Changing HDD in External Case

[Anna]

Anna, Thank you again. The mobo is an Intel DP35DP. You clearly
indicate that the eSATA bracket is an internal fitting, not an external
device which, in my ignorance of most things SATA, I had assumed.
Looking at the Manual's small picture of the rear connections I can't
identify any SATA port. However, at the extreme front of the mobo,
item FF is described as an eSATA connector.
On the front of the box alongside two USB ports is a small port marked
with a symbol which resembles a 'Y' with two = signs and a black
rectangle at each extremity. Is that it? If so, the idea of a bootable,
fully backed-up EHDD is very attractive indeed.

Jim.

Jim:
The Intel DP35DP motherboard does indeed come equipped with an eSATA port,
but in a rather "non-standard" fashion. Non-standard in the sense that the
eSATA port is actually a SATA connector on the motherboard itself and not an
"external" port that one generally finds on a motherboard that has eSATA
capability, e.g., a USB port, or the keyboard & mouse ports, etc. It's
unclear why Intel chose this type of configuration but there it is.

In any event you still have eSATA capability since apparently the
motherboard comes equipped with the eSATA adapter bracket you previously
mentioned. You can affix the bracket to the backplane of the desktop PC case
and then connect the SATA data cable attached to the bracket directly to the
eSATA port (connector) on the motherboard. The eSATA connector is (I
believe) red or orange in color. Check your motherboard's manual. It's a
simple procedure and you should definitely avail yourself of this capability
as I previously mentioned. So the bottom line is that you will have eSATA
capability.
Anna

 

[Jim Cladingboel]

Jim:
The Intel DP35DP motherboard does indeed come equipped with an eSATA port,
but in a rather "non-standard" fashion. Non-standard in the sense that the
eSATA port is actually a SATA connector on the motherboard itself and not
an "external" port that one generally finds on a motherboard that has
eSATA capability, e.g., a USB port, or the keyboard & mouse ports, etc.
It's unclear why Intel chose this type of configuration but there it is.

In any event you still have eSATA capability since apparently the
motherboard comes equipped with the eSATA adapter bracket you previously
mentioned. You can affix the bracket to the backplane of the desktop PC
case and then connect the SATA data cable attached to the bracket directly
to the eSATA port (connector) on the motherboard. The eSATA connector is
(I believe) red or orange in color. Check your motherboard's manual. It's
a simple procedure and you should definitely avail yourself of this
capability as I previously mentioned. So the bottom line is that you will
have eSATA capability.
Anna

Anna,
I shall definitely contact my guru and make sure I receive that bracket.
I'm really impressed with the advantages you have described. Thank you,

Jim.

 

[Patrick Keenan]

Thanks Steve. The mobo manual states that it came (?) with an
"eSATA Port adapter bracket". Can't remember seeing it, but my guru
probably still has it..
An internal backup as you describe has attractions and would be quite
feasible but the portability of the external backup means it can be left
with a friend if ever the house is empty for a few weeks. Eggs and basket.

Jim.

Exactly. A copy of backups should be stored at another site, to account
for events like fire or theft. Key data should get multiple copies, be
verified, and stored offsite. DVDs are good for this, being fairly stable.

As far as SATA an eSATA and external drives, that's a matter of what the
external case supports. Not all have an eSATA connector, some only USB,
some also have FireWire. But inside the case, it may support either IDE or
SATA drives, and you probably want to get a SATA drive case. If the
external case has an eSATA port, these often come with the connector bracket
and cable. So, you just plug that into a free SATA port on the
motherboard.

HTH
-pk

 

[Jim Cladingboel]

Jim, you previously said: "The mobo manual states that it came (?) with an
"eSATA Port adapter bracket". Can't remember seeing it, but my guru
probably still has it.."

If you can trace that bracket, you will achieve two useful things:
1. You can use it, if it turns out to be necessary.
2. It will show you *exactly* what sort of external socket you are looking
for.

You can get an idea of where the bracket fits at
http://www.serialata.org/esata.asp - and it also gives you a good idea
what the sockets look like.

Steve. With all the advantages you and Anna have pointed out, I shall
make sure to get that bracket and fit it. Your eSATA link was most
helpful. Thanks again.

Jim.

 

[Anna]

Anna,
I shall definitely contact my guru and make sure I receive that bracket.
I'm really impressed with the advantages you have described. Thank you,

Jim.

Jim:
Not to make your life more complicated (insofar as it pertains to the topic
under discussion of course!), but since we're on this interesting topic and
one which I hope others may be interested in, let me suggest even another
option for your consideration. If nothing else, it will broaden your
understanding of different approaches that one can consider to accomplish a
desired objective.

Assuming we're dealing with a desktop PC (which apparently is so in your
situation) and the computer case presently has available a vacant 5 1/4" bay
(that area which generally will contain a CD/DVD optical drive for example),
you might want to consider a removable HDD for your system.

For many years now we have strongly recommended this approach for desktop PC
users whose computer case contains one or more of the needed available 5
1/4" vacant bays. There are significant advantages to installing a removable
HDD in one's desktop PC. (As a matter of fact we even recommend the
installation of *two* removable HDDs when the physical requirements of the
desktop case are present, i.e., two vacant 5 1/4" bays are available).

I'm reasonably certain you're not familiar with these devices and I'm
similarly certain most other users aren't either, so let me provide some
details about these devices and enumerate their advantages...

The removable HDD is also known as a "mobile rack" device. The rack itself
is nothing more than a container for the removable HDD. It's a two-piece
affair - the rack itself which is affixed to the 5 1/4" bay in much the same
way one would install an optical drive, and the inner tray or caddy (in
which the hard drive resides) that slides in (and out of) the rack. These
mobile racks come in all-aluminum models or a combination of
aluminum-plastic or all-plastic models ranging in price from roughly $25 to
$50. So they're not particularly expensive items. Mobile racks come in
various versions, depending upon whether the hard drive to be housed is an
IDE/PATA, SATA, or SCSI device. A Google search for "removable hard drive
mobile racks" will result in a wealth of information on these products and
their vendors.

(BTW, for the past three years or so since we've been primarily working with
SATA HDDs, we've been using the Athena Power MR-125 model which newegg sells
for about $21 (incl. shipping) - See
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817123302
It's an all-plastic model but has proven very reliable. We've installed
scores of these devices in various machines and have experienced very few
problems re defective units or other issues. One of its nice features is a
whisper-quiet 80 mm bottom-mounted fan.)


The installation of these devices is simplicity itself - no more difficult
than installing an optical drive. After the rack is installed you just plop
the hard drive into the removable tray (caddy), make two simple connections
(power & data cable - and depending upon the design of the tray & rack even
those connections are frequently unnecessary), and slide the tray into the
mobile rack. The SATA data cable and power cable from the rack to the
motherboard's SATA connector and the power supply respectively are
accordingly connected. Note that the removable hard drive mobile racks we
are discussing are designed to be installed in desktop computers and not
laptop or notebook computers. The size, weight, and design considerations of
laptops/notebooks do not allow for this hardware configuration.

These mobile racks are nearly always equipped with a ON-OFF keylock, so that
a simple turn of the key, in effect, activates the HDD. For added security
you can push or pull the removable tray in or out of the rack using the
tray's handle, thus electrically/physically connecting or disconnecting the
HDD from the system. Doing so is no more difficult than opening or closing a
small desk drawer.

Understand that the removable hard drive affairs we're discussing treat the
HDD in its mobile rack/removable tray as an *internal* HDD, not an external
HDD, so you have *all* the advantages of using that HDD as a bootable,
internal HDD.

Can you see the enormous advantage of this type of hardware configuration as
it applies to one's day-to-day computer activities? Consider these...

1. Now you will be able to maintain your working internal HDD "clean", while
you install this or that program on the removable HDD. You can "play around"
with all sorts of programs & configurations on that removable HDD knowing
that your "real" HDD is completely isolated from any problems that may
arise.

2. Assuming you have installed an operating system on the removable HDD or
(using a disk imaging/disk cloning program) "cloned" the contents of your
present internal HDD to the removable drive, you can boot to either HDD
without the need to enter the BIOS or use a third-party boot manager. There
is no need to modify the boot.ini file or any other system file.

3. Each drive is effectively isolated from each other, but if for any reason
you want both drives connected during bootup, you can easily achieve that
configuration as well by simply activating the removable HDD to its "ON"
position . It's an ideal system for computing with multiple operating
systems or meeting one's special interests.

4. Still another significant advantage of using a removable HDD is that now
a user can have an *unlimited* number of HDDs at his or her disposal by
simply using additional removable trays to house the drives. So that another
important advantage of using this hardware configuration is that the user
will be able to employ another removable HDD as the backup drive for one's
day-to-day working HDD or for any reason whatsoever.

5. Finally, since the HDD is easily removable from its mobile rack container
(no more difficult than ejecting a small desk drawer), the drive secure in
its tray is inherently mobile and can be physically removed to another
location for additional security should that be desired.

Thus, with a removable HDD one has all the advantages of an internal HDD
together with the security advantages of an external HDD.

We've worked with these removable hard drive affairs for about ten years now
and have helped hundreds of users install & operate this kind of
configuration. We have found this hardware arrangement a most desirable
configuration for many users. We've encountered no negative performance
issues using these devices in comparison with internally-installed HDDs and
find the flexibility and peace of mind a PC user gains from this hardware
arrangement an enormous advantage for him or her. Virtually every user we've
encountered who equipped their desktop PC with one or more removable HDDs
has had but one regret - that they didn't do it sooner.

In addition to the other approaches that have been suggested do give this
one some thought perhaps as a future option.
Anna

 

[Randall]

Jim:
Not to make your life more complicated (insofar as it pertains to the topic
under discussion of course!), but since we're on this interesting topic and
one which I hope others may be interested in, let me suggest even another
option for your consideration. If nothing else, it will broaden your
understanding of different approaches that one can consider to accomplish a
desired objective.

Assuming we're dealing with a desktop PC (which apparently is so in your
situation) and the computer case presently has available a vacant 5 1/4" bay
(that area which generally will contain a CD/DVD optical drive for example),
you might want to consider a removable HDD for your system.

For many years now we have strongly recommended this approach for desktop PC
users whose computer case contains one or more of the needed available 5
1/4" vacant bays. There are significant advantages to installing a removable
HDD in one's desktop PC. (As a matter of fact we even recommend the
installation of *two* removable HDDs when the physical requirements of the
desktop case are present, i.e., two vacant 5 1/4" bays are available).

I'm reasonably certain you're not familiar with these devices and I'm
similarly certain most other users aren't either, so let me provide some
details about these devices and enumerate their advantages...

The removable HDD is also known as a "mobile rack" device. The rack itself
is nothing more than a container for the removable HDD. It's a two-piece
affair - the rack itself which is affixed to the 5 1/4" bay in much the same
way one would install an optical drive, and the inner tray or caddy (in
which the hard drive resides) that slides in (and out of) the rack. These
mobile racks come in all-aluminum models or a combination of
aluminum-plastic or all-plastic models ranging in price from roughly $25 to
$50. So they're not particularly expensive items. Mobile racks come in
various versions, depending upon whether the hard drive to be housed is an
IDE/PATA, SATA, or SCSI device. A Google search for "removable hard drive
mobile racks" will result in a wealth of information on these products and
their vendors.

(BTW, for the past three years or so since we've been primarily working with
SATA HDDs, we've been using the Athena Power MR-125 model which newegg sells
for about $21 (incl. shipping) - See
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817123302
It's an all-plastic model but has proven very reliable. We've installed
scores of these devices in various machines and have experienced very few
problems re defective units or other issues. One of its nice features is a
whisper-quiet 80 mm bottom-mounted fan.)


The installation of these devices is simplicity itself - no more difficult
than installing an optical drive. After the rack is installed you just plop
the hard drive into the removable tray (caddy), make two simple connections
(power & data cable - and depending upon the design of the tray & rack even
those connections are frequently unnecessary), and slide the tray into the
mobile rack. The SATA data cable and power cable from the rack to the
motherboard's SATA connector and the power supply respectively are
accordingly connected. Note that the removable hard drive mobile racks we
are discussing are designed to be installed in desktop computers and not
laptop or notebook computers. The size, weight, and design considerations of
laptops/notebooks do not allow for this hardware configuration.

These mobile racks are nearly always equipped with a ON-OFF keylock, so that
a simple turn of the key, in effect, activates the HDD. For added security
you can push or pull the removable tray in or out of the rack using the
tray's handle, thus electrically/physically connecting or disconnecting the
HDD from the system. Doing so is no more difficult than opening or closing a
small desk drawer.

Understand that the removable hard drive affairs we're discussing treat the
HDD in its mobile rack/removable tray as an *internal* HDD, not an external
HDD, so you have *all* the advantages of using that HDD as a bootable,
internal HDD.

Can you see the enormous advantage of this type of hardware configuration as
it applies to one's day-to-day computer activities? Consider these...

1. Now you will be able to maintain your working internal HDD "clean", while
you install this or that program on the removable HDD. You can "play around"
with all sorts of programs & configurations on that removable HDD knowing
that your "real" HDD is completely isolated from any problems that may
arise.

2. Assuming you have installed an operating system on the removable HDD or
(using a disk imaging/disk cloning program) "cloned" the contents of your
present internal HDD to the removable drive, you can boot to either HDD
without the need to enter the BIOS or use a third-party boot manager. There
is no need to modify the boot.ini file or any other system file.

3. Each drive is effectively isolated from each other, but if for any reason
you want both drives connected during bootup, you can easily achieve that
configuration as well by simply activating the removable HDD to its "ON"
position . It's an ideal system for computing with multiple operating
systems or meeting one's special interests.

4. Still another significant advantage of using a removable HDD is that now
a user can have an *unlimited* number of HDDs at his or her disposal by
simply using additional removable trays to house the drives. So that another
important advantage of using this hardware configuration is that the user
will be able to employ another removable HDD as the backup drive for one's
day-to-day working HDD or for any reason whatsoever.

5. Finally, since the HDD is easily removable from its mobile rack container
(no more difficult than ejecting a small desk drawer), the drive secure in
its tray is inherently mobile and can be physically removed to another
location for additional security should that be desired.

Thus, with a removable HDD one has all the advantages of an internal HDD
together with the security advantages of an external HDD.

We've worked with these removable hard drive affairs for about ten years now
and have helped hundreds of users install & operate this kind of
configuration. We have found this hardware arrangement a most desirable
configuration for many users. We've encountered no negative performance
issues using these devices in comparison with internally-installed HDDs and
find the flexibility and peace of mind a PC user gains from this hardware
arrangement an enormous advantage for him or her. Virtually every user we've
encountered who equipped their desktop PC with one or more removable HDDs
has had but one regret - that they didn't do it sooner.

In addition to the other approaches that have been suggested do give this
one some thought perhaps as a future option.
Anna

You on your own time or the boss's?

 

[Jim Cladingboel]

Jim:
Not to make your life more complicated (insofar as it pertains to the
topic under discussion of course!), but since we're on this interesting
topic and one which I hope others may be interested in, let me suggest
even another option for your consideration. If nothing else, it will
broaden your understanding of different approaches that one can consider
to accomplish a desired objective.

Assuming we're dealing with a desktop PC (which apparently is so in your
situation) and the computer case presently has available a vacant 5 1/4"
bay (that area which generally will contain a CD/DVD optical drive for
example), you might want to consider a removable HDD for your system.

For many years now we have strongly recommended this approach for desktop
PC users whose computer case contains one or more of the needed available
5 1/4" vacant bays. There are significant advantages to installing a
removable HDD in one's desktop PC. (As a matter of fact we even recommend
the installation of *two* removable HDDs when the physical requirements of
the desktop case are present, i.e., two vacant 5 1/4" bays are available).

I'm reasonably certain you're not familiar with these devices and I'm
similarly certain most other users aren't either, so let me provide some
details about these devices and enumerate their advantages...

The removable HDD is also known as a "mobile rack" device. The rack itself
is nothing more than a container for the removable HDD. It's a two-piece
affair - the rack itself which is affixed to the 5 1/4" bay in much the
same way one would install an optical drive, and the inner tray or caddy
(in which the hard drive resides) that slides in (and out of) the rack.
These mobile racks come in all-aluminum models or a combination of
aluminum-plastic or all-plastic models ranging in price from roughly $25
to $50. So they're not particularly expensive items. Mobile racks come in
various versions, depending upon whether the hard drive to be housed is an
IDE/PATA, SATA, or SCSI device. A Google search for "removable hard drive
mobile racks" will result in a wealth of information on these products and
their vendors.

(BTW, for the past three years or so since we've been primarily working
with SATA HDDs, we've been using the Athena Power MR-125 model which
newegg sells for about $21 (incl. shipping) - See
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817123302
It's an all-plastic model but has proven very reliable. We've installed
scores of these devices in various machines and have experienced very few
problems re defective units or other issues. One of its nice features is a
whisper-quiet 80 mm bottom-mounted fan.)


The installation of these devices is simplicity itself - no more difficult
than installing an optical drive. After the rack is installed you just
plop the hard drive into the removable tray (caddy), make two simple
connections (power & data cable - and depending upon the design of the
tray & rack even those connections are frequently unnecessary), and slide
the tray into the mobile rack. The SATA data cable and power cable from
the rack to the motherboard's SATA connector and the power supply
respectively are accordingly connected. Note that the removable hard drive
mobile racks we are discussing are designed to be installed in desktop
computers and not laptop or notebook computers. The size, weight, and
design considerations of laptops/notebooks do not allow for this hardware
configuration.

These mobile racks are nearly always equipped with a ON-OFF keylock, so
that
a simple turn of the key, in effect, activates the HDD. For added security
you can push or pull the removable tray in or out of the rack using the
tray's handle, thus electrically/physically connecting or disconnecting
the HDD from the system. Doing so is no more difficult than opening or
closing a small desk drawer.

Understand that the removable hard drive affairs we're discussing treat
the HDD in its mobile rack/removable tray as an *internal* HDD, not an
external HDD, so you have *all* the advantages of using that HDD as a
bootable, internal HDD.

Can you see the enormous advantage of this type of hardware configuration
as it applies to one's day-to-day computer activities? Consider these...

1. Now you will be able to maintain your working internal HDD "clean",
while you install this or that program on the removable HDD. You can "play
around" with all sorts of programs & configurations on that removable HDD
knowing that your "real" HDD is completely isolated from any problems that
may arise.

2. Assuming you have installed an operating system on the removable HDD or
(using a disk imaging/disk cloning program) "cloned" the contents of your
present internal HDD to the removable drive, you can boot to either HDD
without the need to enter the BIOS or use a third-party boot manager.
There is no need to modify the boot.ini file or any other system file.

3. Each drive is effectively isolated from each other, but if for any
reason you want both drives connected during bootup, you can easily
achieve that configuration as well by simply activating the removable HDD
to its "ON" position . It's an ideal system for computing with multiple
operating systems or meeting one's special interests.

4. Still another significant advantage of using a removable HDD is that
now a user can have an *unlimited* number of HDDs at his or her disposal
by simply using additional removable trays to house the drives. So that
another important advantage of using this hardware configuration is that
the user will be able to employ another removable HDD as the backup drive
for one's day-to-day working HDD or for any reason whatsoever.

5. Finally, since the HDD is easily removable from its mobile rack
container (no more difficult than ejecting a small desk drawer), the drive
secure in its tray is inherently mobile and can be physically removed to
another location for additional security should that be desired.

Thus, with a removable HDD one has all the advantages of an internal HDD
together with the security advantages of an external HDD.

We've worked with these removable hard drive affairs for about ten years
now and have helped hundreds of users install & operate this kind of
configuration. We have found this hardware arrangement a most desirable
configuration for many users. We've encountered no negative performance
issues using these devices in comparison with internally-installed HDDs
and find the flexibility and peace of mind a PC user gains from this
hardware arrangement an enormous advantage for him or her. Virtually every
user we've encountered who equipped their desktop PC with one or more
removable HDDs has had but one regret - that they didn't do it sooner.

In addition to the other approaches that have been suggested do give this
one some thought perhaps as a future option.
Anna

I did see a removable HDD some years ago but hadn't thought of using one.
I think my new tower has at least one empty 5 1/4" bay so you have given me
yet more to consider. I can't recall ever seeing these cradle devices in
local (Oz) computer magazines, but a check on Google shows a local retailer
offering a SATA caddie for AUD$25.00. Looking good, thank you,

Jim.