Startech HDD/SSD bay hot swapping?
 

I have the HDD hot swaps LS recommended from this thread. https://www.digitalfaq.com/forum/vid...s-capture.html
I just got two of these. https://amzn.to/46wZKjZ

So I had seen on some of the newer motherboards they enable hot plug. https://youtu.be/5mzmnYtpDBc.

I can’t figure out how to do that on my windows 7 Inspiron 3847 or my windows 10 Inspiron 5675 but do I even need to? It works fine from what I can see. There just isn’t a selection like if you had a USB plugged in to safely remove hardware. With this you just pull out the HDD or put one in.

When I insert a HDD in my windows 10 PC it will say restart to repair drive error. It works though.

This will be nice to have. I really couldn’t do anything but capture on my dual core windows 7 PC. If I wanted to check levels in Avisynth I had to transfer the video over to my windows 10 PC. They feel like they are built really well too.

Hot swap will not prolong your HDD life anyway. You are so busy and have no time to switch PC off, insert HDD and then switch on? :)

For those who are in Europe I can recommend this:
https://www.ebay.de/itm/235349237409

Really good price and quality. Bought 10 and now another 10.

So we're talking about this unit: https://amzn.to/46wZKjZ
Very nice, worth the premium.

Hot swap settings/options are not always available for every drive, on every SATA connect, in every BIOS/UEFI, in every laptop or desktop (or more accurately, every motherboard).

This can change your usage pattern.

For example, in my Win7 Pinnacle capture laptops, I have 4tb Samsung SSDs in the optical bay. When I'm done capturing on those, I turned off the laptop, flip it over, remove the battery, remove the bottom shield with 1 screw, and can then just slide out the SSD caddy (as I don't keep it screwed in, no reason). I remove that SSD, put it into a 3.5" adapter, and slide that into my Startech bays on edit/restore system.

As another example, on my WinXP AIW capture desktops, I have these bays too. Before boot, I put in my 2tb Samsung SSDs or Seagate 2tb HDDs. Then boot, then capture. When done, shutdown, remove drive. Take to edit/restore system, insert into that Startech bay (which is fully hotswap), start work immediately.

FYI, I've moved to about 85% SSD now, and it will be 100% SSD later this spring. Also 100% Samsung EVO SATA. That does carry some risks, but I mitigate with spares on hand, dual booting for TRIM, and have Seagate HDDs in a backup drawer. While the edit/offload speed is nice, it's also about noise and heat.

Probably not.

- You often add a drive to an already-running system, but you cannot remove it with a full system shutdown.
- Sometimes full shutdown and reboot is needed for the OS/motherboard to see an added drive.
- And then the ideal option, true hotswapping, add/remove while OS running.

DO NOT DO THIS WITHOUT PROPER REMOVAL OR SHUTDOWN! :mad4:

And that is because this can happen...
Or worse, you nuke a drive. SSDs are far more fragile about this than HDDs, too. The SSD is fully electrical signal, the HDD is a mechanical spinning platter.

So be careful. That warning can be data corruption from bad/wrong/unsafe drive removal. Shutdown is safest, but fully functioning hotswap can too.

NOTE: I hardware dual-boot an XP desktop into Win11, to run XP drive maintenance (TRIM). WinXP and Win11 are on fully separate drives, controlled externally. On these boards, hotswap is available and enabled on all SATA. I'll boot into 11, power XP SSD, run TRIM, shutdown. When I disable 11 SSD, power and boot in XP, it reports that the drive "has changed". Yes, duh. But XP sees this is potentially malicious, and insists on scanning it. You may run into similar issues with transporting drives from OS to OS.

Just pay attention, be mindful, acknowledge warning. Take action as needed. But know that disregarding the warning is sometimes the correct action.

Nice, huh? Now you're getting a taste of professional capture/edit setups. :cool:
It really helps with time saving, more productivity.

I don't think that was the goal here.

Just be warned. Those are all over Amazon and eBay here, too. Some versions/sellers are very cheap, flimsy feel, tolerances suck, drive doors don't always close securely. Thin metal, doesn't stay true, can cause metal-on-metal vibrations. Typical "quality" from China. I've had both good and terrible bays -- and always sent the bad ones back (and also why I'd only buy these from Amazon, not eBay).

Yes, the Startach are 2x the price, but also 2x+ the quality.

This is why I recommend particular bay. You can buy them from German seller. I have not seen this model directly from China. They are simple, well built and reliable. I really do not need additional lock :) But you need to secure it with 4 screws - 2 from each side, 2 from only one side (as we commonly secure HDDs ;)) will not secure it well. Startech can be secured only with 2 screws, because it has rigid frame.

Sometimes you don’t really save anything when you spend a few bucks less on something. I like the gear recommendations here. The UPS, obviously video gear, VHS-C adapter, and hot swap bay have all been really good recommendations. The VHS-C adapter makes me think of the not trying to save a few bucks part because yesterday I put a VHS-C I had already digitized into the generic Panasonic adapter I had bought before I came to this site. First time I had messed with that adapter in a while. When I went to fast forward it in my VCR I use for FF/REW it made a loud squeal and I’m pretty sure it FF/REW faster than my C-P7U. It was harder to get in and out of the adapter too. I put it back on a shelf and won’t mess with that adapter again. It made me think of it because I’m sure there are people that are thinking I don’t need that C-P7U I’ll save a few bucks on an adapter but that’s a bad place to save money at. You don’t save anything there. I thought the cheaper hot swap bay would be more frustrating.

With my cases when the front is one I can’t insert or remove HDDs. I am just going to leave the front cover off. I could shave some off the case of my cheap windows 7 computer but I don’t want to.

Things do go smoother and it’s more enjoyable. I got a 1TB SSD for my editing computer at the same time to replace the 128gb SSD I stole out of it to put in my windows 7 PC.