hot swaping drives

[Jim Burton]

My mistake... That's where I meant. All greyed out here. I can't change
it.

You do know that driver letters, and file caches won't be refreshed when
you swap an IDE drive, right?

Take a drive out that has one partition, insert a drive with two
partitions, Windows won't see the new letter and will assume that the file
allocation table it has from the first drive is still valid.

If I were to click on the Action 'Scan for Hardware Changes' in Device
Manager force an update of the Drives etc

 

[Noozer]

The PATA drive bays I have here are certified for hot swapping normal IDE

Does this mean that if a USB connected drive was hot swapped the FAT
wouldn't be refreshed or does XP realise that USB drives are 'Removable'

XP knows that USB drives can be swapped, so will handle this properly.

Honestly, if you need to swap drives out often, I'd suggest a USB or
FireWire enclosure. If speed is a big requirement, you can get e-Sata
enclosures for SATA drives.

 

[Jim Burton]

XP knows that USB drives can be swapped, so will handle this properly.

Honestly, if you need to swap drives out often, I'd suggest a USB or
FireWire enclosure. If speed is a big requirement, you can get e-Sata
enclosures for SATA drives.

e-sata =external sata ?

I have a collection of perfectly good IDE hard disks that I would like to
utilise for data storage ... preferably using an internal drive bay
I think I need to look for a internal carrier for IDE disks that I can
connect to a USB port on the motherboard

 

[Rod Speed]

No it doesnt, you still need to 'safely remove' before physically disconnecting.

e-sata =external sata ?
Yes.

I have a collection of perfectly good IDE hard disks that I would
like to utilise for data storage ... preferably using an internal drive bay

Those flout the ATA standard.

I think I need to look for a internal carrier for IDE disks that I can connect to a USB port on
the motherboard

That isnt hot swap in the sense that you can just yank the drive out.

You need to hit the 'safely remove' icon in the systray first.

 

[Jim Burton]

No it doesnt, you still need to 'safely remove' before physically
disconnecting.



Those flout the ATA standard.

Not sure what you mean by that ... they are mostly ATA 133

That isnt hot swap in the sense that you can just yank the drive out.

You need to hit the 'safely remove' icon in the systray first.

Using the 'safely remove' is OK by me

Is there anything else I should watch out for ?

 

[kony]

Not sure what you mean by that ... they are mostly ATA 133

The standard is for a plain cable-drive connection, nothing
additional including no further connectors, no mechanical
caddy that has to align those additional connectors.

 

[Jim Burton]

Thanks for that ... noted for future reference

The standard is for a plain cable-drive connection, nothing
additional including no further connectors, no mechanical
caddy that has to align those additional connectors.

 

[Rod Speed]

Not sure what you mean by that ... they are mostly ATA 133

They still flout the ATA standard with the cable detail
which has an extra connector that flouts the cable specs.

Using the 'safely remove' is OK by me

OK, then that is a much better approach than the internal ATA133 removable drive bays.

Is there anything else I should watch out for ?

Just that any bay system can see the drive get much too hot because it doesnt get adequate airflow.

 

[Jim Burton]

I have ordered a internal IDE HDD as follows:
Integral Cooling System with one Fan in the Outer Body.
Handle to Extract/Insert Inner.
Switch/Latch to Prevent Accidental Removal.
LEDs for Power On and HDD Access
Comes with a USB A to B Cable

and it claims that "as a USB Device this Caddy is a True Hot Swap System"
but I reckon that is only if I use the 'safely remove' procedure as
mentioned in the thread.

If I have any problems I will post another message but after all the advice
given I think it should work just fine for my requirements

Thanks to you all