Windows 7: Hard drive selector

townsbg · 27 May 2019

I'm in the market for a hard drive selector for a 5.25" computer bay. I've tried searching google and found one on amazon for 6 hard drives but I only want one for 2 due to limited capacity in this computer. I can't figure out which category this would be under on Newegg. Any ideas?

Lady Fitzgerald · 27 May 2019

Kingwin is the only company I ever saw that made a four drive HDD power switch but I haven't seen them in years.

Why do you need this? Possibly, we can come up with a Plan B.

townsbg · 28 May 2019

i want to setup a linux test system and my server is the only one I can do that with. I don't want to mess with the windows install or do a dual boot hence the selector. Another reason for the selector is that this thing only has 2 sata ports and they are both in use. I know that I can unplug cables but if I can find a cheap selector that'll be easier.

Lady Fitzgerald · 28 May 2019

Ok, I can think of a couple of things you might be able to do.

1. Make a Linux USB drive and test Linux from that. YouTube Just make sure the boot order in the server is set to boot from a USB drive first.

2. Make your own switch. Build Your Own SATA Hard Drive Switch - ExtremeTech This guy used a rotary switch but you could substitute a 4 pole, dual position slide switch.

iko22 · 28 May 2019

Quote: Originally Posted by townsbg

I can't figure out which category this would be under ... Any ideas?

I think that they are called REMOVABLE HARD DRIVE BAYS, or REMOVABLE HOT SWAP HARD DRIVE BAYS, or variations of those kind of words.

Lady Fitzgerald · 28 May 2019

Actually, from townsbg's description, methinks he means something like this-- https://www.amazon.com/Kingwin-Optim...-1-spons&psc=1 -- only with two switches instead of six.

iko22 · 28 May 2019

Quote: Originally Posted by Lady Fitzgerald

Actually, from townsbg's description, methinks he means something like this-- https://www.amazon.com/Kingwin-Optim...-1-spons&psc=1 -- only with two switches instead of six.

Ow, i see! Thank you for that - I'd not seen those before. Although having said that, I reckon he still could achieve the same effect with a 2-bay version of my suggestion, or perhaps you know something that I do not.

Lady Fitzgerald · 28 May 2019

Quote: Originally Posted by iko22

Ow, i see! Thank you for that - I'd not seen those before. Although having said that, I reckon he still could achieve the same effect with a 2-bay version of my suggestion, or perhaps you know something that I do not.

I doubt I know anything that you don't.

I thought of using a hot swap bay but townsbg made it clear he didn't want to mess with his present windows installation and he would have had to remove the existing drive to plug it into the hot swap bay, then exchange it with a Linux drive whenever he wanted to work in Linux.

townsbg · 28 May 2019

Thanks for the suggestion but I don't think that the selector I found (which is what you posted) nor the few I did find in Newegg would work. They all seem to have their own sata connection for every drive and I don't have enough. This system only has 2, one for the DVD drive and the other for the hdd. I don't think I have the expertise to build my own switch either but it is more of what I was looking for. Too bad no one makes any. I'm not sure if this system can boot from a USB drive and I'm not sure that I want to go down that route although I'll think about it. I think that I'll just get a cheap 160 gb drive from Newegg and swap out the cables when I need it, which probably won't be very often.

townsbg · 29 May 2019

I checked out the BIOS and the boot menu and boot from USB isn't an option. This is an old system but it was free.