Home > Consumer Reviews > 8GB USB 2.0 Micro Vault Pro Autosync (Retail Package)

I am an IT Professional who constantly witnesses traveling laptop users who fail to backup their hard disks. This is a slick compact product that works well. To me its best selling feature is the synchronizing software that is included. You set it up how many file versions you wish to keep and when to backup. I setup for a traveling international user so all he had to do was plug the unit in his USB port and it would automatically backup all of his files. The software is intelligent enough to know to backup only files that have changed instead of all data. I would highly recommend this product for the user who is at greater risk for data loss.

I purchased two of these. It really is plug and play. Easy to use. Very acceptable transfer speed. Great product. Completely satisfied.

Ditch the AutoSync software, it is limited in scope and buggy as well. This is your data we're talking about here. Sony just does not do software well (read: "root kit" fiasco).

But the drive itself is excellent, albeit bulkier than I would like (in all fairness it IS miraculously small for a hard drive). You can get greater capacity at USB stick size, but this has faster read/write times than Flash, so that is the tradeoff to keep in mind. I recommend reformatting it to NTFS for increased performance. This may prove tricky at first, but a Google search on the topic should yield helpful clues.

Not positive about longevity, but only good reviews so far, vs. 'early breakdown' reports for most similar items by Maxtor, IO Magic, etc. If you use Vista, the autosynchronization might not work but there are free similar installs from PortableApps. I bought 2 from Staples on clearance so shop around.

Instructions are refreshingly sparse and generally not needed--except it took me a few days of head-scratching to realize I had to 'select drive' from the drop-down list to start it working. Then for some reason, I also simply had to be patient for several days before it was possible to 'view' past versions. Now it works beautifully.

Plugged this in the back of my Dell desktop. I still archive to CD on occasion, but no need to bother frequently with manual backups. Aaaahhhh... the combination of less bother with greater peace of mind is perhaps a small thing but such a relief in this hectic world. I bought a second to take my entire desktop with me on travels.

My settings.

First, I minimized my documents folder, storing photos and anything not in use onto 60-cent archival CD's. I removed the 'my downloads' folder away from 'My Documents' and on to the top level of the 'C' drive, so that all those disposable .exe files would not clog up the backup. (If I buy an important download I immediately burn it to CD.)

For 'Drive Settings' I have the storage limit set for 4 GB on the Sony Microvault (half the space). Then for 'Advanced Settings' I asked for 3 past versions, which evidently it stores on the desktop computer, and allowing these versions to take up 12 GB. For the 'synchronization schedule' I checked 'on media insert' and 'on file close.' Other options that I un-checked are 'manual' and 'every XX minutes.'

If you are working on a PhD thesis or something, you can tell it to backup automatically every 30 minutes and store 10 versions. However, 3 past versions already need 3 times the disc space of the originals! So, I would caution against going beyond that.

A few small nuisances.

1. I just as soon the window of this synchronization program did not pop open every time I turn on my computer. Maybe there's an option to stop this but I can't find it.

2. Dec. 16, 2007. After several months, I kept getting this annoying pop-up message. 'Storage size exceeded. Deleting oldest versions.' Etc.

Evidently, the problem was created by using Nero to edit some video files. I was careful not to allow Nero to use any 'documents' folders to store any of the files I created. However Nero still persistently created 'Nero' subfolders with substantial files within my Documents folder. Using the AutoSync control panel, I managed to un-check these specific subfolders for synchronization, and then 'save settings.' However it was not so obvious how to delete the Nero subfolders already backed-up. For this, I had to manually open: My Computer . . . USB Storage . . . AutoSync . . . Dell 2400 [name of main computer] . . . My Documents. There I found the backup of My Documents, and deleted the Nero subfolders.

I suppose the lesson learned is: any time a program auto-creates subfolders that may fall within the AutoSync...

a. Try to stop it from doing that.
b. If you can not stop it, do not repeatedly delete those auto-created subfolders. Instead, open the AutoSync control panel, un-check the unwanted subfolders, and 'Save Settings.'
c. Also on occassion, manually open the USB Microvault . . . browse to the 'Auto Sync' folder . . . etc. . . and manually delete any unwanted backups.
d. One week after I first posted this review... J. Riddle's review here confirmed that this MicroVault is excellent, but said to "ditch" the Sony Autosync program and convert from FAT to NTFS. Evidently J. Riddle knows more than I do. However I have not found his advanced suggestions to be necessary.

I have had this flash drive for over 30 days and am very satisfied with how it works. I use it to back up my files on 2 different computers. It creates separate directories for each. Therefore I must copy like files from one computer to the other. But this is a small inconvience. The product works as promised.