I use a device called DataTank, which has parallel port connection with
it's own power supply. It accepts any IDE device and makes the device
portable. I mounted a 3 gig hard drive in mine and partitioned it into two
drives. It comes with special formatting software.  It is supplied with
software called "Commuter" which allows the box to be "Hot Swapped",
plugged and unplugged, while in Windows.  When it is plugged in, Windows
recognizes its two partitions and on-the-fly assigns two drive letters to
it.  It allows you to create a boot floppy (under Win 95) that activates it
in DOS mode so I can Xcopy some files if needed.  I use it for a full
backup of certain partitions of my laptop hard drive.

I think the product is made by Microtech now and called XPRESSDRIVE.  You
can buy in US at:

http://www.cdw.com/shop/products/default.asp?edc=124339

or

http://www.buy.com/comp/product.asp?sku=10022287

Maybe this will give you a place to start looking.

Doug


At 11/7/99 05:08 AM , Mick Fitzpatrick wrote:

>I'd like to have portable harddrive box that will connect to a PC via the
>parallel port. The reason I have opted for the parallel port is so that the
>drive will be accessible to nearly all PC's. I suppose I could make a box
>but I'm not sure how to get the power to it or the interface between the IDE
>socket of the drive and the parallel port.
>
>So assuming I find the box, I have one question regarding it. Imagine I am
>working from a boot disk and preparing a fitted harddrive for the operating
>system. Will the protable drive be visible at this stage (as the fitted one
>is) or wil I need drivers on the boot disk?
>
>I live in the UK and would prefer a UK address but US will be fine.

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