# Home Made Hard Drive Switch



## TheTeZ (May 15, 2007)

Hey, im sure plenty of you people have made the home made hard drive switch, you know... with a DPDT switch. Well i made one, and it looks pretty awesome. 
I followed the directions to make it, and it sorta works.... i can start the computer, but it will boot from the newer os.... OR get an error and then start the newer os, depending on which way the switch is flipped. [im trying with vista and xp]

Im curious for anyone who made one... how exactly did you set it up...... bios sand all... im now using 2 IDE HDD's ....

Little help. i can give more specific details if you need it.. Thanks in advance


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## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

That's the reason I recommend the hard drive drawers. You have to power down to change the power anyway, so why not simply slide in a new hard disk?

http://www.computergate.com/products/item.cfm?prodcd=XMRL26A


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## TheTeZ (May 15, 2007)

yeah, the only problem with the slides, is i am a poor college kid, who can only afford to buy the switch which i already did.... I just need to know what my problem is...


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## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

I guess if you can't afford $5.95/ea for two of these, you are indeed destitute. 

It's pretty difficult to know what the issue you have is, but I can tell you that without disconnecting the IDE connector, powering down a drive on an IDE channel will likely affect all the drives on that channel.


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## TheTeZ (May 15, 2007)

ACtually... i cant really.... like i said .. "poor college student" ... pretty much means ... broke to the extreme... But i think i figured it out... i just gotta shut down and try it.... I found something ... theirs a company who used to make these, ... and sell for way too much, but either way they said for western digital drives they need to be set to slave with the jumper.... 

for anyone who may see this in the future ill post weather or not it worked...


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## TheTeZ (May 15, 2007)

well that didnt work... so i switched my WD hard drive out for my Seagate from my linux PC and i should be able to set them both to master.... i just need to work on that when im not so lazy....


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## Jomama46 (Jun 20, 2006)

Broke and lazy. Hmmm! They don't seem far apart. LOL


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## TheTeZ (May 15, 2007)

ha ha .... yeah.... they arnt.... but hey man, when im not at college, im out asphalting, i enjoy my lazy time.


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## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

Perhaps you should have waited to purchase that switch until you found out if it would work.


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## TheTeZ (May 15, 2007)

well all i bought was a $2.50 switch, i had wires, and ... thats all that is needed.... im ok with that, and i am pretty sure its going to work with my Seagate hdd, just need to adjust the jumpers


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## TheTeZ (May 15, 2007)

ok, well my switch is working fine, and i want to add lights to show which drive is active.
I know how to do it all... except what the "5v" power is. any tutorial i find says connect the other end to the 5v... where is this 5volts comming from... Can anyone help?


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## TheTeZ (May 15, 2007)

got it, its the red cable in any of the power plugs...


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## Jomama46 (Jun 20, 2006)

where did you get the instructions for the "hard drive switch" Do yo have a link?


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## DoubleHelix (Dec 10, 2004)

I've never heard of a college student that didn't have or couldn't come up with $10 in a month. Surely you've had a beer, a pizza, or a couple of sodas. 

I would suggest getting the proper hardware rather than risk blowing your whole rig. If you do, you'll obviously be without a system entirely since you're so broke.


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## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

You just don't understand the priorities of the typical college student!


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## TheTeZ (May 15, 2007)

Actually doublehelix, its weird... i dont drink, and ive been eating school food.... Im telling you man im a poor college kid, im paying for college myself, get no money from my parents for anything, and i go to school in bumble...town usa, their are no jobs. ... although, not gonna lie ive spent some money on burgers for some of the many bonfires we've had....

Anyway, i got the idea here, http://www.dvhardware.net/modules.php?name=Sections&sop=viewarticle&artid=4

Im actually putting together my own tutorial on how to make it, with trouble shooting issues, compatibility issues and all kindsa ... detail... since well, i went through it all. umm.... im not really publishing it yet, but im gonna say give it a week and it should be all pretty and better worded, and more ... Done... but heres the link for that one. http://tezpages.tripod.com/hdswitch.html

Yup well i guess thats it for now..


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## Jomama46 (Jun 20, 2006)

Tez, I checked out your page, its so dark I cant read it. Lighten up man.


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## TheTeZ (May 15, 2007)

will do.


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## TheTeZ (May 15, 2007)

http://tezpages.tripod.com/hdswitch.html

is this readable... and understandable?

Pics will be up probably mon. or tues


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## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

The dark background makes stuff harder to read. You have to ask yourself, are you trying to make a fashion statement, or post some useful information.


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## TheTeZ (May 15, 2007)

... weird.... its completely visible and easy to read on my computer ... being a dark back ground with white text.... Was that the way it showed?.... I can change it though.


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## TheTeZ (May 15, 2007)

Better?


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## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

YIKES! You're going the wrong way! It's much easier to read stuff with dark text on a light background. Also, the variegated background is distracting as well. 

What the hell, I already know how to solve this issue, so I don't have to read it.


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## Knotbored (Jun 5, 2004)

red text on blue background-almost impossible to read !

I have an external USB hard drive with no switch, so I plug it into a 6 way extention cord with a lighted switch (from the dollar store) so I can tell on/off, might be easier then a bunch of soldering.


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## TheTeZ (May 15, 2007)

well, this is for internal... because i like to not have external things, Anyway, if i did, you can get cheap external enclosures for like 10 to 15 bucks at tigerdirect.com and pretty decent size hdd's their or newegg, and have a great external. Umm... also, maybe their should be, but i didnt solder anything, i used tape for it all.


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## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

TheTeZ said:


> Umm... also, maybe their should be, but i didnt solder anything, i used tape for it all.


 I'm glad that's not my computer!


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## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

Knotbored said:


> red text on blue background-almost impossible to read !


It must be a modern art competition and I wasn't invited.


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## TheTeZ (May 15, 2007)

ok, now i just feel like im being attacked.... Cuz ... red on blue... Well as far ask i know, its one of the easiest things to read... Being Opposite or inverted colors. But, if youd like i can change it a 4th time to black text... Anyway, theirs no need for solder. Its a switch, stick the wires through the loops tiwst and cover... completely safe. and umm... The End...


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## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

I can't even begin to count the ways that simply taping the connections are bad.

Poor connection, poor mechanical strength, etc. I doubt this will prove to be reliable over the long term, a little oxidation on the wires, and you'll start having oddball disk errors or crashes.

Like I said, glad this is not my computer.


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## john1 (Nov 25, 2000)

Hi Tez,

I read this thread through a couple of times, cos i am very interested
in having a PC that would boot from different internal hard drives.

I think i now grasp the principle involved here.
I think that both hard drives are left fully plugged in and powered
up.
I think that the added switch changes the connections that are usually
set by the little lugs used as jumpers to set the "Master / Slave"
on the little pins at the rear of the drives.

Now, i could be wrong, but thats the impression i get.

It should be made clearer in the text, if that is what is done.

Now i'm wondering if the same thing could be done with three hard
drives, using a three position rotary switch, with independent pole
connections. I think it might be feasible.

However i wouldn't want to switch 'live', nor would i want to risk
anyone else doing it, so i would be looking for a way to cover the
switch in such a way that access was only possible with the machine
turned 'off', i will have to think about that.

Or maybe someone has a suggestion to limit access to the HD switch ?

Cheers, John


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## john1 (Nov 25, 2000)

Ive just read through it again, and now i get the impression that the 5 volt supply line
is switched ...

Tez, can i have some clarity here please.

John


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## TheTeZ (May 15, 2007)

The Hard drives are plugged in at all times, they are also on the ide cable at all times. Its your normal set up. The only difference is that you set both to master drives, [THEY HAVE TO BE ON THE SAME IDE CABLE] this will let you choose which HDD to boot from. The 5v switch is never touched, except when plugging in the Hard drive.

What you could do to prevent a switching it while live, is find a switch that uses a ket to change it. 
Or you could get real creative and turn the bay cover into a door with the switch behind it....
my other thought is that since it doesn't matter where the switch is, is to put it in the back of the case somewhere, it doesn't matter where the switch is, and people are less likley to touch it back there.... thats if the back is easily accessible.


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## john1 (Nov 25, 2000)

Hi Tez,

Thank you for that prompt reply.
Perhaps i should ask straight out, to be as clear as i can.

I dont quite get what gets switched.

What is it that gets switched ..... ??

And yes, a keyswitch, or keyed door is a very good possibility.

John


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## TheTeZ (May 15, 2007)

All that gets switched is the jumper. Which drive is set to master. Thats it... The way to do this is take LED connectors out of an old case....
ok, i am assuming you have opened up a case and maybe connected things to a mother board, Ok, when you open up your case you see a few set of two wires red and white... or blue and white or yellow or orange and white. anyway..... Take one of those sets that has a 2hole plug on the end, connect those wires to the switch, and then plug the LED plugs to the master jumper setting on the hard drive. And thats it... you may have to extend the wires or something. But Thats it... 

""""""""""""""What is it that gets switched ..... ??""""""""""""""""""'

The Master Position On The IDE Cable.


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## john1 (Nov 25, 2000)

Hi Tez,

Okay, i got it now.
Thats pretty much what i thought you meant first off.
But i got confused.

Does the other drive show up as accessible in both cases ?
I think i will have to try this out to see how i get on with it
before installing a switch.

I will also look into the various arrangements of a keyswitch,
i may be able to fix it so that the panel or door can't be opened
unless the keyswitch has the PC off,
some keyswitches also have a little arm that moves with the switch.

Cheers, John


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## TheTeZ (May 15, 2007)

It depends on what operating systems you have installed on the drive. I for instance have a linux drive and a Windows drive, the windows drive does not see the Linux drive, but it wouldn't anyway. But if i boot into linux i will see my windows drive. When i had vista and xp on this system, i was able to see both drives, but their is a way to hide them if you want. one way is to download tweak ui a windows power tool 
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/powertoys/xppowertoys.mspx but you need xp, although i think they do have power tools for other windows versions...

Well thats all assuming you dont want to share. What i did was had a 3rd hard drive for storage on its own cable and set that to slave.


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## spacefart (Jun 10, 2007)

The easiest way to switch between two boot drives is a key operated switch that changes the jumper settings on two hard drives on the same IDE cable. I have a 40 GB Maxtor with Windows 98 and a 130 GB Maxtor with Widows XP Pro. The switch is called NickLock (don't hold me to the spelling, I've had it quit some time an the box is long gone). It is a key operated switch with all the wires and connectors already for you to connect to the jumpers on your hard drives. I used this when I built this computer several years ago. My daughter needed XP for college and her high end graphics programs, but I didn't want to give up W98SE and all the programs and games for it. The switch fits in an open 3 1/2 drive which is just below my floppy drive. When using XP I can see and work with both drives, and also do complete virus and spyware scans of both drives. When on the W98 drive, you can only work with that drive because W98 cannot read the file system of XP and the drive is not even visible. This setup lends itself to a lot of options as far as security, virus, and data protection goes. WARNING!. Do not under ANY circumstances switch the drives while powered up!


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## TheTeZ (May 15, 2007)

My switch is actually the same ... cheaper version of that. its set up the same way, and ... MY SPECIFIC one does not have a key switch because i was unable to obtain one. 
That company that you mentioned does not exist anymore. i have heard about the switch, and ... these are pretty much instructions tot replicate it... but cheaper.... it costs like ... well less than 10 bucks, that switch from what i remember was somewhere near 3 times that amount.

Yeah, flipping hr switch is bad, its the same as removing a jumper from a hard drive while its operating. it will loose its master position. and the next time windows reads from the disk you will crash. [windows is constantly accessing the Hard Drive]


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## essial (Jun 14, 2007)

Well on my drives, no jumper = master, so all I did was have a dual-state switch (or whatever its called), wired the top two wires to the two jumper pins for "slave" mode on drive two, and wired the bottem two pins to the two jumper pins for "slave" mode on drive 1. Wala


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## TheTeZ (May 15, 2007)

i assume you have western digital? please go into more detail about this so i can try this.... this was the only problem i saw with the switch... a western digital ... or any other drive that was set to master with no jumper....

wait... did you just not put the jumper on the WD? because if i do this it will always be read.... and the other one will just screw up when the switch is flipped... if you set one drive to master with the jumper and leave the jumpers on... please clarify for me... 

im confused


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