How To Build A Mobile Rack

The increasingly popular method of using a hard-drive partition to back up the OS, a few critical apps and configurations doesn't provide the slightest bit of protection against a catastrophic hard-drive failure. It only protects against file corruption. Instead, your customers should both mirror data to a backup drive and make off-site backups with a DVD-R or tape. Installing both a mobile rack and a DVD-R or tape drive in every system lets you sell systems with greatly increased security at a premium price.

For this recipe you'll need a:

  • Mobile rack: I favor a low-cost mobile rack called the Genica GN-210 that is available for only $6.90 at ComputerGeeks. There are many other possible choices; simply Google on "mobile rack" as a search term, or go to PriceWatch.
  • Hard drive: I recommend a drive the same size as the PC's original drive to allow drive mirroring. This allows the easy restoration of individual files or directories without having to run a backup program.
  • Backup software: There are many choices. Because I run Windows 98 SE, I use XXCOPY, a low-cost, shareware imaging backup facility. (For more backup programs, turn to page 140.)
  • Customer-reminder software: Use an inexpensive, shareware calendar-based reminder program to tell your customers when it's time to run a backup. I use xReminder, which is a freeware program that runs on any Windows system.
  • Customer instructions: Write a Quick Start Guide that briefly describes the backup and reminder software and explains how each works.
  • Now it's time to put it all together:
  • 1. Put the hard drive into the drive tray.
  • 2. Plug the internal drive-tray connectors into the hard drive; screw tight.
  • 3. Insert the drive rack into a free 5.25-inch drive bay, then screw tight.
  • 4. Plug a free IDE cable connector into the back of the drive rack.
  • 5. Boot the computer, access the BIOS and make sure the drive type for the removable drive is set to Automatic Detect.
  • 6. Partition and format the drive for the OS your customer uses. In a typical installation for Windows, drive C: will be primary, and the mobile rack will be assigned to drive D:.
  • 7. For Windows 9.x/ME: Go to Control Panel > Disk Drives > D: (or whatever the new drive is) Properties, and check the DMA and Removable Drive boxes. Install the reminder software, and set the alarms for whatever intervals you think are best.
  • 8. For Windows 2000/XP: Go to Control Panel > Performance and Maintenance > System > Hardware (tab) > Device Manager > log on as computer administrator > double-click Disk Drives from Device Manager > double-click the new drive icon to get Drive Properties > Policies (tab) > Optimize for Quick Removal.
  • 9. Install the backup solution.
  • A. Lizard is an Internet consultant based in San Francisco.
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