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PSU wires.

B

bencho

2[H]4U
Joined
Sep 15, 2007
Messages
2,093
Hey,

I'm looking to make a quick set of switches to turn internal sata hdd's on and off.
Now this website: http://www.adpmods.com/case-modding/A-Modders-Guide-To-Making-Custom-SATA-Power-Cables-sp-26.html says the red is 5v and yellow is 12v. Which one do I need to hook up to a switch? 5v? 12v? or both? I plan to mount something that will look like a fan controller in a 5.25" bay that will turn on hdd's individually. Would routing the psu molex end into a protoboard and then routing the power wires into the switch work well? Or are there other suggestions?

Thanks
 
My question is: Why are you doing this? What you want to do might hurt the drives in the long run.

Have you thought about just using the spin-down features of Vista/XP?
 
How can it hurt the drives? It'll just be like powering up an external drive. I currently have a bunch of drives hooked up to an old psu that I turn on and off when I need them.

Looking into spin-down right now

----------
Ok, so I just have to go to power management in XP and set 'Turn off hard drives'? All my hdd's are sata so the ones that are not in use will spin down [i.e. stop completely??]
Also, some forums say that it's bad for your hdd...
 
bencho said:
anyone?
Click to expand...

Ask your question in the Data Storage Systems. The guys there should give you some more expert device.

IMO, I don't think it'll be harmful to your hard drives to turn them off. BUt get some additional opinion on that.
 
The 12v line powers the electric motors in the drive and the 5v line powers the electronics.
So both are needed.
If you do do this then a double pole single throw switch would probably work best.
That way you make/break both lines together.
Just leave the earth wires connected.

How safe it would be for both your drives and data I let you work out.

Luck .......... :D
 
I'd be wary of doing that; though you probably (knock on wood) won't do any harm if you make the power switch correctly - I have a hot swap bay with a keyed switch that probably does the same exact thing your asking and I've been using it with no problem.

However, SATA power connectors have longer pins for hot-swap wires so that they connect first and disconnect last. I'd imagine it's like that for a reason.

It'd really be easier to just change your power settings to spin down on idle. It'll be more convenient and with no possibility of harming the drive. That's assuming of course that you're doing this to save power.
 
Hmmm.. I'll look into that.

And no, I'm not doing this to save power. It's just some hdd's are back up and I only turn them on to add more things to or when I want to pull up an old movie. I don't need them to run 24/7 like my main machine. Just when I want something/backup
 
bencho said:
And no, I'm not doing this to save power. It's just some hdd's are back up and I only turn them on to add more things to or when I want to pull up an old movie. I don't need them to run 24/7 like my main machine. Just when I want something/backup
Click to expand...

In that case, I'd recommend getting a hot swap bay. That'll give you the side benefit of being able to easily store your backups off site - or at least in a different part of your home. You can have as many backup drives as you have trays.

This is the one that I have and it works fairly well. It's a bit longer than other bays but it has a backplane in it so that there's less possibility of the SATA connectors getting worn out or broken. The key also acts as a hard power switch, so you can just keep a powered-off drive in the computer if you want to.

http://www.kingwin.com/product_pages/kf813bk.asp
 
Its the earth wires that connect first in the hot swop connectors.
that way theres less of a chance of a static discharge cooking the drive.
If you only connect/disconnect the 12v & 5v lines with a switch, you are doing the same thing.

Luck ........ :D
 
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