Data Safe Printer Port drive systems
DataSafe is an external case with a power supply to take almost any IDE hard drive. It comes with leads and software to connect to the printer port of any RISC OS computer with a bi-directional printer port, that is, most models except A310, A400, A540 or A3000.
So, what's so clever about that?
Hard disc prices are now so low that the cheapest form of backup device is another hard disc! The problem is that if you fit the backup drive to your machine and the computer is lost, stolen, or otherwise destroyed you also lose your backup. Plus there's no easy way to move data between computers.
DataSafe solves all these problems. As it's self-contained it can be disconnected when not in use and removed to a safe place so if anything does happen your data is safe. You can use it to backup several machines if required and/or transfer large amounts of data between them, even if they're at different locations.
The same advantages is claimed for a Zip drive, but transferring and backing up a gigabytes of data to a Zip drive with it's limited capacity is not practical. Plus it will cost a lot more in discs alone than a hard drive with many times the capacity.
There's a through connector for your printer, and unlike some other systems if the DataSafe is not switched on there's still a connection to the printer, so you don't have to power up the DataSafe before you can print.
DataSafe supports partitioning, in fact, up to 8 partitions, so you can have large drives on an 'old' machine like an A4000, A5000, A3010, etc. Partitions can have different formats so you could have some formatted for RISC OS 4 with long filenames and others with 'old filecore' for earlier operating systems. It can be password protected so confidential data can be put onto a drive used by several people but only those who know the password(s) can access it. This makes it ideal for schools as a backup and software installation device because the same drive can have 'public' and 'private' areas.
The DataSafe unit with power supply, leads, instructions for fitting a 3.5" IDE drive, and software costs just £69 plus £8 UK carriage. For carriage prices outside UK please contact APDL.
If you order a DataSafe with a drive we will fit the drive.
Purchase DataSafe complete but without drive, UK carriage
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