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Number : 4219 Date : 2003-04-05 Author : james sadler Subject : Re: A thought on the Mobil-Rack (disk tray) Size(KB) : 4
Kan, The one concern that I have is that the External drive bays contain a bit of electronics. Although the USB2 port is plug and play I'm not real sure that the drive bay and its inserts are meant to be attached to a plug and play component. It may work but I hope nothng gets dammaged. --- Kan Yabumoto wrote: > > Bob Weir said: > > > XXCOPY's ability to clone a bootable and > "swappable" > > (98 & ME) hard disk is better than RESTORE, or > partial, > > or most proprietary backups. As I see it, until > we have > > a BIOS enabled USB2 port (Instead of the B drive > perhaps), > > I will need to boot into an OS which enables USB2 > before > > any recovery using a backup hard disk held in a > USB2 > > enclosure is possible. > > And then, James Sadler said: > > > I beleive that systems already exist that will > boot from > > the USB bus. > > Unfortunately, none of my PCs has the capability to > access the USB drive from BIOS. I spent several > hours > to install a set of device drivers in a DOS > environment > which allows the access to the USB drive --- but > have not > been successful. > > It seems the bootability of the USB-based drive is > mostly moot for the Win9X backup solution for two > reasons. > > 1. Unless the BIOS can assign the USB-drive the C: > drive > designation, the Win9X boot won't succeed. > > 2. Since the USB-disk can be accessed by the > INT-13 > level access (that includes low-level control > even to format the disk), the disk inside the > USB-interfaced can be swapped with the internal > C: > drive when the C: drive become unusable. > > That is, even if you may not be able to boot the > system > from the USB-based drive as it is, once you > physically > swap the disk inside the USB-box and the internal > IDE C: > drive, you will accomplish the same thing. > > So, it seems that the USB based external drive is > as good a backup destination as an internal IDE > drive. > > Kan Yabumoto > ======================================================== > > > > > > > >--- Bob Weir wrote: > > > Kan wrote about the poor reliability of 50 pin > > > connectors in > > > "Mobile Racks" and suggested that USB2 may be a > > > better route for > > > disk backup. > > > > > > I would not expect such a connector to be good > for > > > more than a > > > few hundred insertions, especially with only the > > > thinnest > > > possible (lowest cost) gold plating applied for > > > corrosion > > > proofing. I do not know of a removable disk > tray > > > that has > > > properly floating connectors (to remove strain > and > > > misalignment) > > > plus the thick hard gold plating which is good > for a > > > few thousand > > > insertions. I hope that USB connectors are of > the > > > higher quality > > > needed for frequent use! > > > > > > I ensured that the socket portion of my two > trays > > > had enough free > > > movement and only swap/pull my main and backup > trays > > > when I have > > > a boot failure or system change. I have had no > > > contact problem > > > in 18 months of use. These two (with fan) trays > > > were > > > replacements for two original trays that had no > > > fans. Without > > > fans, tray enclosures can introduce larger > > > temperature excursions > > > of the connectors and higher hard disk operating > > > temperatures, > > > both of which increase the likelihood of faults. > > > > > > XXCOPY's ability to clone a bootable and > "swappable" > > > (98 & ME) > > > hard disk is better than RESTORE, or partial, or > > > most proprietary > > > backups. As I see it, until we have a BIOS > enabled > > > USB2 port > > > (Instead of the B drive perhaps), I will need to > > > boot into an OS > > > which enables USB2 before any recovery using a > > > backup hard disk > > > held in a USB2 enclosure is possible. > > > I'm not averse to fitting an extra bootable > fixed > > > hard disk with > > > enough of an OS on it to run a full restore > (after > > > changing the > > > BIOS start up sequence), but cloning two W9x > drives > > > was so easy! > > > > > > regards, > > > > > > Bob Weir > > > > > > > > > > > >__________________________________________________ > >Do you Yahoo!? > >Yahoo! Tax Center - File online, calculators, > forms, and more > >http://tax.yahoo.com > > > > > > > > > >Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to > http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ > > > __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Tax Center - File online, calculators, forms, and more http://tax.yahoo.com
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