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FEBRUARY 6, 2007
Tornado by Data Drive Thru
 Long ago my daughter’s boyfriend set up a raid system (one drive saves a mirror image of the other) for me in a previous Dell desktop. It really did the job and, luckily, I never had a reason to test it since the primary drive did not fail. He also set up a nifty network so, when both my desktop and my Dell Notebook were connected to my DSL line, I could just dump a bunch of files into a folder on the desktop of either computer and the files would be copied to the other one. Those computers, as well as that boyfriend, are all out of my life now. I miss that brainless copying back and forth of files between computers. I admit to being unable to follow directions for “FileMover” and other product that do the job like “LapLink.” I read the instructions on how to name your computers and where to place the folders and what to name them and I am never able to make them connect. I guess I can’t say “never”. I was able to connect “FileMover” after about 1.5 hours of trial and error while trying to move some files for that same daughter about two years ago. I have never duplicated that feat.
 All the above is a much too long introduction to Tornado by Data Drive Thru. While at CES this year I received an email inviting me to a press release for a demo of its ease of use. They mentioned that a Chimp and an eight year old girl could set up Tornado and copy a file between two computers faster than two geeks (Sorry guys) could mave a file using another professional product. I thought “That is BS.” Well they did. I mean beat the socks off the GEEKS! Here is a link to a video of that one sided contest. CLICK FOR VIDEO
So, since they were kind enough to give me a TORNADO, I decided I would try it my self. It took more time to start my Dell notebook and the ThinkPad that Lenovo has loaned to me for testing than it did to get Tornado up and running so it could copy 50 files from the Dell to the ThinkPad. While writing this letter I am giving it a major workout. Tornado is copying a 9.75 GIG video file from the ThinkPad to the Dell. It is unfair since the Dell does not have USB 2 ports. Using the older USB speed is agonizing for large files like that but it works. This is important if you are moving from an older machine with that type of USB to a new USB 2 system.
 How does it work? I have no idea. I’ll leave that to the techies. I just fired up the two computers and plugged in the two USB connecters. The Tornado Task Screen opened on both systems. A snapshot of each computer’s files system appears as a split screen. They are clearly designated THIS COMPUTER and OTHER COMPUTER. From there I can click on a file, a folder, or a drive and copy it from one system to the other by dragging it to a designated folder on the other drive. Of course that depends on there being space available on the other drive to hold your transferred items. It is best to TURN OFF any SLEEP MODES before starting to transfer large files or large numbers of files in a bulk transfer. I was just reminded of that when the ThinkPad beeped and went to sleep during the 9.75 GIG file transfer. On the positive side, it continued the transfer where it left off after I woke the system up by restarting it.
 The product is very sleek looking with retractable USB cables at both ends. It is advised that you pull them out slowly and gently but not further than the red line on each cable. Pull gently on both ends at the same time. There is a very tiny instruction manual with screen shots. Although it is well written I would suggest you go to their web Page where there is an easily readable set of the same instructions. It is a fairly good tutorial to help those who want to find all the word documents or all the Outlook Express Emails on a system so they can move them all to a recognizable folder is available at TUTORIAL ADDRESS. This works as well for Music, Video, Excel or any other files when the file extensions are known.
Yes, I like the product. It does what it promises and is easy to setup and use. The speed is slower than a network connection or even a product like Laplink, however its ease of use makes it great for Chimps, eight year olds and, even guys like me.
Current retail is $59.95.
More details? Click here for their website.
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