Hot Swap IDE Drive Enclosure

[JJ_BPK]

I have read back,, and it looks like most of you do not think you can hot swap ide drives, I believe you,,, BUT,, found this on eBay:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=8735086970&rd=1&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWA%3AIT&rd=1

I want a separate drive to back-up my stuff,, and if the need arises,, take the back-up with me when I leave town,, think hurricane evac,, we had four(4) this year.. I have 80GB/40GB/30GB ide drive(s) from my old system that would be well suited for back-up,, and go.....

Could this work??? I don't reely need HOT swap,, I could be satisfied with plugging the drive in before POST and out after shutdown..


Thanks
Jim

PS: If you hadn't heard,, We had postponed Fantasy Fest because of Wilma,, It is this week-end,, Get your body paint on and come on down...

[MisterEd]

I have read back,, and it looks like most of you do not think you can hot swap ide drives, I believe you,,, BUT,, found this on eBay:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=8735086970&rd=1&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWA%3AIT&rd=1

I want a separate drive to back-up my stuff,, and if the need arises,, take the back-up with me when I leave town,, think hurricane evac,, we had four(4) this year.. I have 80GB/40GB/30GB ide drive(s) from my old system that would be well suited for back-up,, and go.....

Could this work??? I don't reely need HOT swap,, I could be satisfied with plugging the drive in before POST and out after shutdown..


Here are some more links to what looks like the same product:

Mobile Rack Removable Rack w/Fan (Beige) (http://www.evertek.com/viewpart.asp?auto=2120)

installation guide (http://www.genica.com/drivers/GN210man.pdf)

According to the manual this enclosure will only hot-swap in Windows 98/98SE. There is a reason you do not see IDE hot-swap drives. The IDE interface and Windows was not designed for it.

I have worked with a number of internal IDE hard drive enclosures. They work fine if you need to swap out IDE drives when the system is unpowered.

There is nothing to stop you from using hot-swap IDE drives with Windows XP. Just expect occasional data corruption. There is also the possibily of damaging your motherboard and/or drive.

Your best bet is to buy USB 2.0 hard drive enclosures and install you drives in them. This will work great with Windows ME/XP. USB was designed for hot swapping drives. Even then you should use the unmount software with them to make sure all data has been written before you unplug them.

[Sleepy_Steve]

Yeah, i had to explain to my dad for like 4 hours one day why we dont just rip drives out of his computer when he runs
A) win ME
B) non raid IDE drives

Master ed is correct in that USB is good for hot swaping, and that for your needs it would work great for ya.

[JJ_BPK]

Thanks Guys,,

I'm still looking at the ide pluggables,,,

I currently use USB 2.0 for my micro-drive and SD stick for the digital camera,,, it's is safe and plug-n-play,, but not fast..

Besides the normal, letters, fia, jokes, & business data ... I want to save my photos & Vid's,, Have about 1.2Tb..

Me thinks USB 2.0 is a bit slow,, I know I could set up a "only new or revised" task,, but I like the old Ghost image complete drive.. Set it up for 2AM,, go to bed..

AND Like I said,, I don't mind a cold start & power down to pull out the drive..

I do gotta say,, I read some on the 2.5" pocket USB drives,, they sure are small,, no brick,, and can be read just about anywhere...

So,, I guess it's an open thread,, to late for Santa's list,, maybe BD pres in Jan??

Tx
Jim

[MisterEd]

A Moble Rack should be fine for you then. It included the rack which mounts inside a 5-1/4 inch bay and a removable tray for the hard drive. You only then need to buy additional trays for each hard drive you want to mount in the rack.

[Randyman...]

I use something like that in my PC for backup-drives. I was not about to risk "Hot Swapping" to a live IDE bus (possible data corruption and hardware damage can result as mentioned), so I added a PATA-to-Firewire bridge-board from "www.cooldrives.com" that plugs directly into the back of the chassis, and interfaced via the internal Firewire port on my MoBo. I added a front-panel switch to the Firewire Bridgeboard's +5v power connection, as booting w/o a HD in the drive bay causes windows to hang. I just leave the switch off unless I'm backing-up to the removable HD. I have 5 or 6 caddies with HD's from 300Gigs (for DATA B/U) all the way to 30Gigs (for OS images).

:cool: