Using only one hard drive at a time

[gdlukes21]

I have two drives, each with a different OS, and I "dual-boot" from Drive C. The problem? When using one drive, the other is uselessly powered up and spinning. To save wear and tear on my drives, I want only the drive I'm using to be powered. Both drives share the same IDE cable, and I believe I can wire a switch into each power connector to control which drive gets juice and is recognized as the boot drive by the computer.

My question: Which power connector wires do I need to fiddle with? The yellow (12 volt) or the red (5 volt) ? Or do I need to interrupt BOTH wires in order to avoid damaging the non-selected (dormant) drive? Any help from someone who knows about hard drive power usage would be appreciated. Thanks.

[Fruss Tray Ted]

Hi,Welcome to http://www.pcguide.com/ubb/pcgubb.gif!

I use 2 (or more) harddrives in my pc and the one not being accessed goes into hibernation after a period of time. But the way I have them partitioned I would not want to disconnect one while booted to the other. You can access either one through the other and if there's info on the one that isn't booted to, why bother disconnecting it? They only consume around 15 watts.

If you do choose to disconnect one by a switch, I would try disconnecting just the power lead and see first if the IDE cable will spit out an error on bootup. If not you should be able to make a switch with a double pole double throw switch to handle the 5v and 12v legs simultaneously but not interconnected. Automotive suppliers or Tandy (Radio Shack) should have what you'll need.

[Paul Komski]

I too wouldnt mess with such a switch - particulary when the drive itself is still attached by an ide cable. Eventually SATA drives will be hot pluggable but I dont see this happening to ide drives.

The best compromise I would recommend is to install a swap bay into your box; you can then easily add or remove the tray containing your second drive before you boot up.

There used to a "trios" board available that would allow you to switch drives and switch one drive off using an external switch - but I'm pretty sure its no longer being sold.

The only switch I would recommend would be one that disconnected all the ide connections and all the power cables at the same time and when the pc was powered down. That's what a swap bay essentially does.

[Fruss Tray Ted]

Paul,
You got me thinkin again! You know there's dander uhh, danger in that don't you?

The left side panel on my pc has been off forever! But I have a pci IDE card now and an available slot. Hmm,,, More drive bays too...

Now I have a Christmas LIST started! Thanks! :D