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Removable Hard Drive Bay Problems Anyone?
Sorry if this has been covered. I've been using removable hard drive bays
for years without problems. The design I chose implements a "Centronics" type connector (looks like a parallel connector for a printer.) Things are great for years. Then? I buy a couple of new WD hard drives and then I've then got problems like: One or the other drive not recognized during POST, sometimes I get clicking by the drives as if power problems, sometimes the OS freezes, checkdisk reports bad blocks. I try the drives connected directly to the MoBo IDE connector. No problems. Smooth as silk. I presume, at this point, it's a drive bay gone bad. So, I buy some new drive bays/trays. I've got two of them. I change them both. Hook the drives up in the new removable bays and BAM! Same problems again. So, naturally, it seems that the drive bays are at fault because hooked straight to the motherboard IDE connector these new drives work perfectly. Anyone else had this problem? Thanks, //rus// |
#2
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On Fri, 13 May 2005 07:47:36 GMT, Rus wrote:
Sorry if this has been covered. I've been using removable hard drive bays for years without problems. The design I chose implements a "Centronics" type connector (looks like a parallel connector for a printer.) Things are great for years. Then? I buy a couple of new WD hard drives and then I've then got problems like: One or the other drive not recognized during POST, sometimes I get clicking by the drives as if power problems, sometimes the OS freezes, checkdisk reports bad blocks. I try the drives connected directly to the MoBo IDE connector. No problems. Smooth as silk. I presume, at this point, it's a drive bay gone bad. So, I buy some new drive bays/trays. I've got two of them. I change them both. Hook the drives up in the new removable bays and BAM! Same problems again. So, naturally, it seems that the drive bays are at fault because hooked straight to the motherboard IDE connector these new drives work perfectly. Anyone else had this problem? What bay do you have? Is it ATA compatible with the new HD? Does it have 80 wires? If not, then it is not ATA. As one poster has pointed out in other threads, drive bays can be problematic because they fudge on the ATA standard. We use Directron Kingwin with good success. My son is running a 250GB HD in a KF-23 without any problems. http://www.directron.com/kf23.html |
#4
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(Bob) wrote in news:42845c74.2868574@news-
server.houston.rr.com: On Fri, 13 May 2005 07:47:36 GMT, Rus wrote: Sorry if this has been covered. I've been using removable hard drive bays for years without problems. The design I chose implements a "Centronics" type connector (looks like a parallel connector for a printer.) Things are great for years. Then? I buy a couple of new WD hard drives and then I've then got problems like: One or the other drive not recognized during POST, sometimes I get clicking by the drives as if power problems, sometimes the OS freezes, checkdisk reports bad blocks. I try the drives connected directly to the MoBo IDE connector. No problems. Smooth as silk. I presume, at this point, it's a drive bay gone bad. So, I buy some new drive bays/trays. I've got two of them. I change them both. Hook the drives up in the new removable bays and BAM! Same problems again. So, naturally, it seems that the drive bays are at fault because hooked straight to the motherboard IDE connector these new drives work perfectly. Anyone else had this problem? What bay do you have? Is it ATA compatible with the new HD? Does it have 80 wires? If not, then it is not ATA. As one poster has pointed out in other threads, drive bays can be problematic because they fudge on the ATA standard. We use Directron Kingwin with good success. My son is running a 250GB HD in a KF-23 without any problems. http://www.directron.com/kf23.html Just looked at the KF-23. Yep. It's got the same "Centronics" connector. Does your son have one or two hard drives using those KF-23 bays? I'm wondering if two ATA's on the same IDE channel can be a problem. //rus// |
#5
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On Fri, 13 May 2005 08:18:19 GMT, Rus wrote:
We use Directron Kingwin with good success. My son is running a 250GB HD in a KF-23 without any problems. http://www.directron.com/kf23.html Strange. When I had just one drive bay connected I didn't have any problems, either. When I fired up the other drive in a removable bay (on the same IDE channel) then I had problems. (Yes, master/slave jumpers set appropriately for each and both drives are ATA-133 fresh from WD and the KingWin KF-20's are ATA-133 capable with 80 wire cables. One 120GB drive and one 160GB drive. Both are the "JB" special editions with a 3 year warranty.) First set of removable drive bays were some no-name KF-20. Then, I bought KingWin KF-20's from NewEgg.com as replacements. I wonder what would have happened if you put the second drive on the other IDE cable. Maybe two removeable bays on one IDE channel is too much to ask in terms of ATA compatibility. I am building a new machine as we speak and I am going to try the Enermax DynaBacker 3.5" RAID System http://store.yahoo.com/directron/es352b.html I did some research with other vendors and they claim the unit works as advertised - no returns thus far. The thing I like about it is that I can do backups on the fly and pull the mirror disk to put on the shelf for disaster recovery. That way I do not have to use the mirror. IOW, if it works as described in the manual, I can insert a second drive, build the mirror and then pull the drive. If that doesn't work then there is a manual backup facility that can be automated on a daily or weekly basis. |
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On Fri, 13 May 2005 08:25:03 GMT, Rus wrote:
NB: I crossposted this to comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage so that some real experts can comment. That's why I included the last post so they can see what the problem is. --- The previous post: We use Directron Kingwin with good success. My son is running a 250GB HD in a KF-23 without any problems. http://www.directron.com/kf23.html Strange. When I had just one drive bay connected I didn't have any problems, either. When I fired up the other drive in a removable bay (on the same IDE channel) then I had problems. (Yes, master/slave jumpers set appropriately for each and both drives are ATA-133 fresh from WD and the KingWin KF-20's are ATA-133 capable with 80 wire cables. One 120GB drive and one 160GB drive. Both are the "JB" special editions with a 3 year warranty.) First set of removable drive bays were some no-name KF-20. Then, I bought KingWin KF-20's from NewEgg.com as replacements. I wonder what would have happened if you put the second drive on the other IDE cable. Maybe two removeable bays on one IDE channel is too much to ask in terms of ATA compatibility. --- The latest post: Just looked at the KF-23. Yep. It's got the same "Centronics" connector. Yes, they all do. It's supposedly the 80-wire ribbon connector that makes it ATA compatible. Does your son have one or two hard drives using those KF-23 bays? He only has one. He opted to build the OS on a smaller drive and put a 250GB in the removeable tray. He has other drives with stuff on them so he bought some extra trays. I'm wondering if two ATA's on the same IDE channel can be a problem. Let's see what the experts have to say about this. I almost went for a dual bay system like yours until I found the Enermax 352 unit (which uses only one IDE channel). |
#7
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#8
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Bob wrote in message ... Rus wrote We use Directron Kingwin with good success. My son is running a 250GB HD in a KF-23 without any problems. http://www.directron.com/kf23.html Strange. When I had just one drive bay connected I didn't have any problems, either. When I fired up the other drive in a removable bay (on the same IDE channel) then I had problems. That sort of thing isnt that uncommon, essentially because those removable by systems flout the ATA standard. When you deliberately flout the standard, all bets are off. (Yes, master/slave jumpers set appropriately for each Thats one problem with WD drives, if cable select isnt used, they have a different jumper config for single drive on the cable and when there are two drives on the cable. So you cant necessarily just unplug one drive and keep going. and both drives are ATA-133 fresh from WD and the KingWin KF-20's are ATA-133 capable with 80 wire cables. One 120GB drive and one 160GB drive. Both are the "JB" special editions with a 3 year warranty.) First set of removable drive bays were some no-name KF-20. Then, I bought KingWin KF-20's from NewEgg.com as replacements. I wonder what would have happened if you put the second drive on the other IDE cable. It'd be better to use SATA removable drive bays that dont have that problem and dont flout the standard. Maybe two removeable bays on one IDE channel is too much to ask in terms of ATA compatibility. Its certainly flouting the standard even worse than one. --- The latest post: Just looked at the KF-23. Yep. It's got the same "Centronics" connector. Yes, they all do. It's supposedly the 80-wire ribbon connector that makes it ATA compatible. Still flouts the standard. Does your son have one or two hard drives using those KF-23 bays? He only has one. He opted to build the OS on a smaller drive and put a 250GB in the removeable tray. He has other drives with stuff on them so he bought some extra trays. I'm wondering if two ATA's on the same IDE channel can be a problem. Yes, it flouts the standard even more comprehensively. Let's see what the experts have to say about this. I almost went for a dual bay system like yours until I found the Enermax 352 unit (which uses only one IDE channel). I'd only use SATA if I had to have a removable bay system. |
#9
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On Fri, 13 May 2005 17:08:06 GMT, Rus wrote:
That KB article says, however, that "it is not uncommon" for removable drive bays to cause problems. Why do I get the feeling you are experiencing something else, like a flaky cable? Is this problem dependent on which OS you bring up? |
#10
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On Sat, 14 May 2005 04:37:53 +1000, "Rod Speed"
wrote: Thats one problem with WD drives, if cable select isnt used, they have a different jumper config for single drive on the cable and when there are two drives on the cable. So you cant necessarily just unplug one drive and keep going. I was not aware of that. Do you have a reference? I have used the second disk, the one in the removeable bay, as a slave only on both IDE channels without any problems. The reason for that is my CD-RW wants to be a master so I only have slave positions left. I used the slave setting and not the cable select setting on the drive. No problems. However, YMMV. The machine I am using is so old that it's developing a patina. It's a 500 MHz K6-II with ATA33 IDE. I'd keep it another 6 years if the MB weren't acting up. |
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