Hard drive power switches

[NoWay]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt (More info?)

Hi, I want to set up seperate hard drives one with linux one with win (had
no luck with partitions) what I thought would work would be to take both
hard drives set them to master and have a switch which would turn the power
off of either one. ( simple two position switch. Using eide would this
work?

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt (More info?)

> Hi, I want to set up seperate hard drives one with linux one with win (had
> no luck with partitions) what I thought would work would be to take both
> hard drives set them to master and have a switch which would turn the power
> off of either one. ( simple two position switch. Using eide would this
> work?

Yup. Should do, as long as you have a strong enough switch, fast drives
can draw quite a bit of current.

I use a similar arrangement. I have a switch which toggles my two
drives master and slave polarity. This means I can access my windows
data in linux. My drives use a shorting jumper for master, no jumper for
slave. This means my switch is just a two way, center pole is connected
to both drives ground and each throw of the switch is connect to the pin on
the drive. This works fine.


-- Chris

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt (More info?)

noway wrote:

> Hi, I want to set up seperate hard drives one with linux one with win (had
> no luck with partitions) what I thought would work would be to take both
> hard drives set them to master and have a switch which would turn the power
> off of either one. ( simple two position switch. Using eide would this
> work?
>
>
Try looking for the Trios Hard Drive Selector

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-detailsInactive.asp?EdpNo=246047

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt (More info?)

"noway" <noway@noway.net> wrote in message
news:7YmdnbzYjLYTL8TcRVn-sg@adelphia.com...
> Hi, I want to set up seperate hard drives one with linux one with win (had
> no luck with partitions) what I thought would work would be to take both
> hard drives set them to master and have a switch which would turn the
power
> off of either one. ( simple two position switch. Using eide would this
> work?

Wont work. You can't have an unpowered drive on the cable. Most current
80wire 40pin Ultra cables are cable select anyway so only the drive at the
far end can be master.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt (More info?)

"noway" <noway@noway.net> wrote in message
news:7YmdnbzYjLYTL8TcRVn-sg@adelphia.com...
> Hi, I want to set up seperate hard drives one with linux one with win (had
> no luck with partitions) what I thought would work would be to take both
> hard drives set them to master and have a switch which would turn the
power
> off of either one. ( simple two position switch. Using eide would this
> work?

How about a couple of hard disk caddies. Set both drives to master, set auto
detect in the BIOS. Put the disk that you want to boot from in the machine,
start machine. To change, power down replace disk power up
>
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt (More info?)

"MJP" <mjpjunk32@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:2s3cqaF1g7hupU1@uni-berlin.de...
>
> "noway" <noway@noway.net> wrote in message
> news:7YmdnbzYjLYTL8TcRVn-sg@adelphia.com...
> > Hi, I want to set up seperate hard drives one with linux one with win
(had
> > no luck with partitions) what I thought would work would be to take
both
> > hard drives set them to master and have a switch which would turn the
> power
> > off of either one. ( simple two position switch. Using eide would
this
> > work?
>
> How about a couple of hard disk caddies. Set both drives to master, set
auto
> detect in the BIOS. Put the disk that you want to boot from in the
machine,
> start machine. To change, power down replace disk power up

That's the way to do it. See: www.kingwin.com

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt (More info?)

On Thu, 30 Sep 2004 22:41:28 +0100, "MJP" <mjpjunk32@hotmail.com> put
finger to keyboard and composed:

>
>"noway" <noway@noway.net> wrote in message
>news:7YmdnbzYjLYTL8TcRVn-sg@adelphia.com...
>> Hi, I want to set up seperate hard drives one with linux one with win (had
>> no luck with partitions) what I thought would work would be to take both
>> hard drives set them to master and have a switch which would turn the
>power
>> off of either one. ( simple two position switch. Using eide would this
>> work?
>
>How about a couple of hard disk caddies. Set both drives to master, set auto
>detect in the BIOS. Put the disk that you want to boot from in the machine,
>start machine. To change, power down replace disk power up

Too frequent swapping will probably fatigue the connectors. IMO, CB's
solution is the neatest, although I would prefer a DPDT switch. Having
said that, I can't see why a single drive with separate partitions was
unworkable.


- Franc Zabkar
--
Please remove one 's' from my address when replying by email.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt (More info?)

On Fri, 01 Oct 2004 16:45:58 +1000, Franc Zabkar
<fzabkar@optussnet.com.au> wrote:

>On Thu, 30 Sep 2004 22:41:28 +0100, "MJP" <mjpjunk32@hotmail.com> put
>finger to keyboard and composed:
>
>>
>>"noway" <noway@noway.net> wrote in message
>>news:7YmdnbzYjLYTL8TcRVn-sg@adelphia.com...
>>> Hi, I want to set up seperate hard drives one with linux one with win (had
>>> no luck with partitions) what I thought would work would be to take both
>>> hard drives set them to master and have a switch which would turn the
>>power
>>> off of either one. ( simple two position switch. Using eide would this
>>> work?
>>
>>How about a couple of hard disk caddies. Set both drives to master, set auto
>>detect in the BIOS. Put the disk that you want to boot from in the machine,
>>start machine. To change, power down replace disk power up
>
>Too frequent swapping will probably fatigue the connectors. IMO, CB's
>solution is the neatest, although I would prefer a DPDT switch. Having
>said that, I can't see why a single drive with separate partitions was
>unworkable.
>
I've been using caddies for some years now for my backups, and in
those years I've only had one caddy 'go suspect' on me - and these are
cheap plastic ones I got off ebay. The trick is to buy a couple of
spares of the same brand and just swap 'em out if there's a problem.
The external interface is a simple printer plug and socket - which is
sturdy enough.
Better quality caddies are available ( made from aluminium etc. )
Check the speed rating though - some of the older/cheaper type can't
handle ATA33/66/100 etc. The drives will still work, but at less than
optimum speed.

But how about a boot manager?
Using something like XOSL you can set each drive to boot on choice,
and it'll even allow you to boot from an extended partition or a slave
drive. Works for me!

There are plenty of pages out there on the web that will help you set
up multiple boot partitions using a boot manager.

Regards,



--
Stephen Howard - Woodwind repairs & period restorations
www.shwoodwind.co.uk
Emails to: showard{whoisat}shwoodwind{dot}co{dot}uk

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt (More info?)

"Franc Zabkar" <fzabkar@optussnet.com.au> wrote in message
news:aoupl092rnujmkc9sjaogfhfm61jsnne39@4ax.com...
> On Thu, 30 Sep 2004 22:41:28 +0100, "MJP" <mjpjunk32@hotmail.com> put
> finger to keyboard and composed:
>
> >
> >"noway" <noway@noway.net> wrote in message
> >news:7YmdnbzYjLYTL8TcRVn-sg@adelphia.com...
> >> Hi, I want to set up seperate hard drives one with linux one with win
(had
> >> no luck with partitions) what I thought would work would be to take
both
> >> hard drives set them to master and have a switch which would turn the
> >power
> >> off of either one. ( simple two position switch. Using eide would
this
> >> work?
> >
> >How about a couple of hard disk caddies. Set both drives to master, set
auto
> >detect in the BIOS. Put the disk that you want to boot from in the
machine,
> >start machine. To change, power down replace disk power up
>
> Too frequent swapping will probably fatigue the connectors.

Not when proper caddies are used.