Very impressed and pleased with this new Canvio Alumy from a great manufacturer, like Toshiba! The drive has plenty of space and with USB 3.0 is fast and super easy to do back-ups on. I plugged it into the USB port and Win7 plug & play set-it up in just a few minutes. After that, I went into Windows Back-Up and Restore in Control Panel to set-up the back-up schedule, etc.
The initial back-up on my HP laptop took about 1 hr. and now, about 1/2 hr. each time I do a weekly back-up. I didn’t use any of the installed software that came with the drive yet, so I can’t comment on that at this time. There are basic instructions that come with the drive if you want to use the Toshiba software, but I don’t really think you have to, as Windows Back-Up works just fine on its own.
There is also enough space on this 1TB drive to backup at least 5 computers, so you can use this as a "family" and smartphone back-up device as well; making it a great choice to protect yourself at a great, affordable price. Overall very pleased with the drive and Staples on this item.