Freecom CLS portable drive

Product Freecom CLS
Website www.freecom.com
Specifications 250GB to 640GB, USB 2.0, optional three-port dock, 109 x 79 x 13mm, 155g
Price £69 (250GB)

THERE'S NO SHORTAGE of portable storage devices on the market, and manufacturers are having to dream up new ways to entice customers to pick their kit over the competition. Freecom's CLS is a case in point, with its optional three-port docking system.

The idea is that you can mount separate drives simultaneously, allowing you to quickly access a large amount of data. It's a simple but elegant solution that we can see coming in pretty useful in the right environment, providing that performance is up to scratch.

Each drive comes in its own plastic case along with an index card and sports a replaceable slip of paper that can be used to label the current contents. According to Freecom, it's ideal for situations where incremental system and content backups need to be performed, maintained over time and be retrieved quickly and easily when required. The CLS is sold individually in capacities ranging from 250GB to 640GB, each sporting a USB 2.0 interface and solidly designed with a rubberised protective cover. Each drive can be connected directly to a USB port using the short cable supplied or via the three-port dock.

We ran a few read and write tests over a direct connection and were pleased to note that the CLS is pretty quick. 1GB of data appeared on the drive in around 40 seconds to yield 25MB/s and a 5GB folder transferred a shade slower at 23MB/s. We also got our hands on the three-port dock that Freecom offers as an accessory to the CLS drive. This is a powered USB dock tailored to fit the CLS drive, and has an extra USB interface for connecting additional devices.

It works very well and quickly represents any connected drives individually in Windows Explorer, although we did experience some issues when devices are mounted in quick succession. This can be solved by waiting for one to appear on your system before connecting another.

Running the same copy test through the dock reported almost identical speeds, so there are no overheads when connecting multiple drives in this fashion. Copying data between two mounted units predictably took a fair bit longer, however, at half the speed of our earlier tests.

The CLS drive comes pre-formatted and has all the relevant documentation and software preinstalled. Freecom has chosen Nero BackItUp as its backup suite for the CLS range, a tidy and capable collection of tools that's capable of scheduling and automatically maintaining backups of individual files, volumes, drives and selected media.

Full, incremental and differential backups are available, along with three compression levels and a choice of AES or basic encryption to provide peace of mind if the drive is lost or stolen. The application complements the drive nicely owing to the level of automation available, allowing users to simply connect a CLS and walk away safe in the knowledge that when they pick it up again the data will be refreshed.

A couple of extra tools include 'Green Button', a simple utility that brings some environmentally sound credentials to the table by automatically suspending the disc after a period of inactivity to prolong its life and save power. There's also a utility to format the drive, although this doesn't offer any functionality outside the conventional alternatives.

Overall we were impressed by the speed and versatility of the CLS, and our main issue is the price. Starting at £69 for 250GB up to £109 for 640GB, it's a fair bit more expensive than its competitors. The three-port dock will set you back £15.99, which is reasonable considering the benefits for those with multiple drives.

In Short
Freecom's CLS drive is a convenient solution for those who frequently work with multiple or incremental backups, automating the process well and being both portable and rugged enough to carry around on the move. If these benefits justify the rather high price for you, it's well worth considering.

The Good
Decent performance, tidy and ruggedised design, convenient.

The Bad
Dock can be sluggish in accepting multiple drives.

The Ugly
Expensive.

Bartender's Score
7/10