MEGATech Reviews: Corsair Flash Voyager Port Backup Device

Backing up isn’t hard to do. It’s just that people don’t do it because it isn’t convenient. Corsair’s Flash Voyager Port tries to make the task of backing up a one button affair. Although they’d like for you to use a Corsair drive, the handy plug and play USB device works with just about any USB flash drive on the market of any size. Just plug it into the Voyager Port’s USB connector and push the button. Built in software should take care of the rest.

The non proprietary nature is promising and the $39.99 US price point is affordable, but is this a simple yet effective solution? Let’s find out.

What’s Included?

Inside the terrible blister-packing that we all despise so much, you get the Corsair Flash Voyager Port itself, a USB cable, a single sheet of instructions, and the installation CD.

The Flash Voyager Port is smaller than a hockey puck with about a 65mm diameter. The surface is rubberized, providing a good grip and a good sense of quality. In many ways, it feels just like the Flash Voyager USB drives, also from Corsair.

On the mini-CD is the award-winning NovaBackup 10 software which pretty well runs the show.

Robust Backups with NovaBackup 10

Apparently, this software usually retails for $50 on its own, but Corsair is tossing it in for free with the Flash Voyager Port. That’s because without NovaBackup, this product doesn’t seem to be anything more than a USB extension cable attached to piece of round plastic (and a button).

NovaBackup is capable of setting up one-time and scheduled backup (and restore) scripts. You can choose to have the software scan your computer’s hard drive for all of your music, backing up all of those songs onto your chosen USB flash drive at set intervals. Pretty handy. There seem to be a lot of options and you can save as many backup scripts as you’d like. That’s the good news. However, things didn’t quite turn out as expected in reality.

When I went through the Backup Wizard, I got to the page where I could set the type of schedule. According to the instructions, one of the options should have been “OneButton.” This would run the script when I hit the one button on the Flash Voyager Port. That option was not there for me. As a result, the Flash Voyager Port was rendered relatively useless. I could have done the same thing with just the software and having the flash drive connected directly to my computer.

MegaTechie Backup Pro or MegaTechie Backup Flop?

I’m not entirely sure what to make of the Corsair Flash Voyager Port. On paper, it seems like it could be a very convenient backup solution, since you can use whatever USB flash drive you want and it comes with a handy one-touch backup interface, right?

When I used the provided NovaBackup software, I could not find the option to use the “OneButton” backup schedule. In my experience, the product itself ended up being little more than a USB extension cable that happens to have a button on it. Despite good build quality and a seemingly convenient user experience, I’m not really convinced at all.

If you were looking to buy NovaBackup 10 anyway, then at $39.99 US, it’s a good deal, consider that the software is $50 on its own. However, it falls short in fulfilling its promise of one button backup bliss.