Customer Reviews

CMS UABS2-60.0 60GB 4200Rpm External USB Hard Drive

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I was sold on how the product was advertized - it is a great idea - especially "Provides users with easy ways to recover from even the worst data catastrophe" and "With the included Rescue CD, you can perform a complete system recovery or re-image your primary drive." I installed it. It is easy to use and backs up the system and data extremely well. All the data is visible and accessible from windows explorer. Then, one night, I installed new software (I backed up my system and data immediately before this). The system crashed after working with the new software and became unbootable. No problem - I thought - I will just restore the system with the CMS rescue disk. After going through a lenghty process of finding everything on my computer, it eventually found the ABS drive (Yea). Much to my dismay, it then cranked out a few more lines of text and stated that the rescue had failed. The rescue disk then reverted to something similar to a DOS prompt and would do no more. I booted into the system with a Linux and then a DOS recovery console. There, I tried to execute the ABS program files (there are several). Access was denied on all files. I tried a repair of the XP system which did not work and then ended up reloading XP and then reloaded the ABS software to see if I could at least retrieve my data. I eventually retrieved most of it, but the red "X" over the Outlook folders told me there might be something wrong. All Outlook files were gone. So, now it is back to system install and configuration and replacing salvaged data. I decided I could achieve the same results by using memory sticks to save data. The ABS system is now on its way to my nephew. I told him it would be a good learning tool to toy around with, because the ABS really is more of a toy than a useful piece of hardware. If you want an extra drive, this is fine. If ou are serious about data backup look long and far and read as many reviews as you can - I would never buy anyhting from CMS again. Too much hype, too expensive, no return on investment - just more cost in time and frustration.

Setup was smooth and the unit works flawlessly. After having experienced two hard drive crashes and spending thousands of dollars recovering my data, I'll never again be caught without a backup unit like this one.