Conclusion:

The most impressive thing about the Patriot Memory Duplicator is the software. I like that I am able to create a back up profile and be able to send it to somebody else to do their back up before I make an appearance to fix their issue. It is a waste of my time to go work on somebody's computer, when they have not made any back up of their files because they do not know how to do it. The Duplicator takes this potential problem out of the picture.

Even if you don't intend to use the Duplicator as an IT tool, it can provide the same simplicity for backing up your own files. An SDHC card may not be the ideal location for all your file back ups, but it is convenient, and may be most appealing for netbook / notebook users.



While I really like this device and can think of many uses for it, I think it would be much more handy for this to be a USB device instead of a SDHC device. SDHC is great, however not everybody has a device that can read SDHC. Not to mention that USB has a higher speed potential. Other than that, this device works as intended and seems to be fast for an SDHC card; backing-up approximately 16GB of data in under 25 minutes.

A search for the Patriot Duplicator 16GB SDHC card didn't lead to too many results, but it can be found at Amazon.com for around $45.00. This is about $15.00 more expensive than a typical 16GB SDHC card, but if you are buying the Patriot Duplicator, you are not buying it to be used as a typical SDHC card. In my opinion the backup software makes it worth the extra $15.

The truth is that the Patriot Memory 16GB SDHC Memory Card offers impressive speed, it can be easily configured, and provides a portable back up solution. The fact that not all machines are capable of using SDHC would make me pause when recommending this to somebody, though. If you have a system with an SDHC card slot (especially a netbook), then the Patriot Duplicator a good back up solution, and in the end it receives the Bigbruin.com "Recommended" award.



Pros:

» Easy to configure back-up
» Fast transfer rates
» Small and easy to hide
» Profiles not tied to specific computer
» 8GB, 16GB and 32GB Models

Cons:

» Not all systems capable of reading SDHC
» Duplicator software does not run automatically
» Price
» USB version preferred as USB is more common

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