By Xinhua
Beijing : SanDisk Corp Wednesday introduced a USB flash drive with automatic online backup, the first of its kind linking up with the Internet to offer new features.
The Cruzer Titanium Plus is SanDisk’s first USB drive with backup capabilities. The 4Gbyte device will be featured at the International Consumer Electronics Show Jan. 7-10 in Las Vegas, Nev.
When consumers store documents, photos and music onto SanDisk’s new Cruzer Titanium Plus USB flash drive, it will back up that digital information to a Web service offered by a start-up company called BeInSync, which stores data onto Amazon.com Inc’s computers.
The Cruzer Plus comes with a six-month subscription to the BeInSync backup service at no additional charge. After opening a personal, password-protected account, any files copied to the drive from a computer are automatically backed up online. If the computer is offline, then the files will be backed up the next time the drive is plugged into an Internet-connected machine.
The idea behind Cruzer Plus is to protect users against accidentally deleting files, such as documents, photos, music, video, spreadsheets or work presentations, SanDisk said. Backed up files can be recovered by signing into the backup account.
Other features include a crush-resistant metal case, optional password protection for accessing files on the drive, and two years of BoomerangIt’s lost-and-found service.
The Cruzer Titanium Plus is scheduled for release in the United States in March. The manufacturer’s suggested retail price is 59.99 U.S. dollars. The online backup service requires Windows 2000, service pack 4; Windows XP or Windows Vista. After the first six months, the service costs 29.99 U.S. dollars a year.