SATA hotswap 5 1/4" drive bay?

[Alacritan]

I saw a product several months back that mounted in a 5 1/4" drive bay that allowed you to use an SATA drive like a floppy, but now I can't find it or anything like it. The closest thing I can find are the mobile racks, but they use proprietary crap that attaches to the front of the drive, which looks like a pain in the ass. Can someone help me out, or am I just remembering things incorrectly?

[Bios24]

Just a normal hot-swap rack?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817121177
Buy it, and install your SATA drive. Then you can hot swap it.

Only other thing I can think of is an external eSATA enclosure or eSATA/USB converter.

[Alacritan]

I thought there was a product that didn't require the use of trays. I find it to be a big pain in the ass to have to spend $10-15 per drive in addition to the rack.

[Randyman...]

http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16817998001

These ROCK! No drive trays needed. Hot-Swappable - no problems.

:cool:

[Bios24]

http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16817998001

These ROCK! No drive trays needed. Hot-Swappable - no problems.

:cool:

Well dang, there ya go then. Didn't even know they made one without a tray.

[Randyman...]

I was all over these once I found out about them. I will be slowly swapping to SATA B/U drives from my arsenal of 8 PATA Caddies.

That "Trayless" SATA bay is MUCH shorter than a comparable Bay that uses caddies/trays, too. Makes system setup much easier, as those long bays can be very restrictive in tight cases, and usually only fit where the bay will not hang out into the MoBo (usually the top 5.25" bay). That SATA bay will fit in practically any 5.25" bay.

I put these in all of my PC's, and backing up/transporting data from location to location has never been easier IMO. They kick butt :)

:cool:

[Vampiregabe]

http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16817998001

These ROCK! No drive trays needed. Hot-Swappable - no problems.

:cool:


So how does that exactly work? Can I install it in an empty bay in my computer, then just insert the HD when I want to actually use it? Is it safe to the drive?

I ask cause I am looking for a storage solution for my dvd collection, and want hot swappable capabilities.

[Randyman...]

I use mine strictly for backups. I insert the bare SATA drive, copy my files, and then pull the drive. Hotswapping is no problem for SATA and most chipsets (it is designed into the SATA protocol IIRC). This will obviously use an internal SATA port on your PC.

One thing that would be nice is a power switch. The drive powers up as soon as the door is closed. No biggie.

Also, if you have a crappy PSU, then the surge of spinning up a HD might cause a crash due to voltage droop.

I actually do the same thing with my PATA bay and caddies through a PATA-to-SATA adaptor - then I can also "Hot Swap" my PATA Caddies, too :) But I'm phasing those out...

:cool:

[Vampiregabe]

Have you ever had an issue with corrupted files? I think my P/S is strong enough for the voltage surge. I am mainly concerned with HD data mangling or HD power failure due to swapping.

I just purchased 2*500G drives to ensure enough storage for my little project, and was trying to wrap my head around actually using the drives w/o having to shut the PC off every time, or using multiple external enclosures.

Thanks for the info. Sorry for all the Q's.

[Randyman...]

No prob. I have seen the "Delay Write Failed" message, but that was when I yanked the drive before it was done "Cleaning up" after a lage transfer. Since then, I have always waited approx 20-30 seconds after the Transfer finishes, and I have not had any issues. Just make sure you have closed all of the folders from that drive before yanking it.

A "Safely Remove Hardware" option would be kind of cool, but I can't seem to enable "optimize for quick removal" in my Device Manager/HD Parameters for those SATA drives.

So far, no worries. But shutting down wold be the safest bet if you are really worried about it...

:cool:

[Vampiregabe]

Thanks! I guess the egg will get another order on Monday. Since the drives will never be in the computer together, I only need one! SWEET!:beer:

Thanks for your help!

[Alacritan]

Thanks Randyman, that was exactly the product I was thinking of. Much appreciated.