Author Topic: Drive Dock: Turn bare drives into floppies (Read 31,554 times)

zridling · « **on:** January 28, 2009, 09:09 AM »

If you've upgraded the hard drive in your laptop or desktop machine, then you've got a naked, homeless hard drive sitting around in one of your drawers. Put that puppy to use by plugging it into ThinkGeek's External USB SATA Drive Dock and boom, you've got extra storage without the enclosure.

I've got several old hard drives lying around with great stuff on them, and I can plug them into the dock as needed. At $40, it's worth a shot. And just so you know, there are tons of these from other companies on Newegg.com.

40hz · « **Reply #1 on:** January 28, 2009, 03:54 PM »

Awesome! I'm ordering one of these right now.

Thanks Z!

lanux128 · « **Reply #2 on:** January 29, 2009, 06:14 AM »

i wonder if they have docks for IDE hard drives. now i have plenty of those!

wreckedcarzz · « **Reply #3 on:** January 29, 2009, 06:27 AM »

Quote from: lanux128 on January 29, 2009, 06:14 AM

i wonder if they have docks for IDE hard drives. now i have plenty of those!

I've found out the hard way that IDE hard drives (and, well, some SATA drives) aren't hot-swap friendly. Especially so when the said drive is, ya know, active. BSoDs and hard lockups aren't usually regarded as a positive thing.

But it WOULD be nice to have that ability with these so-called "HD toasters" (I'm hoping because of appearance, not heat!

)

zridling · « **Reply #4 on:** January 29, 2009, 07:36 PM »

This would be especially convenient to drop an NTFS (Win) drive into my Linux box, mount it, and transfer some things to another's computer. Drivers...

ewemoa · « **Reply #5 on:** January 30, 2009, 02:48 AM »

In my recent research into these types of devices, I noticed a comment about some models falling over -- I hope this isn't that common (if it really does happen).

Lashiec · « **Reply #6 on:** January 31, 2009, 12:34 PM »

Looks similar to this Thermaltake unit, which is more discreet.

f0dder · « **Reply #7 on:** January 31, 2009, 01:05 PM »

Quote from: wreckedcarzz on January 29, 2009, 06:27 AM

Quote from: lanux128 on January 29, 2009, 06:14 AM
i wonder if they have docks for IDE hard drives. now i have plenty of those!

I've found out the hard way that IDE hard drives (and, well, some SATA drives) aren't hot-swap friendly. Especially so when the said drive is, ya know, active. BSoDs and hard lockups aren't usually regarded as a positive thing.

But it WOULD be nice to have that ability with these so-called "HD toasters" (I'm hoping because of appearance, not heat! )

"Safely remove hardware", buddy...

Carol Haynes · « **Reply #8 on:** January 31, 2009, 01:19 PM »

Trouble there is no option to safely remove active IDE drives unless you just remove the whole USB device with the drive and then reinsert it with a new drive.

I don't have a great deal of success in 'safely removing' even USB drives as they are often 'in use' when it comes to removing them - the in use is usually by system processes so I don't feel totally comfortable using unlocker to release them. This often happens - especially if the drive is present when windows starts (Seems to be less of a problem if you plug the drive in after windows is up and running).

f0dder · « **Reply #9 on:** January 31, 2009, 01:26 PM »

Depends on how smart the USB device is, Carol... some of the power-off the drive when you do "safe remove". As for not being able to safe-remove, the only thing I've had locking it up is TSVNCache, from TortoiseSvn, and that process is 100% killlable

cranioscopical · « **Reply #10 on:** January 31, 2009, 03:50 PM »

Quote from: ewemoa on January 30, 2009, 02:48 AM

I noticed a comment about some models falling over

Drunk on the catwalk?

wreckedcarzz · « **Reply #11 on:** January 31, 2009, 07:47 PM »

Quote from: f0dder on January 31, 2009, 01:05 PM

Quote from: wreckedcarzz on January 29, 2009, 06:27 AM
Quote from: lanux128 on January 29, 2009, 06:14 AM
i wonder if they have docks for IDE hard drives. now i have plenty of those!

I've found out the hard way that IDE hard drives (and, well, some SATA drives) aren't hot-swap friendly. Especially so when the said drive is, ya know, active. BSoDs and hard lockups aren't usually regarded as a positive thing.

But it WOULD be nice to have that ability with these so-called "HD toasters" (I'm hoping because of appearance, not heat! )
"Safely remove hardware", buddy...

You can't do "Safely Remove Hardware" on internal drives

EDIT: Although it would be a blast getting someone that pissed you off to "Safely remove C:\"

f0dder · « **Reply #12 on:** January 31, 2009, 07:53 PM »

Quote from: wreckedcarzz on January 31, 2009, 07:47 PM

You can't do "Safely Remove Hardware" on internal drives

EDIT: Although it would be a blast getting someone that pissed you off to "Safely remove C:\"

You tried hotplugging an internal drive?

wreckedcarzz · « **Reply #13 on:** January 31, 2009, 08:05 PM »

Uhh... yea? I hot swap internal drives. IDE drives are recognized by windows, but not fully by the BIOS, so you can't interact with them until a reboot. SATA drive hot swapping is fine as long as the drive isn't in use.

f0dder · « **Reply #14 on:** January 31, 2009, 08:09 PM »

Quote from: wreckedcarzz on January 31, 2009, 08:05 PM

Uhh... yea? I hot swap internal drives. IDE drives are recognized by windows, but not fully by the BIOS, so you can't interact with them until a reboot. SATA drive hot swapping is fine as long as the drive isn't in use.

Man, you're insane

Hotswapping requires compliant PSU, Motherboard AND harddrive... and wasn't supported at all (for consumer drives) until SATA came along.

Yeah, I know some maniacs have done it with PATA by tristating the drives, but... ugh.

wreckedcarzz · « **Reply #15 on:** January 31, 2009, 08:12 PM »

lol

Example: My dad had a massive computer problem about a week and a half ago and, conveniently, the day before I made a full backup with Macrium Reflect (found it here @ DC, too!

). I brought his tower into my room, connected the HD to my mobo (this was done by turning his whole computer upside down... ugh), and Windows was like "OHai new HD found!" (not literally

).

It also got disconnected several times after the backup (I was too busy to move it back), and I reconnected it with no issues.

cranioscopical · « **Reply #16 on:** January 31, 2009, 08:37 PM »

Quote from: wreckedcarzz on January 31, 2009, 08:12 PM

I brought his tower into my room, connected the HD to my mobo (this was done by turning his whole computer upside down... ugh)

This I have to see.. post photos

wreckedcarzz · « **Reply #17 on:** January 31, 2009, 08:39 PM »

I didn't take pics - I will next time around though.

It was an amusing sight (minus my cursing like an insane person stuck in a cage).

Took me like 45 minutes to figure out that the cable was like 2" too short to reach it on the ground.

EDIT: His HD is on the BOTTOM of the case, screwed in. Don't ask, its an HP (their laptops rule, their desktops have hard drives that hit 150* F and are screwed into the bottom of their cases)

Carol Haynes · « **Reply #18 on:** January 31, 2009, 08:51 PM »

Quote from: f0dder on January 31, 2009, 08:09 PM

Hotswapping requires compliant PSU, Motherboard AND harddrive... and wasn't supported at all (for consumer drives) until SATA came along.

Yeah, I know some maniacs have done it with PATA by tristating the drives, but... ugh.

I am still trying to work out how some motherboards are hot swapable!

app103 · « **Reply #19 on:** February 01, 2009, 03:20 AM »

Quote from: wreckedcarzz on January 31, 2009, 08:39 PM

EDIT: His HD is on the BOTTOM of the case, screwed in. Don't ask, its an HP (their laptops rule, their desktops have hard drives that hit 150* F and are screwed into the bottom of their cases)

I have one of those HP's with it screwed into the front of the case, standing up, with the plugs sticking out the top. (majorly retarded!)

The case was designed to only hold that one hard drive, when if HP had bothered to do things in any reasonably normal manner, such as using drive bays, it could have held 2 or 3.

To get the hard drive out, you have to remove the cover on both sides of the case, then detach the whole front of the case (because that's where the screws are hidden!) It was complicated enough that I wanted to cry, especially when reattaching the front of the case when I was done. (it didn't want to snap back on!)

I don't think anyone that hasn't dealt with one of these PC's can really appreciate the experience without seeing HP's video tutorial and instruction page about changing the hard drive.

wreckedcarzz · « **Reply #20 on:** February 01, 2009, 05:29 AM »

I have the same computer (motherboard fried from a bad RAM stick, though) - yea, it is just as stupid as can be. And heavy for just a mobo, CPU and case (everything else has been stripped)!

Just another reason to build your computer from scratch, or go my route and mod your OEM to the point of having to ask "will XYZ void my warranty?". I'm sure the downside of my plan is having to explain that yes, this is STILL (technically) an eMachines, and YES, my warranty is (somehow) still valid. That, and my extended warranty through Circuit City was money (not) well spent, as all their AZ stores are closing (dunno about the rest of the USA).

EDIT: Also, that same RAM stick fried a friend's mom's computer when a certain moron (not saying his name, but he is 16 and his name starts with a "w" and ends in "carzz") put it in a 2nd computer - generating the SAME burning smell and smoke. Hmm... odd.

MerleOne · « **Reply #21 on:** February 02, 2009, 06:46 AM »

Quote from: lanux128 on January 29, 2009, 06:14 AM

i wonder if they have docks for IDE hard drives. now i have plenty of those!

It think the connectors are also a cause : it must be easier to plug a SATA HDD than a IDE one because of the number of pins on the IDE, which require some precision and maybe also more strenght to plug/remove.

zridling · « **Reply #22 on:** February 02, 2009, 10:13 PM »

Quote from: Lashiec on January 31, 2009, 12:34 PM

Looks similar to this Thermaltake unit, which is more discreet.

Thanks for the link Lashiec, I like those BlacX models even better.

[attach]

xtabber · « **Reply #23 on:** February 02, 2009, 10:36 PM »

This is another approach which may be less elegant but is both cheaper and more flexible for occasional use:

http://www.byteccusa.com/product/adapter/BT-300/BT-300.htm

I have one of these and find it very useful because it works with any kind of drive and is small enough to keep in my "fixit" toolkit. Newegg sells the SATA/IDE version for $25 and an IDE only version for $16.

ewemoa · « **Reply #24 on:** February 02, 2009, 10:46 PM »

This is the kind of device (similar to what xtabber posted about) I ended up deciding on.

However, I think what I got only connects to a PC via USB -- it does not do so using eSATA as far as I have determined so far.