Software (continued):
The one screen in the FreeAgent Tools application that has not been discussed is the "Backup & Restore" option. When you click on that tab it immediately launches another application, "AutoBackup", which has a few screens of its own to discuss. The first one is shown in the below left image, and it initially had me disappointed. I hadn't discovered my product key at this point and thought I was only going to get a 30 day trial of the backup software. It wasn't until much later that I discovered the key in the back of the manual that not only unlocked the backup software for good, but also unlocked the free trial of the Internet Drive feature mentioned previously. While I can live without the Internet Drive, I would have been annoyed if the backup software wasn't a part of the base package.
 
Once past the registration for the software, you find the above right screen where you can begin to configure your backup. The below left image shows the first step in setting up a backup following a three step process guided by the software. You can select from a variety of destinations for your backup to be stored, including the FreeAgent Pro, the pricy Internet Drive, a network place, a flash drive, or an iPod device. Additionally, at this point you let the software know how many backups to keep and whether you would like the data encrypted for added security.
 
Step two of the process is started in the above right screen, where you select the data on your system that you want to have backed up. The two images below are subsets of this step, showing tabs that provide easy ways to select your data. You can either choose "SmartPicks", which are general types of data that the application will seek out and backup, or you can choose "Folders", which just provides a file tree of all your data to be checked off for backup.
 
The third step of the process is shown in the image below, and simply involves naming your backup. You can have several backup plans setup, so you could name them to describe what is being backed up. While this may be the end of the three step process, you can always use the software to reconfigure backup plans, review backup logs, and sign up for other services online for additional fees.
The software looks good, performs well, and makes use of the FreeAgent Pro very convenient and simple. It is obvious that part of the package is to market the additional services available online, and that is just a bit annoying.
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