I just got a call from a digital photographer we all know and who is one of the pioneers and chief practitioners of the craft. He related the awful tale that we hear all too often these days--that his computer crashed and all the data on his hard drive was gone. Luckily, he had been backing up all along, on CDs and a separate hard drive.

The Maxtor main menu gives you options for managing, controlling, and scheduling backups.

If there's one thing we've all learned from our computer experience it's to back up our files whenever possible. You never know when the malignant forces will strike, although you can usually count on their arrival when you're on deadline or you just finished a major project. We all know to save as we work on a word document as often as possible; image makers know that in the long run that making copies, first on CD or DVD and on a hard drive separate from the mother ship is the best bet.

While you can work with a separate hard drive and drag-and-drop files and folders as you go, too often the task seems repetitive and many of us forget to back up as a regular part of our work. That's when it usually gets you, just as the power might flicker right at the end of finishing the latest chapter on your Great American Novel. The key, it seems, to successful backup is to have the process work without thought and to have a system that automatically backs up files as you go.

That's what Maxtor has in mind with their new Maxtor OneTouch II. Once you install the drive and connect it the default is auto-backup each day, if desired. It handles everything on local drives including e-mails, address books, Internet favorites, My Documents folders, operating systems, and applications. The setup offers historical backup copies as well, so that you can restore your system to how it was configured the day before, two days before, or even two weeks back.

You can also choose to back up select files and folders from your computer's hard drive. This is best used for backups as you work, while the Restore Point system is best set up for a scheduled backup at night or on weekends.

Restoration is simple: the three-step process involves clicking on the desired point in time, selecting files or folders to restore, and then choosing a destination for the restoration. Guiding all this is a Wizard-type setup, which shows storage and backup in one space. What Maxtor calls a "Restore Point" is a specific snapshot of all your files and folders based on a specific point in time. Whenever you back up (which can be done automatically at night, by the way, on specific days of the week if desired) their Retrospect Express HD setup adds a new restore point to your backup drive. This allows you to restore individual files or folders or, heaven forbid, the entire drive. In short, once you set it up you're backed up, without giving it another thought.

The Maxtor OneTouch II drive and software can be used with both Windows and Mac. There are two capacities available, both with USB 2.0 or FireWire hookups. The 300GB drive has an MSRP of $379.95 and the 250GB drive has an MSRP of $329.95, both of which include their Dantz Retrospect Express HD software.

For more information, visit www. maxstore.com.