laptop with 2 hard drives?

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

Tim,

I wish I could give you a brand name for the USB-IDE converter I use, but its
yet another one of those stupid anonymous Taiwanese companies that do not put
their brand name on their products, because they don't want to be bothered (or
are linguistically unable) to support the product. This company ends up
screwing itself, because it has a neat all-purpose product and no brand-name
recognition.

The box is light blue with splashy graphics. The kit does include an external
2.5" drive housing plus adapters for 44-pin notebook standard drives and 40-pin
desktop drives (hard drive, CD-ROM, CD-RW, DVD-R, DVD-RW).

To clone a drive, I do not bother to put the drive in the external housing. It
is not necessary. But it would be a good idea for more permanent use as an
external drive... Ben Myers

On Wed, 15 Sep 2004 00:20:06 -0700, "Timothy Daniels" <TDaniels@NoSpamDot.com>
wrote:

><(Ben Myers)> wrote:
>>
>> 3. There is a MUCH easier way to clone a laptop drive.
>> I did it last week to get all the data from a failing 60GB
>> drive inside a 3GHz Dell laptop onto a replacement drive
>> sent out by Dell to my client. Use a USB-IDE converter,
>> and attach the drive to be cloned to the laptop via its USB
>> port. (In the unlikely event that the laptop lacks a USB port,
>> the same can be done with a PC Card-IDE converter.)
>>
>> The USB-IDE converter I bought came in a box marked
>> "ALL PURPOSES SMART IDE CONVERTER." You
>> can bet from the brilliant syntax that the kit came from Taiwan,
>> which is what the box says. But the converter worked even
>> more brilliantly than the syntax, perfectly in fact. I don't think
>> I paid more than $30 for the USB-IDE converter on eBay.
>
>
> Could you name the make and model of the USB/IDE
>converter? Does it include an external housing?
>
>*TimDaniels*

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

<ben_myers_spam_me_not @ charter.net (Ben Myers)> wrote:
> I wish I could give you a brand name for the USB-IDE converter I use, but its
> yet another one of those stupid anonymous Taiwanese companies that do not put
> their brand name on their products, because they don't want to be bothered (or
> are linguistically unable) to support the product. This company ends up
> screwing itself, because it has a neat all-purpose product and no brand-name
> recognition.


I strongly suspect the same manufacturer sells the same product
to various other "manufacturers" in boxes having having the other
"manufacturer's" names. The same thing seems to be done with
round cables and fans and drive caddies and other after-market
homebuilder and hobbyist hardware.

*TimDaniels*

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

On Wed, 15 Sep 2004 03:31:50 GMT, "Ron Reaugh" <rondashreaugh@att.net> wrote:
<SNIPS inserted>
>
>> 2. Though unlikely in this era of highly standardized BIOSes, it is
>possible
>> that the drive geometry(s) supported by a desktop BIOS are different than
>the
>> one used by the laptop. This could lead to one screwed up clone drive.
>
>VERY unlikely today.
>

True. VERY unlikely today. But then, why roll the dice when there is a
guaranteed 100% solution to the problem as stated by the OP.

>> 3. There is a MUCH easier way to clone a laptop drive. I did it last week
>to
>> get all the data from a failing 60GB drive inside a 3GHz Dell laptop onto
>a
>> replacement drive sent out by Dell to my client. Use a USB-IDE converter,
>and
>> attach the drive to be cloned to the laptop via its USB port. (In the
>unlikely
>> event that the laptop lacks a USB port, the same can be done with a PC
>Card-IDE
>> converter.)
>
>Although workable this technique is more likely to have some potholes than
>the other.
>

The potholes being???? How about some definite information based on real-life
experience???? I agree that if I was driving down the road and hit a pothole
while cloning the drive with my notebook plugged into the car's cigarette
lighter, THAT would be a pothole to avoid... Ben Myers

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

Timothy Daniels wrote:
> "Markeau" wrote:
>> Does it support USB2? (If not, easy to add a USB2 PC Card, etc) ...
>> I
>> would try Drive Image 7 with a laptop drive in an external USB2
>> enclosure (I use ADS Dual Links) ... that *should* create a
>> bootable
>> image, but I have not tried it. [I have, however, moved desktop
>> drives in the Dual Link to an IDE channel with no problems - all
>> partitions, data, etc, remained accessible]
>
>
> So you would use the ADS Dual Link external laptop drive kit
> (http://www.cwol.com/firewire-drives/ads-dual-link-drive-kit.htm)
> to use the laptop's USB2 channel to transfer the primary HD's
> contents to the IDE laptop drive housed in the ADS external housing?

Right ... you would probably also need to get the 2.5"-to-3.5" cable
adapter and adapter brackets when putting the laptop drive in the
DualLink

This place has some adapters plus the first item looks like exactly
what you were looking for:
http://www.baber.com/drives/internal_hard_drives/laptops/conversionkit.htm
http://www.cablesnmor.com/hard-drive-converter.html

 

[sparky]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

William P.N. Smith wrote:

> "Timothy Daniels" <TDaniels@NoSpamDot.com> wrote:
>
>><William P.N. Smith> wrote:
>>
>>>"Timothy Daniels" wrote:
>>>
>>>>Do any of the Dell laptops provide 2 bays for
>>>>hard drives like the desktops do? (I'm looking
>>>>for an easy way to clone a laptop hard drive.)
>
>>>Many Dell laptops support the D-Bay hard drive. I haven't tried
>>>Ghosting my system disk to the D-Bay drive, but I'd imagine it would
>>>work. The BIOS also supports booting from the D-Bay drive, FWIW.
>
>> Sounds encouraging. Is the "D-bay" usually used by other
>>storage devices (perhaps optical), or is it meant just for hard drives?
>
> We've got nearly the full set of D-Bay peripherals, floppy, hard
> drive, CD writer, DVD writer, and extended battery. I think they also
> make a Zip drive and LS-120, but I don' t have much use for either of
> those. 8*)
>
> Yeah, if all you want is to clone a particular drive once, there are
> easier ways, but if you want to be able to back up your system, the
> D-Bay hard drive is wonderful. Since the latest versions of Ghost can
> write image files to NTFS partitions, you can have multiple hard drive
> images on your D-Bay drive and still store extra files and such. Just
> make a (DOS) bootable partition, put Ghost on it, and you are ready
> for complete destruction of your internal hard drive! 8*)
>
> The housing (4P124) is about $30, it requires five screws (7M490) at
> 50 cents each. There are four optional screws (5X488) to hold the
> hard drive in place, but they are $5 (yow!) each, and the compression
> fit of the drive in the bay is pretty good. Add any 9.5mm laptop hard
> drive and you are all set.
>
> You can buy the whole thing assembled with a 40G drive for $104 from
> Dell's Small Business sales, but a 40G drive isn't nearly big enough
> for what we needed. I put a spare 60G in my wife's and a spare 80G in
> mine, and I'm anxiously awaiting the 100s and 120s!

This sounds both complicated & expensive. My IBM ThinkPad has an
"Ultrabay", integral with the unit, which takes a variety of peripherals
(it came with a DVD/CD-RW unit). I bought a HDD Ultrabay adapter for
$45, which works great.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

"Sparky" wrote:
> My IBM ThinkPad has an "Ultrabay", integral with the unit,
> which takes a variety of peripherals (it came with a
> DVD/CD-RW unit). I bought a HDD Ultrabay adapter
> for $45, which works great.

As I interpret your description, there is a slot in the
Thinkpad which accomodates an adapter and a laptop
hard drive, and the adapter converts between USB2
and EIDE. Is that right? Is the adapter an IBM
product or 3rd party?

*TimDaniels*

 

[sparky]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

Timothy Daniels wrote:

> "Sparky" wrote:
>
>>My IBM ThinkPad has an "Ultrabay", integral with the unit,
>>which takes a variety of peripherals (it came with a
>>DVD/CD-RW unit). I bought a HDD Ultrabay adapter
>>for $45, which works great.
>
>
> As I interpret your description, there is a slot in the
> Thinkpad which accomodates an adapter and a laptop
> hard drive, and the adapter converts between USB2
> and EIDE. Is that right? Is the adapter an IBM
> product or 3rd party?

Adapter's made (marketed, anyway) by IBM, no USB involved - it's an
internal EIDE device, just like the DVD drive. This is what I bought for
my R40:

http://www-132.ibm.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?productId=1888480&storeId=1&langId=-1&catalogId=-840

It works great - it's funny at first to have 2 HDDs in a laptop, but
cloning the C: HDD is a snap, of course.

 

[sparky]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

Timothy Daniels wrote:

> "Sparky" wrote:
>
>>My IBM ThinkPad has an "Ultrabay", integral with the unit,
>>which takes a variety of peripherals (it came with a
>>DVD/CD-RW unit). I bought a HDD Ultrabay adapter
>>for $45, which works great.
>
> As I interpret your description, there is a slot in the
> Thinkpad which accomodates an adapter and a laptop
> hard drive,

Right, it's much like the bay for the battery and one of the
possibilities for the Ultrabay is for a 2nd battery to maximize
computing time while on battery.

2nd battery:

http://www-132.ibm.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?productId=1888468&storeId=1&langId=-1&catalogId=-840

View of Ultrabay:

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-45902

> and the adapter converts between USB2
> and EIDE. Is that right? Is the adapter an IBM
> product or 3rd party?

It's also possible to put any HDD in an external case & use it as a USB
device (be sure to have USB2 on your laptop). No need in this case to
use a 2.5" HDD - both the drives & cases are more expensive. The 3.5"
HDDs & cases are pretty inexpensive.

The 2nd HDD in your laptop is ideal, of course, if you want to upgrade
the laptop to a bigger HDD.

 

[sparky]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

Brian K wrote:

> To get it straight in my head Ben, windows sees the external HD as just
> another drive and I could clone (Drive Copy, Partition Magic etc) to that
> drive. Sounds great.

It is, but it depends on Ghost / Partition Magic / etc. supporting a
USB2 device. With Ghost2003 you have to configure it to include the USB2
drivers - not a big deal, but if you don't do it, you're in for a very
frustrating time because Ghost won't see the USB HDD.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

In article <Z9Wdnaya0oZW59XcRVn-jQ@comcast.com>, TDaniels@NoSpamDot.com
(Timothy Daniels) says...
> "Larry Caldwell" wrote:
> > A D-Bay drive just plugs into the USB port. Accessory drives even ship
> > with a USB cable so you don't have to install them in the computer to
> > use them.
> >
> > You can get the same functionality using any external USB or FireWire
> > hard drive.

Dell does sell modular drives that install in the modular bay of
notebook computers. They are also USB drives, and can be used
externally to the computer.

--
http://home.teleport.com/~larryc

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

"Sparky" wrote:
> >>My IBM ThinkPad has an "Ultrabay", integral with the unit,
> >>which takes a variety of peripherals (it came with a
> >>DVD/CD-RW unit). I bought a HDD Ultrabay adapter
> >>for $45, which works great.
> >
>
> Adapter's made (marketed, anyway) by IBM, no USB involved -
> it's an internal EIDE device, just like the DVD drive. This is what
> I bought for my R40:
>
> http://www-132.ibm.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?productId=1888480&storeId=1&langId=-1&catalogId=-840
>
> It works great - it's funny at first to have 2 HDDs in a laptop, but
> cloning the C: HDD is a snap, of course.


That's just what I'm looking for! Do you know if the equivalent
can be found in other makes of laptop PCs?

*TimDaniels*

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

Timothy Daniels wrote:
> "the yeti" wrote:
>> A]
>> 1)remove hard drive from laptop
>> 2)insert laptop hard drive into desktop with special adapter (easy
>> and cheap to find)
>> 3)clone drive
>
>
> Clone the laptop drive to a partition on one of the desktop's
> drives and then directly or indirectly back to a laptop drive?
> If so, I would prefer something more direct, as in laptop drive to
> laptop drive. Are there SATA drives for laptops, yet? Maybe one
> could
> run a serial cable out to another laptop drive in an external
> housing?

See the first item at link below ...
http://www.baber.com/drives/internal_hard_drives/laptops/conversionkit.htm

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

"Markeau" wrote:
> Timothy Daniels wrote:
> > I would prefer something more direct, as in laptop drive to
> > laptop drive. Are there SATA drives for laptops, yet?
> > Maybe one could run a serial cable out to another laptop
> > drive in an external housing?
>
> See the first item at link below ...
> http://www.baber.com/drives/internal_hard_drives/laptops/conversionkit.htm


Do you know if that involves a USB interface? The neat thing about
the IMB Ultrabay is that it doesn't involve USB (that I know of).

*TimDaniels*

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

The $149 kit from baber states very clearly that it uses a PCMCIA card which
provides the access to an IDE notebook drive hooked up to it. The pros and cons
for this approach are about the same as for a USB-IDE converter kit. The price
seems high, but, then, I guess I don't know how much a copy of Ghost costs,
either.

As for SATA on a notebook computer, not yet. Possibly in a year or two. The
speed advantage of SATA is outweighed by the extra heat generated by fast
spinning SATA drives... Ben Myers

On Thu, 16 Sep 2004 11:26:03 -0700, "Timothy Daniels" <TDaniels@NoSpamDot.com>
wrote:

>"Markeau" wrote:
>> Timothy Daniels wrote:
>> > I would prefer something more direct, as in laptop drive to
>> > laptop drive. Are there SATA drives for laptops, yet?
>> > Maybe one could run a serial cable out to another laptop
>> > drive in an external housing?
>>
>> See the first item at link below ...
>> http://www.baber.com/drives/internal_hard_drives/laptops/conversionkit.htm
>
>
> Do you know if that involves a USB interface? The neat thing about
>the IMB Ultrabay is that it doesn't involve USB (that I know of).
>
>*TimDaniels*

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

ben_myers_spam_me_not @ charter.net (Ben Myers) wrote:

>The $149 kit from baber states very clearly that it uses a PCMCIA card which
>provides the access to an IDE notebook drive hooked up to it. The pros and cons
>for this approach are about the same as for a USB-IDE converter kit. The price
>seems high, but, then, I guess I don't know how much a copy of Ghost costs,
>either.

$70. FWIW, it's a single computer license, so the "send it back when
you're done" thing isn't strictly legal.

>As for SATA on a notebook computer, not yet. Possibly in a year or two. The
>speed advantage of SATA is outweighed by the extra heat generated by fast
>spinning SATA drives... Ben Myers

You could have a 3600RPM drive with a SATA interface, and the FD
bearings on higher (rotational) speed drives make them pretty
low-power. SATA gets you higher-speed interfaces (which laptops can't
currently take advantage of), ease of cabling (which isn't a laptop
problem), and (eventually) hot-swap capabilities (which already exists
in laptops with removable bay drives).

SATA laptop drives are going to be a chicken/egg thing, as no laptop
mfr is going to pay lots extra for the drives, and the drives aren't
going to be lowcost till everyone uses them.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

(Ben Myers)> wrote:
> The $149 kit from baber states very clearly that it uses a PCMCIA card which
> provides the access to an IDE notebook drive hooked up to it. The pros and cons
> for this approach are about the same as for a USB-IDE converter kit. The price
> seems high, but, then, I guess I don't know how much a copy of Ghost costs,
> either.

Ghost 9 costs $70, but since I already have Drive Image 7, any cost for
cloning software is excessive. It's good to know, though, that there are
several approaches to meet the need.

*TimDaniels*

 

[sparky]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

Timothy Daniels wrote:
> "Sparky" wrote:
>
>>>>My IBM ThinkPad has an "Ultrabay", integral with the unit,
>>>>which takes a variety of peripherals (it came with a
>>>>DVD/CD-RW unit). I bought a HDD Ultrabay adapter
>>>>for $45, which works great.
>>>
>>Adapter's made (marketed, anyway) by IBM, no USB involved -
>>it's an internal EIDE device, just like the DVD drive. This is what
>>I bought for my R40:
>>
>>http://www-132.ibm.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?productId=1888480&storeId=1&langId=-1&catalogId=-840
>>
>>It works great - it's funny at first to have 2 HDDs in a laptop, but
>>cloning the C: HDD is a snap, of course.
>
> That's just what I'm looking for! Do you know if the equivalent
> can be found in other makes of laptop PCs?

Looks as though Dell offers it for at least some of their laptops.

http://www2.shopping.com/xPF-Dell_Dell_Inspiron_Latitude_Hard_Drive

http://www.dealtime.com/xPO-Dell_48CVX_Dell_Hard_Drive_Caddy_for_the_Latitude_C800_and_Inspiron_8000_and_8100_Series

http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/ProductDetail.aspx?sku=A0062302&Page=productlisting.aspx&spagenum=2&items_per_page=25&orderby=&sortdirection=&image_flag=True&show_summary=True&category_id=5704&brandid=&mnfsku=&SearchType=&Pageb4Search=&ModelSelection=&iCompatid=&selectiontypeids=&l=en&c=us&cs=04&SubmitSearch=&servicetag=&reset=False&k=&mnf=&prst=&prEnd=&InStock=&refurbished=&fe=

Do they have Google in your area?

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

"Sparky" wrote:
> Timothy Daniels wrote:
> > That's just what I'm looking for! Do you know if the equivalent
> > can be found in other makes of laptop PCs?
>
> Looks as though Dell offers it for at least some of their laptops.
>
> http://www2.shopping.com/xPF-Dell_Dell_Inspiron_Latitude_Hard_Drive
>
> http://www.dealtime.com/xPO-Dell_48CVX_Dell_Hard_Drive_Caddy_for_the_Latitude_C800_and_Inspiron_8000_and_8100_Series
>
>
http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/ProductDetail.aspx?sku=A0062302&Page=productlisting.aspx&spagenum=2&items_per_page=25&orderby=&sortdirection=&image_flag=True&show_summary=True&category_id=5704&brandid=&mnfsku=&SearchType=&Pageb4Search=&ModelSelection=&iCompatid=&selectiontypeids=&l=en&c=us&cs=04&SubmitSearch=&servicetag=&reset=False&k=&mnf=&prst=&prEnd=&InStock=&refurbished=&fe=
>
> Do they have Google in your area?

Thanks for the links. Yes, Dell appears to have the equivalent of the
IMB Ultrabay. I didn't try Google because I didn't know what terms
to search with - "ultrabay equivalent" just didn't seem to the right terms.
I'll go check out Sony, now, since I can get 40% discounts on Sony
equipment.

*TimDaniels*

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

Since the push to SATA is for speed, speed and more speed, a 3600 rpm SATA could
be designed and built. But it would seem to be an oxymoron. No sense having a
fast bus to transfer data from drive to memory when the drive itself can't feed
data at anywhere near bus speeds. Of course, with a high enough track density,
the transfer rate of even a 3600 rpm drive could be improved... Ben Myers

On Thu, 16 Sep 2004 17:38:59 -0400, William P.N. Smith wrote:

>ben_myers_spam_me_not @ charter.net (Ben Myers) wrote:
>
>>The $149 kit from baber states very clearly that it uses a PCMCIA card which
>>provides the access to an IDE notebook drive hooked up to it. The pros and cons
>>for this approach are about the same as for a USB-IDE converter kit. The price
>>seems high, but, then, I guess I don't know how much a copy of Ghost costs,
>>either.
>
>$70. FWIW, it's a single computer license, so the "send it back when
>you're done" thing isn't strictly legal.
>
>>As for SATA on a notebook computer, not yet. Possibly in a year or two. The
>>speed advantage of SATA is outweighed by the extra heat generated by fast
>>spinning SATA drives... Ben Myers
>
>You could have a 3600RPM drive with a SATA interface, and the FD
>bearings on higher (rotational) speed drives make them pretty
>low-power. SATA gets you higher-speed interfaces (which laptops can't
>currently take advantage of), ease of cabling (which isn't a laptop
>problem), and (eventually) hot-swap capabilities (which already exists
>in laptops with removable bay drives).
>
>SATA laptop drives are going to be a chicken/egg thing, as no laptop
>mfr is going to pay lots extra for the drives, and the drives aren't
>going to be lowcost till everyone uses them.
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

I encourage you to check on eBay. There are literally hundreds of various
USB-IDE kits up for auction, many for reasonable prices. Also USB cases to hold
notebook drives, in the event that one wants to keep a drive somewhat
permanently in a USB case... Ben Myers

On Thu, 16 Sep 2004 18:55:52 -0700, "Timothy Daniels" <TDaniels@NoSpamDot.com>
wrote:

>(Ben Myers)> wrote:
>> The $149 kit from baber states very clearly that it uses a PCMCIA card which
>> provides the access to an IDE notebook drive hooked up to it. The pros and cons
>> for this approach are about the same as for a USB-IDE converter kit. The price
>> seems high, but, then, I guess I don't know how much a copy of Ghost costs,
>> either.
>
>Ghost 9 costs $70, but since I already have Drive Image 7, any cost for
>cloning software is excessive. It's good to know, though, that there are
>several approaches to meet the need.
>
>*TimDaniels*
>
>
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

(Ben Myers)> wrote:
> I encourage you to check on eBay. There are literally hundreds of various
> USB-IDE kits up for auction, many for reasonable prices. Also USB
> cases to hold notebook drives, in the event that one wants to keep a drive
> somewhat permanently in a USB case...

I feel another epic search coming on.... Just selecting which
removable caddy to use for my desktop took months!

*TimDaniels*

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

"Timothy Daniels" <TDaniels@NoSpamDot.com> wrote:
> I feel another epic search coming on.... Just selecting which
>removable caddy to use for my desktop took months!

I'm a bit confused as to what you want. If your laptop drive fails,
do you want to be able to boot off the spare, replace the main drive
and copy your image back, or what? All of these options and more have
been suggested, but you don't seem to like any of them...

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

<William P.N. Smith> wrote:
> I'm a bit confused as to what you want. If your laptop drive fails,
> do you want to be able to boot off the spare, replace the main drive
> and copy your image back, or what? All of these options and more have
> been suggested, but you don't seem to like any of them...


Ideally, I'd like to boot up from a 2nd internal HD, just as I can
do now with my desktop. Absent a 2nd internal HD, I'd like to
swap HDs using a spare that I can easily reach. To keep cloning
an easy and fast process and to not slow down the system if it's
running off a clone, I'd prefer a straight IDE transfer without
going through a USB or FireWire conversion. I do NOT want to
have to re-copy a system from an archive HD floating about in an
external enclosure with wires trailing out of it that run to an adapter.
I do NOT want to have to use the booted system with an external
HD connected by wires, etc. In other words, I'd like to be able
travel light and clean, and if a HD should fail, do a swap and
maintain the ease of demo-ing software that communicates between
apps running on two different laptops without the confusion and
delay of untangling and laying out wires and external peripherals,
all the while maintaining a client or a job interview rap.

As I see it, the closest I might be able to get is to have an
Ultrabay-like device for making clones, and accept having to
open the laptop in the field to swap HDs in the event of a failure.
BTW, how hard is swapping laptop HDs in the field?

*TimDaniels*

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

On Sat, 18 Sep 2004 11:25:36 -0700, "Timothy Daniels" <TDaniels@NoSpamDot.com>
wrote:

><William P.N. Smith> wrote:
>> I'm a bit confused as to what you want. If your laptop drive fails,
>> do you want to be able to boot off the spare, replace the main drive
>> and copy your image back, or what? All of these options and more have
>> been suggested, but you don't seem to like any of them...
>
>
> Ideally, I'd like to boot up from a 2nd internal HD, just as I can
>do now with my desktop. Absent a 2nd internal HD, I'd like to
>swap HDs using a spare that I can easily reach. To keep cloning
>an easy and fast process and to not slow down the system if it's
>running off a clone, I'd prefer a straight IDE transfer without
>going through a USB or FireWire conversion. I do NOT want to
>have to re-copy a system from an archive HD floating about in an
>external enclosure with wires trailing out of it that run to an adapter.
>I do NOT want to have to use the booted system with an external
>HD connected by wires, etc. In other words, I'd like to be able
>travel light and clean, and if a HD should fail, do a swap and
>maintain the ease of demo-ing software that communicates between
>apps running on two different laptops without the confusion and
>delay of untangling and laying out wires and external peripherals,
>all the while maintaining a client or a job interview rap.
>
> As I see it, the closest I might be able to get is to have an
>Ultrabay-like device for making clones, and accept having to
>open the laptop in the field to swap HDs in the event of a failure.
>BTW, how hard is swapping laptop HDs in the field?
>
>*TimDaniels*

You've laid out some stringent requirements which may be difficult to meet given
current and near-future notebook technology. The best you can do is either an
UltraBay device or a USB2-IDE converter kit, the latter consisting of a small
drive enclosure and the necessary cables and adapters to attach the drive to a
USB 2.0 port, which I hope your notebook computer has. USB 2.0 will sustain
disk transfer rates comparable to those of a drive inside the notebook. USB 1.1
and earlier definitely will not. You can use the USB2-IDE converter kit to
clone the drive. If you need to boot the system from the clone accessed thru a
USB port, your notebook must also be capable of booting from the USB drive.

Swapping of drives in the field is not difficult at all, provided you carry the
right tools. Most notebook computer drives can be accessed with a small Philips
head screwdriver. Examine yours to see what tools you need. Swapping drives is
quicker and easier if you have an extra drive caddy for the second drive.
Otherwise you have to remove the drive/caddy from the system, remove the drive
from the caddy (usually 4 screws), put the replacement drive in the caddy, and
put the replacement drive/caddy back inside the notebook.

Firewire is an acceptable alternative to USB, tho not as popular on Intel
computers as on Macs. Firewire is just as fast or faster than USB, depending on
the devices hooked up to it. If your notebook can boot from a hard drive
attached to its presumed firewire port, then you can do everything with Firewire
that can be done with a notebook bootable from USB... Ben Myers

 

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(Ben Myers)> wrote:
> You've laid out some stringent requirements which may be difficult to meet given
> current and near-future notebook technology. The best you can do is either an
> UltraBay device or a USB2-IDE converter kit, the latter consisting of a small
> drive enclosure and the necessary cables and adapters to attach the drive to a
> USB 2.0 port, which I hope your notebook computer has. USB 2.0 will sustain
> disk transfer rates comparable to those of a drive inside the notebook. USB 1.1
> and earlier definitely will not. You can use the USB2-IDE converter kit to
> clone the drive. If you need to boot the system from the clone accessed thru a
> USB port, your notebook must also be capable of booting from the USB drive.
>
> Swapping of drives in the field is not difficult at all, provided you carry the
> right tools. Most notebook computer drives can be accessed with a small Philips
> head screwdriver. Examine yours to see what tools you need. Swapping drives is
> quicker and easier if you have an extra drive caddy for the second drive.
> Otherwise you have to remove the drive/caddy from the system, remove the drive
> from the caddy (usually 4 screws), put the replacement drive in the caddy, and
> put the replacement drive/caddy back inside the notebook.
>
> Firewire is an acceptable alternative to USB, tho not as popular on Intel
> computers as on Macs. Firewire is just as fast or faster than USB, depending on
> the devices hooked up to it. If your notebook can boot from a hard drive
> attached to its presumed firewire port, then you can do everything with Firewire
> that can be done with a notebook bootable from USB...

Thanks for the info, Ben. For the record, I don't have a laptop now,
but I shall be in the market for two (2) identical laptops in a few months,
and I was investigating the HD backup availabilities. I know that there may
be no system that meets my entire list of "druthers", but it's good to learn
what devices come closest. Thanks, again.

*TimDaniels*