Is swapping out hard disk easy?

[buildingacomputer]

I am considering buying 2 external hard disks and select which hard disk to boot from. I don't own an external hard disk and have no idea how easy it is to swap between 2 hard disks. Is it as easy as unplugging one and plugging the other? Thanks.

 

[Throckmorton]

Booting from a USB drive won't necessarily work

 

[Zepper]

If you want two OSes, one on each drive, you could mount them internally and use a boot manager software to choose which to boot from at boot time. Most distros of Linux come with a good boot manager and there are several 3rd-party ones out there. System Commander from VCom (v-com.com) is one I've used.

.bh.

 

[buildingacomputer]

No, I am not inquiring about 2 different OS'es. I just want to be able to choose which hard disk to boot from each time. And I don't want one hard disk see the other. Both will not be turned on simultaneously. Can it be done by plugging in and out hard disks?

"Booting from a USB drive won't necessarily work." Do you mean booting from an external hard disk with USB connection is unreliable?

 

[Zepper]

Your mobo's BIOS has to support booting from USB for it to work. Yes, you could get a mobile rack with an extra tray and just put the drive in that you want to boot from. Newegg carries lots of mobile racks as well as extra trays for many of them. geeks.com carries some too.

.bh.

 

[Throckmorton]

External SATA drives would work better

 

[buildingacomputer]

Originally posted by: Throckmorton
External SATA drives would work better

After I buy 2 external SATA hard drives, how do I select which one to boot from? Is there a power switch on each SATA hard drive? I don't know what mobile rack is and wonder if 2 external SATA hard drive approach is simpler.

 

[buildingacomputer]

I just checked newegg.com for external SATA hard drives. They are in excess of $500. I am giving up this approach. Thanks.

 

[Zepper]

Six of one a half-dozen of the other. With the mobile rack solution like this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16817121109 , and a spare tray like this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16817121154 would be less expensive than external enclosures and achieve the same ends. For the external eSATA enclosures, you will need an eSATA port to plug it into - with a mobile rack, all you need is one SATA or IDE port free on your mobo.

.bh.

 

[buildingacomputer]

Thanks for the links. I did some studying.

First, install a mobile rack inside the computer in a 5.25" bay and connect it to the computer via IDE (or SATA, depending on the model) cable. Then I buy 2 trays and 2 hard drives, and mount a hard drive in each tray. Insert the tray I want to boot from into the mobile rack, and turn on the computer. At the back of the tray is a connector (Centronics in the case of the linked trays) that slides into the mating connector of the mobile rack.

Did I understand it correctly? Thanks.

 

[Zepper]

Yup, that's it - on most you also have to turn a key which locks the tray in and applies power to it. Get the model of mobile rack you need for your drives. They come in SATA and PATA versions.

.bh.

 

[buildingacomputer]

Thanks for the guide. Since I already have 2 IDE hard drives, I ordered 2 Kingwin mobile racks with IDE interface. Rather than swapping hard drives in and out, I am going to have both installed but power only one with the key. I hope this approach works.

 

[Zepper]

Well, some only lock the tray with the key, so make sure you get one that also switches the power.

.bh.

 

[buildingacomputer]

I fresh installed OS (ubuntu 7.10) to a hard drive in a mobile rack. OS installation was a breeze, but rebooting is problematic. If you are familiar with this problem, please help me. Thanks.

 

[corkyg]

Originally posted by: buildingacomputer
Thanks for the guide. Since I already have 2 IDE hard drives, I ordered 2 Kingwin mobile racks with IDE interface. Rather than swapping hard drives in and out, I am going to have both installed but power only one with the key. I hope this approach works.

That works perfectly. The Kingwin rack switch is also a power switch. I have used that for years. With PATA drives, that change must be made with power off. If you use SATA racks, it can be done "hot."