

The Backup Plus Slim, like its name suggests, is very small. However, if you’re looking to use and carry a hard drive in a particularly hazardous environment, you may want to look to products that are designed to be more impact resistant. Note to designers: Follow the Microsoft Windows design guide and stop trying to reinvent the wheel.It’s an understated, yet attractive design, and one that holds up well to the hazards of travel. My only, exceedingly minor complaint is about the very thin sliders on the file panes, which require far more precision with the mouse than they should.

ToolKit does file-level backup very well, and it’s easy to use. You might consider just keeping the drive backed up (check out our backup software reviews for recommendations), especially considering that the warranty is only two years. Why not just $5 a year, I couldn’t tell you. The price for Seagate’s data recovery service is $10 for two years, or $15 for three years. Note that there is no 100-percent guarantee that data can be recovered from a hard drive, though the success rate is exceedingly high. The online “wizard” also shills online data recovery plans. Seagate ToolKit is a competent file-level backup utility, but you can skip the the mildly annoying download experience if you’re already set. Both programs are nicely rendered and quite capable, but I’m not a fan of being forced to download essential software or being upsold non-essential software. You run StartHere.exe to go online to complete a registration process and get your software. Seagate also bundles its ToolKit backup/utility software and a year’s subscription to the Mylio online photo aggregator (from multiple online services such as Facebook, etc.) and organizer.

However, there is a Type-A to Type C adapter included for the Micro-B to Type-A cable. The Ultra Touch sports a SuperSpeed Micro-B port on board rather than Type-C.
