hot swap?

[steinbr]

Is it possible to put a secondary harddisk in a personal desktop computer without the system shutdown?
I'm using win98.
Will this action damage mt computer?

I got a "mobile rack" with a 30gig HD , and I always turn the system off before inserting the second hd.
My system:
Athlon 1000 , 256 MB , MSI mainboard , 2 x 30gig HD

 

[camieabz]

Never tried it, nor would I suggest it. Perhaps you can rig up a temporary network to another computer for a data swap until you get things sorted out.

<b>
"Now drop your weapons or I'll kill him with this deadly jelly baby."
</b>

 

[rbertino]

I'm not sure what you mean by a "mobile rack", but I think you actually have to have a controller that allows Hot-swapping in order to do this. And usually those are the RAID controllers that you get in expensive Servers.

So, the answer is a definite no. It could not only damage the drive, but possibly the motherboard if you were to put the hard drive in while the computer is on. Not only that, I doubt Windows 98 would even recognize the drive anyway, since the BIOS has to tell it what hardware it has.

<i>I don't know anything about computers... but I did stay at a Holiday Inn last night...</i> :lol:

 

[steinbr]

this "mobile rack" is a device that is installed in a 5 1/4 bay. It have a cartidge, where you can put a harddisk inside. You can take it very easy. Its very cheap , about $10 here in Brazil.
I've tried to put in while the system is running: it works !!!! after a small system freeze , a new drive letter appear. It was fantastic, but I don't know if is safe to do.
Any more coments?
Thanks

 

[killall]

shouldnt be too bad... though i wouldnt recommend it... if you are desperate to do so without rebooting then go ahead... if not... i dont know... there are potentially many problems with it but none that are too likely... i wouldnt worry... do so only when you need to...

you do not strengthen the weak by weakening the strong