In this day and age, backups, of any kind, are a must. With the advent of Windows 7 into our computing lives, backups are even more important.

Based on that, I decided to ask for, and I received three portable hard drives from Verbatim for review here at AbsolutelyWindows: a 250 GB Verbatim Premier Edition portable hard drive, a 500 GB Verbatim InSight portable hard drive, and a 1 TB Verbatim Quad-interface Professional hard drive. We are reviewing the 250 GB Premier Edition Portable Hard Drive here.

As part of our Windows 7 Reviews Series, we have been taking these drives through their paces, and have come to like, and appreciate them.

The Premier Edition 250 GB portable hard drive is a smallish, extremely light portable hard drive.

It came to us in an adult-proof, retail plastic packaging containing both the hard drive, a USB-to-mini-USB cable, and an information/instruction brochure.

The drive also has a feature called USB Turbo Speed, which increases read/write speeds by up to 25%

Furthermore, it includes the following software:

Nero Backup Software*
• Full System Backup and Restore Functions
• Schedule Automatic Backup by Date/Time
• Backup Files in Native Format or Compressed

Verbatim Sync & Encryption*
• Save your Microsoft Outlook or Windows Mail, contacts, calendar, files, photos and videos to the Verbatim portable HDD
• Synchronize everything when you get back to your PC
• Optional password protection and 128-bit data encryption in case of theft or loss

The drive is of a diminutive size, fitting in the palm of one’s hand. It is covered with a nice soft-touch material, and is extremely quiet.

For my review of the device, I decided to use that old stalwart, Microsoft SyncToy v2.0 to move files between drives and the computer. I used SyncToy in all three copy modes: Synchronize, Echo, and Contribute, moving 250 GB of files back and forth between computers in both a business, and a SOHO environment.

The Verbatim Premier Edition portable hard drive did the work, silent and diligently. The drive is also a very good value.

Accordingly, it is the recipient of the SmallBizWindows Business Ready Award.

Resources used in this review:

• Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate Edition, x64
• Windows Server 2008 R2
• Microsoft Office 2010 Technical Preview, x64
• Microsoft SyncToy v2.0, x64
• HP tx2 Tablet PC
• HP dv2 Notebook computer
• HP z400 Personal Workstation
• HP z800 Personal Workstation
• Toshiba Tecra M7, MedikLabs
• HP ProLiant ML110 G5
• HP ProLiant ML350 G5, MedikLabs

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