Toshiba's Canvio for Mac external HDD family makes OS X backup a cinch
By Darren Murph 
posted July 13th 2010 12:12PM
posted July 13th 2010 12:12PM
Toshiba's All-New Canvio™ for Mac Portable Hard Drives Deliver Quick, Simple, and Secure Digital Backup Solutions for Mac Users
Providing Piece of Mind and Expanded Storage in a Stunning Design, the Canvio™ for Mac is Now Available In 1TB, 750GB, and 500GB Capacities
IRVINE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--With consumers across the country constantly amassing more "digital valuables" – from photos, videos, and favorite music to important personal documents – Toshiba is proud to offer Mac users the compact, easy-to-use Canvio™ for Mac Portable Hard Drive lineup. Continuing Toshiba's commitment to make backing up and recovering data simple and easy, the new Canvio for Mac line provides Mac owners 500 gigabytes (GB1), 750GB, or one terabyte (TB) of storage space, with pre-loaded Mac-customized backup software.
"Toshiba develops personal storage devices that combine the latest, high quality designs with top-notch performance and an intuitive, easy to use interface"
According to a February 2010 survey conducted by Impulse Research2, 70 percent of Americans have lost some type of data on their computers. Unfortunately, the majority of consumers surveyed (89 percent) are aware of the importance of regularly backing up their computers to avoid losses but less than half (43 percent) regularly do so, leaving many computer users vulnerable to data loss that could include digital photos and movies, important financial records, or professional documents.
Recognizing that many users do not back up their data because they believe it's a complicated process, the Canvio for Mac line makes data backup simple for everyone, from novice users to the most tech-savvy consumers. The included NTI® Shadow 5 for Mac software allows for fully-customized backup and synchronization, including the backup of specific folders, certain file types, or even a complete system backup and recovery of everything that is saved on the Mac3. Selected folders on the Canvio for Mac and the Mac computer can be merged and synchronized, while the frequency of backups can be adjusted to different periods (from weekly to continuously) for greater convenience. Complete password-protection with up to 256-bit data encryption prevents unauthorized access to data and a special Drive Space Alert monitor sends an onscreen update when storage space is running low.
The Canvio for Mac's plug-and-play usability and full customization are matched by its small size and elegant, simple styling. Available in either Radiant Silver with silver accents or Infinite White with glossy white-gray accents on the top cover, both feature an anti-slip design and anti-slip side, making the Canvio for Mac an excellent companion to the full line of Mac computers. On the inside, an Internal Shock Sensor and Ramp Loading Technology keep data safe during day-to-day movement from a desk, pocket, bag, or beyond. Despite being smaller than a postcard and boasting a featherweight (six ounce) frame, the Canvio for Mac – in 1TB form – can hold up to 285,000 digital photos, 263,000 digital music files, or 820 digital movies4.
"Toshiba develops personal storage devices that combine the latest, high quality designs with top-notch performance and an intuitive, easy to use interface," said Manuel Camarena, product manager for consumer storage at Toshiba Storage Device Division. "Our Canvio for Mac products give Mac users a safe, convenient, and truly portable solution for backing up their digital entertainment, documents, and other content instantly."
Continuing its commitment to environmental friendliness, Toshiba developed the product packaging with 100 percent recyclable materials.
The Canvio product line is available now at http://www.toshibadirect.com/canvio_mac or through major retailers and online outlets. For a complete list of retailers offering the Toshiba Canvio, please visit www.wheretobuy.toshibastorage.com.
Suggested retail prices by capacities are:
* $119.99 for the 500GB Canvio for Mac
* $139.99 for the 750GB Canvio for Mac
* $189.99 for the 1TB Canvio for Mac
Now I just need a mac
@Cainhunpi is it a magical hard drive or something?
@Cainhunpi Sexxxyy
@Cainhunpi
Finally, a backup solution for the mac. I previously had no other way of backup up my files to an external hard drive.
Now I can go back in time and see old files, like some sort of, time travel device.
@pple is poo
Time Capsule also has a gigabit switch and a wireless a/b/g/n router built in, idiot.
ok this product's unique appeal is irrelevant because any old external hard drive can be connected and perform Time Machine backups with minimal effort.
These are extremely stupid.
1. Any hard drive will work with a Mac.
2. Customized backup software? When every Mac already comes with Time Machine?
3. Any hard drive will work with a Mac.
@Jack
Don't forget Super Duper! (It's not standard, but still a great FREE backup/cloning program)
@Jack
Also syncs without a cable over wi-fi... so you don't have to plug it in for the scheduled backups... I think that is a really good option.
@Jack
A dual band a/b/g/n router in fact.
@pple is poo
The product in the article is nothing more than a usb 2.0 (ouch 35 MB\second transfer max speed...in 2010? I don't think so) external hard drive with some stupid backup software (?? doesn't OS X have time machine built in...why the FUCK do you need 3rd party backup software, unless it's for tape?) -- the time capsule was network based....and faster...can you believe that gigabit ethernet can be about 3 times as fast as USB 2.0. If this product used USB 3.0 it would be a different story, but then you'd have to actually get steve jobs to stop smelling his own farts and actually put usb 3.0 on macs...so yeah...Gotta love technology!
I fail to see the need for the software. Time Machine is great and works with any external drive. Why did they even bother?
Wow Toshiba, look at you, you made a hard drive.
(And nothing more)
@DoctarPeppar
Drives, especially 2.5" drives like these, can't even max out FireWire 800, which most Macs have, so USB 3 is really unnecessary.
Also, Light Peak.
Um fail, give me some FW800
Not so sure I'd enjoy a "piece of mind" with Toshiba's product, but I would enjoy "peace of mind." Sorry, it stuck out. :-)
Radiant SilverGun!
@pple is poo
Fail what now? Nobody I know that owns a Time Capsule has had it fail. Ever. The drives in Time Capsules are 1 million hour MTBF server grade hard drives, so they're going to last longer than pretty much any other conventional platter based HDD.
Do you just enjoy living life with your head up your ass?
why backup an operating system? just backup your data. if something goes wrong reformat the bitch and reinstall the software.
backup a full OS?! that is crazy talk. but i am sure most apple users buy a whole new computer when they get spyware, so the idea of a reimage is totally foreign.
@tricheboars
Mac users don't get spyware. And, sorry, but not every consumer is a raging tech loser like you. Time Machine is an incredibly simple and effective way to back up a computer - something most people don't do, even though they should. If Apple's solution allows more people to back up their data, why do you feel the need to $hit all over a good thing?
@tricheboars
Yeah, there is no spyware on the Mac. But here's why you want a full backup including the OS: You can boot off the system DVD that came with the Mac, and tell it to restore your entire system from your Time Machine backup. That's why you want it to back up everything including your OS.
The first time your boot drive dies, you'll understand why this is a good thing.
@tricheboars
Time machine only saves data, applications, and settings, not the OS. Also, spyware on a Mac? Please enlighten us.
@lbjazz
I'm pretty certain that Time Machine, by default, backs up the OS.
@tricheboars
It's not required to back up the OS but if you have the space then why not? Unless you particularly enjoy reinstalling from a DVD and then waiting for all the various updates to be downloaded/installed. Personally, I've got better things to do...
@TomSawyer cough, there is spyware for mac. theres also viruses for mac. there are even. no less than 20 zero-day exploits in mac, making it THE easiest operating system to hack. just ask pwn to own. they got it alllll down.
@huskie fluff
Actually there aren't. People like you don't read all the information related to this so you are unable to prove, for example, that there is any spyware for the Mac at all. Or any viruses.
A trojan that exploits a hole in Safari but REQUIRES a local admin and the admin password to be entered in order for it to work is not a virus. Any idiot knows that. Viruses don't need your permission. And every system is vulnerable to trojans, because trojans rely on tricking the user into entering their admin password. Again, nothing happens unless you specifically give it permission.
That's not a virus. You're welcome to try again though.
@huskie fluff
Pull the other one, it's got bells on the end.
Let me know when there is anything out there that we actually should be worried about. Up until that point I will continue to feel warm and fuzzy, thanks very much. Bloody doom merchants...
@Kelmon http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/19/charlie-miller-to-reveal-20-zero-day-security-holes-in-mac-os-x/
http://www.fiercecio.com/techwatch/story/pwn2own-2010-mac-isnt-more-secure/2010-03-26
http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/pwn2own_winner_mac_os_x_is_less_secure_than_windows/
mhm, right. well anyway. didnt take but 2 mins to hack a mac, and that didnt need anyone to log the admin password in did it?
what was that? they didnt! oh well i guess that makes your point invalid sir. pretty sad. mac is going up in popularity. so start to see more viruses come your way.
so anyway. here you go.
@huskie fluff http://voices.washingtonpost.com/fasterforward/2010/06/mac_spyware_alert_is_nothing_n.html
http://theappleblog.com/2010/06/02/dangerous-new-mac-spyware-making-the-rounds/
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/06/01/mac_spyware/
@huskie fluff http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Mac-Virus---A-Brief-History&id=4174801
http://antivirus.about.com/od/macintoshresource/tp/macvirusfaqs.htm
@huskie fluff
Um... yes it did. You see, this is what I was talking about when I said you don't read everything. Let me explain it to you slowly to make sure you understand it.
First of all it didn't take 2 minutes. It took 6 months and 2 minutes. You think the web site he told Safari to access was built inside those two minutes? Of course not. Don't be a complete idiot.
Second, you aren't paying attention to what I'm telling. you. Nothing was hacked, as in NOTHING. If you had read what actually happened, you would have seen that there was somebody literally sitting in front of the Mac they were using for the competition, admin password in hand. This particular exploit you're referring to REQUIRES somebody to enter their admin password it can't - CAN NOT - run on its own.
The file was given to the person in front of the Mac who then ran it and was then asked to enter his admin password. Guess what? If he had chosen not to enter it, nothing would have happened. Do you understand now? No, you probably don't. You seem kind of dense.
The only way to get that exploit to work was to have somebody literally in front of the compuyter, entering their admin password and EXPLICITLY ALLOWING the exploit to run. He was completely unable to access the Mac remotely to get it to run on its own. Completely, entirely and 100% unable to do it.
Let me put this in terms even you can understand, kid. The only way for this to work in the wild would be for the "hacker" to break into your house, sit in front of your Mac and try to run the script that would direct Safari to a malicious web site - and even that would only work if he happened to know what your password was.
What are the chances of that happening, you think? You let me know.
To sum up, there are no viruses for the Mac. There is nothing that can get into a Mac remotely (not even "hackers" who were being offered $10,000 to do it), there is no spyware for the Mac and while Safari has had some holes in the past, the trick is getting to the holes in the first place, which I've just shown you is actually impossible without local admin privileges.
You should spend less time being an ignorant jackoff and more time educating yourself.
@HighestRanked2 i linked you to a couple viruses, so i guess your an ignorant ifanboy huh?
bet you own an iphone 4 that has no issues at all, because there are none. eh?
@huskie fluff
I'm still feeling pretty warm and fluffy, thanks. The reason for this is very simple: there is absolutely nothing out there to worry about for the Mac. Chill out.
Doom merchant.
@lbjazz Time machine backs up all files other than the OS files default native to the install media. Any OS file that has been changed is backed up, just not the originals. Some temp/cache/etc folders are not backed up, but the point is, simply insert the original OS disk that came with the mac, and it can return your machine to it;s most recent backed up state, as if restored from an image backup, but you do not need to DO an image backup.
@huskie fluff
Actually you didn't link to any viruses. Everything you linked to REQUIRES AN ADMIN PASSWORD TO RUN. Did I not make that clear before? Was it not made completely crystal clear to you that you can't do jack shit to a Mac without the admin password?
Because it requires an admin password, it is a TROJAN. It is absolutely unable to run without the user's direct assistance. It will try to get you to enter your admin password by tricking you into entering it.
That is a TROJAN. All systems are vulnerable to trojans. Are you clear on this yet or am I going to have to explain it to you a few dozen more times? If you had actually read any of the articles you linked you would have seen that they specifically address them as trojans, because they need PERMISSION TO RUN.
@huskie fluff Keep on using your Windows junk then.
@rhomaion I'm sorry not junk, just in my own opinion inferior. Yes Windows has a bigger market share but that doesn't make it better.
Those are some good looking drives.
I'm a PC so I don't know how mac users back up their drives and what not.
I have an array of TB drives in my PC that I built that backs everything up every week.
@PathogenX
Time Machine is Apple's backup software that's built into the OS. It backs up incrementally every hour, and once you assign a backup drive it's completely automatic and in the background. There's just no need for Toshiba's customized backup software. In fact I'd bet it's a lot worse than Time Machine.
@Jack
I see thanks!
Looks like a very good system apple has created. I don't see the point of toshiba's idea either lol.
Yes, I am not the typical anti mac PC user shocking I know.
@PathogenX Thank goodness there's still some like you.
@Jack You did read the post about 2008 capsules malfunctioning... Right?
Maxed at 1 TB, too less in 2010,
Let me see if I have this right: the Mac-specific part is some free software that's probably worth exactly what you paid for it (or better yet, "MyMacBackup Lite") and (I assume) pre-formatted HFS? Oh, and a few extra dollars over the generic version because, you know, Mac. No Firewire?
@mikestew
is $140 for a 1 TB excessive "mac pricing" for an external HD? Maybe it is, I don't know.
@TomSawyer For the drive in this article I really can't say, I haven't comparison shopped. For the Seagate FreeAgent drive I'm currently using for portable storage, I think I paid US$10 or so extra for the Mac version. But that included a dock and Firewire interface. I run virtual machines off the thing, so Firewire was a requirement.
@Jack
http://www.engadget.com/2010/07/12/apple-issuing-free-repairs-or-replacements-of-wonky-2008-time-ca/
@PaulMdx
Oh, you mean the ones made for a period of 4 months 2 years ago that Apple is replacing for free? Yeah, the vast, vast majority of Time Capsules don't have any problems.
But TimeMachine makes backups a "cinch" with ANY hard drive...
@pple is poo
The fanbois proved your point quite nicely.
All coming to defend the Lame, er, Time Machine. But it doesn't work. So long as it has an Apple on it, the lemmings will eat it up... regardless of functionality. Sounds a lot like all the people that buy Mac PC's too come to think of it.
@Jack
The irony of you asking if someones head has been up their ass on this subject is so sexy. I have chub right... meow.