HDD caddy with external power switch

[Wesc]

Hello Everyone,

A While back I bought a 250 gb ssd as my main drive for my acer aspire 5560 and a caddy for my old 600 gb hard drive, however after trying to use both and much research it was discovered that this laptop cannot support a second hard drive due to the latest bios only going up to 1.15....

However if I have the laptop powered on I can hot swap the drive and insert it and have it work fine, I was wondering if anyone knows of a hdd caddy with an external power switch as a permanent solution to this problem. I tried taking mine apart and seeing how feasible it was to add one and let just say they dont come apart easy and they are built really cheap.

Back when I was looking and I still had 150gb free on my ssd I found one for 20 dollars on ebay with the switch but I didnt buy it, now with 100 gb free im thinking I should have...

Thanks for any help guys!

 

[The Day Dreamer]

I guess this may help - http://www.ebay.com/itm/ORICO-1105SS-5-25-Space-to-3-5-SATA-Hard-Drive-Rack-with-ON-OFF-Switch-/151409779383

 

[ArtPog]

Well first of all I don't think that Orico device will meet your requirements since it's designed as a mobile rack for a 5 1/4" (desktop) bay.

But your query is rather puzzling. Re that "caddy" you purchased...was this a caddy designed for the laptop's optical bay in which you could install a (secondary?) HDD?

What do you mean when you state "this laptop cannot support a second hard drive due to the bios..."? In what way would a BIOS inhibit the installation of a secondary HDD?

Anyway, would a USB external enclosure with a power switch suffice for your needs? If so, there are plenty of those available.

 

[jsmithepa]

I don't have a solution for you, but that BIOS limitation is rather puzzling. Is this one of those vendor's LOCKED BIOS? They sell unlocked BIOS on eBay.

 

[Wesc]

Sorry for not being clearer, the HDD caddy I bought goes into my optical drive bay, and the current bios edition I have is 1.15, however I have read this laptop needs 1.16 bios but acer did not did release that update. http://hddcaddy.eu/2013/01/12/acer-aspire-5560g-incompatible-with-hdd-caddy-2nd-hdd/,

I already have a external usb harddrive but it would be way more convenient to simply press a button on the side of my laptop rather than have to plug that in.

The caddy I am looking for is like this http://img.banggood.com/thumb/view/upload/2012/jiangjunchao/SKU069558%20(7).JPG, except that it had a power button where the eject disk drive button is.

 

[ArtPog]

Well, I guess if that article is authoritative you won't have any option other than install a later BIOS update. I assume you're in touch with Acer about this situation.
BTW, based on our experience it's not uncommon that a manufacturer's proprietary BIOS will prevent a drive from booting while installed in the optical bay, however, we haven't run into any significant problems when the drive is installed as a secondary device in that bay.

 

[Wesc]

Have not contacted acer yet, I feel as though I wont get to far with them being 2 years out of warranty...