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Advice re: removable hard drives for desktop systems?

C

Clockverk

Junior Member
I'm looking for any advice on the right hardware and requirements necessary to get a removeable hard drive setup in a run-of-the-mill desktop system. I've thought about the alternatives to allow my system and data be secure when I'm away from the PC each night, and taking the HD with me is really the only solution. Also, I'd like to have a second drive/cartridge to toss in with the basics like Office so my machine would function while i'm away.

My understanding of it is that you mount a 3.5" HD in a cartridge (not unlike the CD caddys of long ago) and then that cartrige slides into a bay mounted in an open 5.25" slot. The motherboard's ide cable connects to the back of the bay. I assume there is some sort of nonstandard connector providing power and data to the drive when you slide it in.

Are there any specific brands and such to look into? Any snags i'm not thinking of? What kind of investment does this require, not including the cost of the HDs? I tried searching google and pricewatch, but i must not know the right terms to get any useful info. If anyone has any first hand experience or could point me to a good resource/vendor, I would very much appreciate it. I have seen mention of better hardware being required for ATA66/100 and 7,200 RPM drives, so that's a consideration, too.

Can a slave drive still be used on the same channel as a removeable IDE master? It would be nice to allow basic wordprocessing and spreadsheet stuff to be common on either machine. Also, cloning the drive after the initial install would save a lot of repeat driver chasing.
 
Here's a link to where you can buy one. Lian Li is supposed to make good ones. Your computer will just look at them as normal HDs. You can set them up however you want. Sounds like a good idea.
 


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My understanding of it is that you mount a 3.5" HD in a cartridge (not unlike the CD caddys of long ago) and then that cartrige slides into a bay mounted in an open 5.25" slot. The motherboard's ide cable connects to the back of the bay. I assume there is some sort of nonstandard connector providing power and data to the drive when you slide it in. >>



Yes, you're exactly right.

I have all myy HDDs set up in removable bays. I have 2 removable bays in my box. One bay is used for my (boot) OS-Apps drive, the other bay is used for my backup drive. I mess with different OS'es a lot so I can just swap out the drive in the first bay and still keep my backup data all on one drive (the second drive).

The mobile racks I use are the Lian-Li RH-32's. They have an aluminum tray and a cooling fan in the back that draws air through the drive. I like the aluminum because they are sturdier than the plastic trays and the aluminum acts as a heatsink to draw the heat away from the drive. There are more expensive racks like the Dataport racks. These cost over $100 ea. for the IDE/ATA100 Aluminum versions, and extra trays cost $35+. The Lian-Li's that I use cost $25 and the extra trays cost $17 from Directron. I have 2 racks and about 6 trays for my system.

I love the idea of mobile HDD racks. When I'm away from my computer or I'm messing with some new or experimental OS, I just pull out the tray with my data HDD on it and I know that it's safe. I love being able to swap out entire OS'es in about 30secs. (plus boot time).

I think you can tell that I'm sold on this idea. I can't ever imagine doing it any other way. It's just too safe and convienent using the mobile racks.
 
Yeah, I love being able to use my work pc for experimentation. If this works well, I will definately go for the same thing at home. I was originally looking at using a Romtec Trios switch in my home machine, but gave up on the idea 'cause it was a pain in the ass. Throwing in a removeable drive would be much more convenient there, too. Call me crazy, the Trios is just too ugly.

Rather than starting a new thread, 24" - 36" IDE cables ... how bad is the performance? I have an Antec 1040 case, so it's a damn long walk from the IDE controller on my Epox 8kha+ to the upper 5.25" bays. Installing a switch or a removeable bay would require a little more than 18" so I'm nervous that although the device itself might not slow me down, the wiring will. Is the 18" thing an outdated spec?
 
I have been looking to do the same thing. I saw the link to a removable tray on Anandtech. It looks really cool!!!! It has a LCD display that has LOTS of info on it. To see what all the display does, download installation file here (It takes awile) To see the product go here It is aluminum, with a key lock and also has fan cooling built in. And now the best part -- I called them and the one with the LCD display is only $35!!!! 😀 Sounds like a good deal to me!!

Now the bad news, I also asked how much for an extra tray, and they said they don't sell a tray by itself!!! I told the guy on the phone "That kind of defeats the purpose of moving a drive from one computer to another doesn't it?? (like the graphic on there site shows). Then he put me on hold for a minute and came back and said that it would be available next month. So, I don't know about the product, but the knowledge of the staff did not impress me 🙁 Anyone have any experience with this product????
 
Yeah, I totally agree with RalfHutter on this. I've been using these things for 10 years now, and I just can't imagine why anyone would opt to Dual-Boot from the same hard disk when this option is clearly superior. Personally, I have a Win2K disk that I use for everything but gaming, and a Win98 disk that is dedicated to only gaming. When I'm in the mood to Frag, I just pop out my Win2K tray and slide in the Win98 tray - takes about 5 seconds.
 
I normally don't respond to notes where I find myself in total agreement with everyone - but I have to add my "Yea! Verily" to the rest. I have, for several years now, advocated the use of mobile racks. They are now quite good with multiple cooling fans, and ATA-100 capability.

I really can't see anyone using a dual boot drive when you can have any number of discreet drives all set up with any OS you want - and then by using a second rack in each system, you can have them all backed up on identical drives.

This is my main knock against mini or mid tower cases. No room at the inn! I have to have at least five external bays for this type of setup. But - it really is worth it. I keep my full towers UNDER the desk with the drives and key switches at hand height. Get a bad beta? No need to worry - just switch to the other drive and reclone. In 30 minutes it is history and you are again 200%.

Mobile racks rock!
 
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