Dual Hard Disk - Workstation Backup

Various options currently exist for performing backups of your information.

Data can be copied to a floppy diskette, zip drive, jazz drive, CD ROM or tape.

Floppy diskettes are inexpensive but don’t hold much information and are very slow. Almost every computer has a floppy disk drive, so compatibility is not an issue.

Zip and Jazz drives are fairly expensive but hold a reasonable amount (100 Megabytes upwards) of data. Not every computer can read them however.

CD Rom drives hold about 700 Megabytes of data and can be read in most computers. Recordable CD’s are quite cheap at less than $1.00 each. This is a good option for DATA only backups.

Tapes drives hold up to 90 Gigabytes of data but are very expensive and most computers don’t have one, so again compatibility is an issue.

Every one of the above options could be used to backup your entire hard disk. In the event of a failure, all your data could be restored AFTER re-installing Windows. This would take a minimum of around 2 hours plus time to restore the data. You would also have to re-install all your applications and re-create macros, custom dictionaries etc., and customise your programs to behave as they currently do.

A much better solution exists right now. Based on backing up a minimum of 2 gigabytes of data it is the fastest and the 2^nd cheapest backup option for work stations available and it requires NO reconfiguring or re-installation of software.

How Does It Work?

Your computer is fitted with 2 removable hard disk trays. The first tray holds the working hard disk, which replaces your current hard disk. The second removable tray is normally left empty.

When you need to perform a backup you follow these simple steps:

• Shut down and turn off the computer.
• Insert the second hard disk into the empty tray.
• Insert a diskette that we provide to you. (Contains Norton Ghost®)
• Turn on the computer.
• Wait 15 to 30 minutes. (Varies with machine speed and amount of data to be backed up.)
• Turn off computer.
• Remove hard disk from the first tray and keep aside as your new backup.
• Remove hard disk from second tray and insert in first tray.
• Turn on computer.

The above procedure makes an EXACT copy of the first hard disk onto the second hard disk. You know the first hard disk is working properly so that gets put away as a ‘known good’ backup.

The second hard disk becomes the working disk, so any problems (very unlikely to occur) are known immediately. Also because this procedure does make an exact copy of the original hard disk, when you turn the computer back on, it appears exactly the same as it did before the backup.

You NEVER have to re-install Windows, and you never have to re-install or reconfigure software as you would using other backup methods.

The hard disk trays are about 20 x 12 x 4cm in size and weigh less than 1 kilogram. This makes them very convenient for taking off-site for protection against fire or theft. The hard disk can be removed from the tray and quickly installed in another computer if required.

This method provides the FASTEST backup and restore options possible at the cheapest price, taking into account labour charges to re-install Windows, Programs and restore data.

The chart below compares prices and speeds of various backup methods. (costs are approx. and may vary)

Cost to set up two hard disks as a complete backup solution:

 Additional drives can be added to the backup set at any time. 

These prices are current as at January 2005 but are subject to change and presented purely as a guide. Times stated are approximate and vary with the computer and installed components.