you should have at least one less thing to worry about in an emergency.