CMS Automates Disaster Recovery for Notebooks

ABSplus uses the PC Card slot to offer speedy backups and complete disaster recovery.

Tom Mainelli, PCWorld.com

NEW YORK-- Backing up your data is critical. This is especially true for notebooks, because travel increases the potential for damage or theft. CMS Peripherals is releasing the ABSplus, which makes backup simple--you just plug the unit into your PC Card slot and it does the rest.

Unveiled here this week at PC Expo, the ABSplus is a marked improvement over the company's original ABS, says Mark Balce, vice president of sales and marketing at CMS Peripherals. The first ABS offered the backup essentials, but the new version has a sleek, shock-resistant enclosure and software that makes complete disaster recovery much easier, he says.

At the heart of the ABSplus is a standard notebook hard drive. The company offers the unit at multiple capacities and suggested retail prices. A 6GB unit costs $329, a 10GB unit is $399, 20GB is priced at $499, and 30GB costs $699. The unit weighs in at about 7 ounces, and it measures 5 inches long by 3.25 inches wide by 1 inch deep. It draws power through the PC Card interface, so it doesn't require an additional cord.

Recovery Made Easy

What makes the unit so easy to use is its automated backup and disaster recovery software, Balce says. The first time you plug the unit into your notebook's PC Card slot, the software loads, using the company's patent-pending automatic launcher. You then walk through the process of beginning your first backup, which--depending on the size of the drive--can take some time.

But after that first time, things get speedier, he says. The next time you plug in the unit, the software looks at both the regular hard drive and the ABSplus, scans both drives to see what files you've changed or added, then copies only the files with changes. Subsequent backups should only take a minute or two.

So, for example, if you accidentally delete a file on your notebook, you can easily go back and retrieve it from the ABSplus, Balce says. That's very useful, but even more important is the unit's disaster recovery capability.

If you've backed up your data onto the ABSplus, and your notebook's hard drive goes belly up, you can actually swap it out and put the ABSplus drive into your notebook. Its disaster recover software provides all the capabilities necessary to replace your existing drive. You just remove it from its protective cover and swap it for the failed drive.

And if you'd like to move those backed-up files to another PC, ABS offers a PC Card-to-USB converter for $90.