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Is it OK to pull out IDE hard drives?


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ok if everyone read the first post he said in a hd ENCLOSURE.

if you unplug the enclosure im sure it would be fine to swap hdds while the compys runing

if the enclosure is still runing tho you may destroy it if you pull out the drive and its runing.

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Yeah but that would only work if the drive was USB...and IDE drive doesn't get that function.

Long story short:

IDE = NO HOT SWAPPING!

You can with SATA, but even that I question...

you need a hot swap backplane for this, and you must first disable the drive using your RAID (real raid, eg, 3ware) controller's software. see Supermicro for such backplanes.

ok if everyone read the first post he said in a hd ENCLOSURE.

if you unplug the enclosure im sure it would be fine to swap hdds while the compys runing

if the enclosure is still runing tho you may destroy it if you pull out the drive and its runing.

Enclosures are not hot-swap backplanes. IDE is not designed to be removable while the machine is in use. His enclosures are most likely intended for easy swapping of drives when the machine is off.

I wouldn't dare do anything of the sort.

You've already gone through the trouble to open up your case - couldn't you have powered down the computer before that?

these enclosures usually sit in the 5.5" bays where optical drives are mounted and can be removed by turning a key and/or pulling on a lever.

I've never (well in recent memory :whistle: ) removed an IDE HD while the PC was powered up.

I have managed to install an IDE HD with the computer on.

I then go into device manager and select "scan for changes". Depending on the computer, it has found it and brought it online! On some machines, (BIOS I'm assuming), it just doesn't see it, and requires a reboot before it'll see the drive.

This can also cause damage to the IDE controller and possibly the rest of the motherboard.

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The enclosure doesn't provide anything special, that it would be safe to hot swap, if you pull out your HD, the enclosure doesn't keep the power consumption up, so the PSU is likely to fail. The IDE Cable is just inverted into a proprietary plug, for easy swapping and back again in the bay, so it's just as you would connect you HD directly, no chip, no intelligence.

And for SATA, they designed a special power plug to make hot swapping possible.

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OK, I've stopped removing IDE hard drives from a running system as everyone suggests.

FYI, my PSU didn't seem to mind - I could put drives back in and continue accessing them as if nothing happened. My PSU is 550 W so perhaps its powerful enough to not notice?

Strangely, there was a loud pop noise yesterday from inside my PC and Windows bluescreened and powered down almost instantly. There was no hot spot / smoke / odor / flash of light, so I am not sure what happened. Fortunately, there haven't been any problems since. Also, the hard disks look OK after thoroughly scanning.

Edit: hmm... the pop may have just been a loose PSU power output (4-pin connector) which touched the metal case; I've seen these spark before. I have a lot of loose 4-pin power outputs and fans in my case blowing and vibrating. I should probably tape them down :(

Edited by azagahl
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FYI, my PSU didn't seem to mind - I could put drives back in and continue accessing them as if nothing happened. My PSU is 550 W so perhaps its powerful enough to not notice?

If you are right, then your PSU is VERY inefficent and you have risk of burn if a short-circuit occours, EVERY PSU should notice a change of load, and react immediately, imagine what happens if you have a real short circuit?

Greetz

Jeeva

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I have a lot of loose 4-pin power outputs and fans in my case blowing and vibrating. I should probably tape them down.

NO, you should grab a handfull of twist ties and gather those loose wires together into bundles and tie them together, away from the fans. A wire in a fan will ruin your day for you. :angry:

Good Luck,

:ph34r:

Edited by Andromeda43
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