switch to turn HDD/SSD on/off  

OK, with installing the new OS old issues come back to life. Here goes the question: can one have a physical switch somewhere on the PC case that can turn a single drive (HDD or SSD) on and off?

I did search the internet before posting and several solutions exist, but unfortunately none as complete as some add-on part that you can buy, plug the cables in it, and use at your discretion.

There are several software solutions, such as disabling the SATA port in BIOS that would probably work fine, but then the drive would still be connected to the power supply.

Someone has made the switch himself, i.e. actually built it inside a molex extension connector and even drilled an opening in his case for it, but I'd like to avoid the hard work .

What I want to achieve is the same ability provided by hot-swappable drive bays but for internal drives. This way I won't have to keep track of them lying around the place, but save some energy, reduce some noise, and just in general, I don't like things I don't use to be plugged in. I have about 6 drives in my machine, so turning off some back up ones seems to make sense. I already use the Windows power features, but it seems that a physical switch would be more efficient.

I'd be grateful for any ideas.

I was going to suggest mobile racks that fit into the drive bays. The ORICO ones for example have a power switch on the left-hand side, however with 6 drives I doubt you have that many spare slots.

ORICO CD-ROM Space internal 3.5'' SATA HDD frame/mobile rack internal HDD case (metal+ plastic(1105ss)): Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories

ARC1020 said:

I was going to suggest mobile racks that fit into the drive bays. The ORICO ones for example have a power switch on the left-hand side, however with 6 drives I doubt you have that many spare slots.

Excellent idea! Thanks! I don't need it for all six drives, I got three empty bays in my case, so this is going to work just fine.

Nice solution... I use the Star-Tec model.

I can thoroughly recommend the ORICO caddys, they use molex and not sata power connectors. In the UK, Novatech have them under their own brand. They do not have a built in fan like some Icydock but I have never experienced overheating.

How about these:

Amazon.com: ORICO HD-PW4101 3.5" Floppy Drive Slot 4x SATA HDD Power Switch Control (Black): Computers & Accessories

Amazon.com: ORICO HD-PW6101 6 BAY HDD Hard Drive Power Switch Power Controller: Computers & Accessories