David said:
Anna,
I think we're still OK. Just my inability to correctly express myself. I
got rather rattled last night when lighting hit only a couple of blocks
away and had to close off without further thinking.
I agree with your three points above.
What I meant was when an HD is installed into a tray (caddy), I am
assuming
that it should stay in that tray (caddy).
More precisely: Suppose my system has two RHD racks installed in the
tower. And suppose I have five identical new HDDs sitting on my desk.
But
further suppose that I have only three trays (caddies). I can then attach
the three trays to three HDDs, and employ them as you have described
above.
One of them as my primary and two of them as, say, successive clones. But
now, later, I decide that I want to utilize one of my two remaining new
HDDs. That is when my question comes to bear.
I am assuming that it is not a good idea, because of additional wear and
tear on the connectors, to be swapping HDDs and trays (caddies). (Note
that the word 'racks' is not involved in the question.)
Real apologies if I've sounded too pedantic, but I wanted to be sure there
was no misunderstanding. I think a lot of my problem is that I've never
even seen one of these racks or trays -- when I do, probably a lot of
these
conceptual issues will evaporate. (I hope <g>).
Thanks again for all your thoughts -- and patience!
David
David:
Your questions are quite reasonable. You needn't apologize for them. I can
fully understand the trepidation you may have re a hardware configuration
that you've had no experience with. And as you say, once you actually see
these mobile racks (I hadn't realized you've never seen one "in the flesh")
and more importantly, worked with them, I'm certain whatever fears you have
in this regard will evaporate nearly immediately.
Now as to your specific question...
There's no problem whatsoever with swapping out HDs from their removable
trays and inserting different drives. Having been in the business for many
years, we do this all the time especially since we experiment with different
makes & models of mobile racks as well as for general HD testing purposes.
We probably have done more of the kind of swapping you envision in three
months than most PC users would do in a lifetime. Maybe a slight
exaggeration, but you get the point. The mobile racks and their removable
trays generally hold up quite well.
So have no fear in doing so. And one of the neat features of installing a HD
in its removable tray is the ease of doing so. One simply plops in the drive
and, in the case of PATA drives) connects the internal data & power cables.
A truly simple non-demanding operation. And in the case of SATA HDs
(remember - the mobile rack must be specifically designed for that type of
HD) it's even simpler since there's usually a direct connection between the
drive and the tray's internal data/power connectors. Removing the HD from
the tray is, of course, just as simple.
We ordinarily jumper our PATA HDs Cable Select so that in the event we might
later want to change its IDE connectors, e.g., from Primary Slave to
Secondary Master, we need not have to access the drive in order to change
jumper positions since in the case of CS the IDE cable position (end or
middle) will automatically determine Master/Slave positions. Naturally,
using SATA HDs, that's not even necessary.
Anna
