Cutting Power to Hard Drives

PlasteredLyric · 06-03-2009, 01:37 AM

Can I hook this switch up to a hard drive?

http://www.coolerguys.com/840556088547.html

I know next to nothing about power supplies, but if my studying of Wikipedia is correct, this switch cuts the yellow (12 volt?) wire when it is off, but leaves both black (ground?) wires and the red (5 volt?) wire connected. So when the switch is off, I *think* it would still be supplying a hard drive with 5 volts.

Can I hook this to a hard drive? When I flip the switch, would the hard drive just be basically unplugged from the power supply (which is what I want) or would it be drawing insufficient current and die? Also, its likely that there could be a molex-to-sata power adapter hooked up between the switch and the hard drive if that matters.

And if anybody is curious as to what I'm doing, I want to boot multiple operating systems in my machine. I've got a huge case, lots of hard drives, a kilowatt power supply, and no patience for boot loaders. I want to make it so I can just flip these switches to decide which of my OS drives gets power and boots when I turn on my machine. And no, my BIOS unfortunately does not let me turn individual SATA ports on and off.

Thanks a lot.

dai · 06-03-2009, 02:35 AM

should work for turning them off
but if it will pick up the correct boot path you will not know without trying

**Lead3** · 06-03-2009, 08:40 AM

I think that with the 5 volts still connected, the logic circuits are still powered and the BIOS will still see the drive.

**Tyree** · 06-03-2009, 09:47 AM

I would go along with Lead3's thinking. Boot loaders are not that time consuming. The wait time can be adjusted to make it quicker.

Stu_computer · 06-04-2009, 10:03 PM

it's the 5V line (feeds control circuit) that you need to disconnect.

disconnecting the 12V line could screw up the post test, would see it as failed drives, likely take longer to boot up. also an OS may lag/hang when it tries to interpret if the disconnected drives are working/available.

so...would need to rewire the connector as a 5V switch so the pc doesn't 'see' the drive.

06-03-2009, 01:37 AM	#1 (permalink)
PlasteredLyric Registered User Join Date: Jun 2009 Posts: 1 OS: XP SP3	Cutting Power to Hard Drives Can I hook this switch up to a hard drive? http://www.coolerguys.com/840556088547.html I know next to nothing about power supplies, but if my studying of Wikipedia is correct, this switch cuts the yellow (12 volt?) wire when it is off, but leaves both black (ground?) wires and the red (5 volt?) wire connected. So when the switch is off, I think it would still be supplying a hard drive with 5 volts. Can I hook this to a hard drive? When I flip the switch, would the hard drive just be basically unplugged from the power supply (which is what I want) or would it be drawing insufficient current and die? Also, its likely that there could be a molex-to-sata power adapter hooked up between the switch and the hard drive if that matters. And if anybody is curious as to what I'm doing, I want to boot multiple operating systems in my machine. I've got a huge case, lots of hard drives, a kilowatt power supply, and no patience for boot loaders. I want to make it so I can just flip these switches to decide which of my OS drives gets power and boots when I turn on my machine. And no, my BIOS unfortunately does not let me turn individual SATA ports on and off. Thanks a lot.

06-03-2009, 02:35 AM	#2 (permalink)
dai Manager, Hardware Forums Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: west australia Posts: 56,609 OS: win 7 32x 64x rtm	Re: Cutting Power to Hard Drives should work for turning them off but if it will pick up the correct boot path you will not know without trying __________________

06-03-2009, 08:40 AM	#3 (permalink)
Lead3 Mentor Hardware Team Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Florida, USA Posts: 1,378 OS: 98SE,2000,XP SP3,VISTA SP2 x64 & x86, Windows 7 x64 & x86 My System	Re: Cutting Power to Hard Drives I think that with the 5 volts still connected, the logic circuits are still powered and the BIOS will still see the drive. __________________

06-03-2009, 09:47 AM	#4 (permalink)
Tyree Mentor Hardware Team Join Date: May 2009 Location: Illinois Posts: 5,587 OS: XP Pro-7RC-Mandriva My System	Re: Cutting Power to Hard Drives I would go along with Lead3's thinking. Boot loaders are not that time consuming. The wait time can be adjusted to make it quicker. __________________ Posting your PC specs will help us to help you quicker and more efficiently.

06-04-2009, 10:03 PM	#5 (permalink)
Stu_computer Tech Hardware Team Join Date: Jul 2005 Posts: 1,460 OS: Windows	Re: Cutting Power to Hard Drives it's the 5V line (feeds control circuit) that you need to disconnect. disconnecting the 12V line could screw up the post test, would see it as failed drives, likely take longer to boot up. also an OS may lag/hang when it tries to interpret if the disconnected drives are working/available. so...would need to rewire the connector as a 5V switch so the pc doesn't 'see' the drive. __________________