[sunandoghosh]

SWITCHING between TWO separate physical HDD drives…

Well…

Situation:

TWO separate HDD in one CPU:

(Say):

a. One HDD of 80 GB used for general work and internet etc…(having its own windows xp prof OS)

b. Second HDD of 160 GB containing utmost critical and sensitive applications and data…(having its own windows advanced server 2000 OS along with oracle etc)

PRESENT:

BOTH HDD connected to motherboard always and at the time of starting the computer…I choose the desirable HDD on which I want to work by going into BIOS Settings…

PROBLEM:

It has happened that I logged into HDD one of 80 GB and virus got transferred from 80GB HDD (since it is the one which is connected to internet) to 160 GB HDD (which contains data and applications as critical as my life) and corrupted some important data and applications in 160 GB HDD…

This is true despite the fact that I had latest Norton Antivirus updated daily installed on 80 GB HDD along with spyware blaster and almost daily run spybot and adaware…

Furthermore the 160 GB HDD had MCAFEE 2005 full security solutions installed…

SOLUTION I INITIALLY THOUGHT:

Connect the data cable and power chord to the HDD which I intend to use at any one point in time AND DISCONNECT the other HDD’s data cable and power chord…(but both HDD remaining fit in CPU)…

PROBLEM:

This switching of HDD by connecting the data cable and power chord of one HDD and disconnecting the second…is appearing too tough on me and also appears that it may NOT be healthy for the motherboard also in the long run….as I switch frequently many times every day on two HDD’s…

Also it’s NOT possible to let them connected despite the fact that one is used at any one time (due to virus reasons stated above)…

SO PLEASE SUGGEST ME WHAT SHOULD I DO SO THAT I CAN ENSURE THAT I AM ABLE TO HAVE ONLY ONE HDD CONNECTED AT ANY ONE POINT IN TIME TO THE MOTHERBOARD AND SAVED FROM CONNECTING / DISCONNECTING THE OTHER…??????????????????????

I MEAN IS THERE ANY SWITCH OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT………………????????????????????????

I hope I have been actually able to explain my problem in proper words so that someone might actually possibly suggest something….

Thanks and best regards,

Sunando

sunandoghosh (at) rediffmail (dot) com

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I don't know of any switch that can do what you want. What you may want to do is buy two HDD enclosures with USB interfaces, and assuming your motherboard BIOS will allow you to boot from USB drives, you should be able to plug the one in that you want and leave the other one unplugged.

The other thing you can do is set up the two HDD on different IDE channels. In either the system BIOS setup, or in Windows, you should be able to disable 1 channel and operate only the other channel. The downside of that method is that you will need a CD drive attached to each channel in order to ensure you have a CD drive available at any given time...not really the best solution in my opinion.

[ThunderT]

I don't know of any switch that can do what you want. What you may want to do is buy two HDD enclosures with USB interfaces, and assuming your motherboard BIOS will allow you to boot from USB drives, you should be able to plug the one in that you want and leave the other one unplugged.

The other thing you can do is set up the two HDD on different IDE channels. In either the system BIOS setup, or in Windows, you should be able to disable 1 channel and operate only the other channel. The downside of that method is that you will need a CD drive attached to each channel in order to ensure you have a CD drive available at any given time...not really the best solution in my opinion.

[shard92]

The usb idea is a good one assuming you can boot from usb. If not there use to be a switch that would do what you want but I haven't seen one in a long time. Don't know how well they worked or if they are still availlable. You could try looking around, when I get a chance I look a little too.. if you do find one please post where and the results as I'm interested in knowing if/how well they work. NOTE : being PATA drives you have to turn off the computer to make the switch....

[warriorscot]

Well you could always get some better security and back up the data on your system. The only way to get a virus past norton like that unless it is a very new virus is to download something and run it without scanning it first. You might also try a good firewall and backing up your data on disc as well.

Something you could try here. Fit a old fashioned switch to the power cables then run it through a pci backspace.