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| The Head Crash |
PCs Novice
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Question: I'm trying to find an external hard
drive to increase the storage space on a 386sx notebook computer. The
notebook only has one COM port and one LPT port. Any suggestions for possible
suppliers and any problems I might run into? Thanks and regards.
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Answer: You might want to consider the
Backpack external hard drive from MicroSolutions, DeKalb, Illinois, (800) 890-7227.
It connects to the parallel port of your notebook, but only when you're using
it. You can disconnect it when you need to connect the port to something else,
say, a printer. And if it's an enhanced parallel port, the external drive will
look completely like a standard hard drive when it's connected -- you'll even
be able to boot off of it.
The Backpack external hard drives come in sizes of 210, 250 and 340
megabytes. They're a bit more expensive than an internal hard drive of
the same size.
Or, you might want to consider another MicroSolutions product, the Backpack
external cassette tape drive. Like the external hard drives, the tape drive
connects using the parallel port. Its nominal purpose is backing up personal
computer hard drives -- and it's very good at that! -- but you can also
use it to archive programs and data that you want to keep but don't use
on a regular basis. You can then delete it from your hard drive, freeing
up additional space. The Backpack's backup software supports the DOS-formatted
file systems used by DOS and Microsoft Windows; software supporting OS/2
is also available.
In my house, we have four personal computers of various flavors: 386
and 486; MS DOS, MS Windows, and OS/2. (Yes, it is a lot. But these days
it's not enough to have extra telephone lines to keep your teenagers happy.
Or their parents, either.) We use our Backpack external tape drive on a
regular basis to back up and create archives for all four. We've also used
it several times as a convenient way to move a big blocks of data from
one PC to another.
Whatever you choose to do, you can start your search for PC hardware at the
MicroStation, 413-5539 or tkirke@uic.edu. Another good place to check
is Elek-Tek; their educational account representatives can be reached at (708)
677-7660, extension 5863. If you want the best prices, check other local and
mail-order sources.
Comments are appreciated; send them to
Judith Grobe Sachs, judygs@uic.edu
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