Windows Command-Line Administrator's Pocket Consultant

The Windows Command-Line

Basics

Title - Microsoft Windows Command-line Administrator’s Pocket Consultant
Author - William R. Stanek
Publisher - Microsoft Press
Category - Operating Systems/Microsoft Windows
ISBN - 0-7356-2038-5
Website - http://www.microsoft.com/mspress/nordic/books/book21237.htm
Price - $29.99

Review

Some time ago, I had a customer bring me her laptop. The machine was failing to find the registry files during boot. Normally, booting to the Windows XP CD and performing an in-place upgrade will fix this issue. However this was an OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) system, which didn’t give me that option. I was forced to do a fresh install. This posed a problem. How do I get the data from the hard drive backed up? If I take the hard drive out, it’s not got the proper interface to install it into my desktop, so I can access it on my system and copy files over to my hard drive.

The answer was to use the Hotdrive Mobile 2.5” Hard Disk. The Hotdrive allows you to take a 2.5” laptop hard drive and convert it to an external, USB or Firewire hard drive that can be attached to your computer and thus accessed through your OS. The hardest part of the entire process was pulling the hard drive out of the laptop. Once out, I opened the Hotdrive, attached the hard drive to the interface on the Hotdrive, then put the enclosure back on. Voila! I then attached the USB cable to my computer, and it was detected immediately. I was able to browse the drive, and back up the necessary files to my hard drive in my computer. I then reversed the process the put the drive back in the laptop. I was now ready to perform a fresh format of the drive and reinstall Windows. Once reinstalled, I installed the applications, put the laptop on my network and updated the OS service packs. Finally, I transferred the backed-up data from my computer to the laptop across the network. Job done!

This tool is a really nice option to have available for those times when you need to access a laptop hard drive and do not have any way to do so otherwise. In my case, the system wouldn’t boot, so network access was out of the question. I had to access the drive more directly.

There are several vendors that make similar tools, of varying prices. This particular model I purchased for about $50.00 from Altex. It comes with the drive enclosure, USB cable, Firewire cable, CD with user’s manual (not that you will need it) and a very nice carrying case. The enclosure is made of a sturdy aluminum. You can drop kick this thing and the only damage would be your broken toe. The carrying case is black, soft leather. The cables are just long enough to be useful, but not too long to get in your way. The USB cable has two connectors at one end, so you can plug it in to two ports – one for power, the other for data transfer – if you have non-powered USB ports. In addition to the Firewire and USB ports on the enclosure, it also has a spot to plug in a 5V DC adapter, though one is not included in the box. Also, there is a LED that shows when you’ve got power (green) and when you are transferring data (flashed orange).

The use of this kit could not be any simpler. This is certainly a beginner-level device. Although I’ve only used it once, this cool tool has already paid for itself. It has earned itself a permanent spot in my tool kit.

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