We all know we should back up our computers but, rather like the cleaning the downstairs loo, it is something many of us choose to put off until tomorrow or, often, never.

However, lightweight external hard drives are making life a lot easier for us procrastinators and the Freecom ToughDrive Sport makes the whole backup concept so simple that it doesn’t feel like a chore.

Installing the ToughDrive Sport is simple. As you would expect these days, this external hard drive is a plug and play device. It certainly played when I plugged it into my Windows Vista laptop. If you explore the drive, you find two installer applications – one for Macs and the other for PCs. This allows you to install any or all of the included software: a Turbo USB 2.0 driver, Adobe Reader, a 30-day trial of NTI Ripper, an auto-archiving application for digital music and a 90-day trial of CA’s MySecurityCenter anti-virus software.

The most important application is NTI’s Shadow back-up software. Once installed, you can choose which files and folders to back up from a simple check-box listing. After choosing which files you want, you then decided how often you want to back up. This can be every time you make a change to a file in a selected folder, with a certain frequency, say every 10 minutes, or on a specific day at a specific time each week.

With the Turbo USB driver installed, the manufacturers say that data transfer speeds of up to 480 Mbit per second are possible, although you will never reach this in practice. To test the speed, I transferred a folder containing 2.13GB of files to the device through using Windows Explorer. This took 9 minutes and 50 seconds. Using the NTI Shadow software, I backed up the same folder in 8 minutes 53 seconds. It's still fast but perhaps one fifteenth of the theoretical maximum data rate.

The drive also comes with a built-in password security chip. When you plug the drive in, a virtual CD-ROM drive will appear on your system. Running this application lets you set your password so that only you can access the data on the drive.

So why is it named Sport? It certainly looks sporty. The red and black design hints at Formula 1 which what seems to be a carrying handle appears to be a thin climbing rope. The climbing theme continues with the inclusion in the plastic pacakge in which it arrives of a carabiner, one of those loops that people when scaling mountains. However, the large warning stamped into the carabiner - “NOT FOR CLIMBING” – is very clear.

Back to that carrying handle. In fact, on closer inspection, he handle is actually an integrated USB cable that sits in a shallow groove around three quarters of the drive. The red and black USB plug slots cleanly into the case, giving the whole thing very smooth lines. The makers obviously envisage you climbing with the thing attached to your belt. There’s a brushed metal ring which you can thread your rope through in one corner – hence the carabiner.

The ToughDrive element of the name comes from its shock-protection credentials. The black casing is made from rubber and the makers claim that it can withstand a flat fall from two metres without getting damaged.

I did drop tests from this height (without it plugged in) and it continued to work perfectly. The short cable prevents long drops when the drive is plugged in but I dropped it from the full 30cm possible while playing a tune held on the drive without a hiccup.

The spec

2.5 inch SATA hard drive with 250, 320 or 500GB capacity, dimensions: 155 x 91 x 21mm, USB 2.0 (data transfer up to 480Mbit/s), weight: 260g. Shock resistant to 300g when in use and 1000g when not.

The hype

They say: “The toughest and sportiest drive there is.”

The reality

We say: “It’s certainly tough. My drop-tests caused more damage to my desk than to the drive and it’s unflinching attitude to being thrown down when in use was very impressive. As for sportiness, it’s hard to imagine anyone climbing up the Matterhorn with this attached to their belt despite its racy looks.”

The bottom line

£97.73 for 250GB model from Dabs.com

The verdict

This drive can really take its knocks, essential for a life on the road. The provided back-up software is simple to use and might even convert you into a fastidious archiver.

The roadwarrior rating

9 out of 10