Anyone have problems with Orico hard drive switch? Could it causedrive death?

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Doc

Anyone have any issues with one of these Orico 4-drive drive switches?

I recently had a string of drive deaths. I wondered if the PSU was a
culprit. I was using a PC Power and Cooling Silencer 470 Watt unit.
It's a few years old but has had only moderate use.

Not long ago I put in the Orico switch. When I first hooked it up to
the Thermaltake PSU and turned it on, there was a loud *pop*. After
that one of the lights on the Orico switch went on whether the button
was pushed "on" or not. I took it out and am running the drives
directly off the PSU connectors.

Wondering if this switch could be a culprit re: the drive deaths?

Thanks.

Picture of the switch:

http://img03.taobaocdn.com/bao/uploaded/i3/T1TvX3XjXzXXa92Lc5_055540.jpg
 
Doc said:
Anyone have any issues with one of these Orico 4-drive drive switches?

I recently had a string of drive deaths. I wondered if the PSU was a
culprit. I was using a PC Power and Cooling Silencer 470 Watt unit.
It's a few years old but has had only moderate use.

Not long ago I put in the Orico switch. When I first hooked it up to
the Thermaltake PSU and turned it on, there was a loud *pop*. After
that one of the lights on the Orico switch went on whether the button
was pushed "on" or not. I took it out and am running the drives
directly off the PSU connectors.

Wondering if this switch could be a culprit re: the drive deaths?

Thanks.

Picture of the switch:

http://img03.taobaocdn.com/bao/uploaded/i3/T1TvX3XjXzXXa92Lc5_055540.jpg
Click to expand...

With something as simple in concept as this, I'd assume the
worst. I'd take my multimeter and check that the power is
wired straight thru (+12V in goes to +12V on drive connector,
+5V in goes to +5V on drive connector and so on). I'd also check that
the lone electrolytic bypass cap I can see in another picture
of the product, is inserted correctly (as they're polarized).

If an electrolytic blows because it's been powered in
reverse, it should have exploded in a shower of
"black confetti".

A "pop" could be the vast amps of your power supply, burning out
a partial short somewhere in the product. Something they didn't
catch in manufacturing.

With so-called "simple assemblies" like this, there is a
temptation to not test them at all, and just put them in
the box. Which is why as a user, the "dumber the box", the
more you inspect it. Computer cases are another example,
where there have been _design_ wiring faults, and
every case of that particular model, has the same
defect. I *always* buzz out the wiring on the computer
case, because of the sloppy attitude of those
"metal-banger people". Companies that make computer
cases, know nothing about electronics. That's my
going-in assumption when I buy one.

*******

To answer your question, it would depend on whether they found
a way to put a reversed potential on your drive.

On SATA, with split power and data cabling, you'd have to
watch for ways that negative potentials could be put on the
data pins. The SATA drive is reasonably designed, and has
advanced ground fingers on the data connector, to help sequence
the connections (so ground gets connected first, which helps
establish the correct potentials). I can't see a way off hand,
for SATA to blow the diff. data signals, but someone can
always find a way.

Whatever "popped", probably burned thru.

Paul
 
Anyone have any issues with one of these Orico 4-drive drive switches?

I recently had a string of drive deaths. I wondered if the PSU was a
culprit. I was using a PC Power and Cooling Silencer 470 Watt unit.
It's a few years old but has had only moderate use.

Not long ago I put in the Orico switch. When I first hooked it up to
the Thermaltake PSU and turned it on, there was a loud *pop*.
Click to expand...


I omitted the detail that I replaced the PC Power and Cooling 470w PSU
with a Thermaltake 600w unit.
 
Anyone have any issues with one of these Orico 4-drive drive switches?

I recently had a string of drive deaths. I wondered if the PSU was a
culprit. I was using a PC Power and Cooling Silencer 470 Watt unit.
It's a few years old but has had only moderate use.

Not long ago I put in the Orico switch. When I first hooked it up to
the Thermaltake PSU and turned it on, there was a loud *pop*. After
that one of the lights on the Orico switch went on whether the button
was pushed "on" or not. I took it out and am running the drives
directly off the PSU connectors.

Wondering if this switch could be a culprit re: the drive deaths?
Click to expand...

The switch is just a switch, so it would not be the cause of your
problems. It would probably have 4 pairs of MOSFETs. Each pair of
MOSFETS would switch each of the +5V and +12V rails to each drive. The
fact that the switch is on permanently suggests that one or more
MOSFETs have developed a short circuit between input and output.

As for the drive deaths, I would think that a likely cause would be
overvoltages from your PSU. I see around 2 or 3 such deaths each week
in various storage forums. In most cases the drives can be revived
simply by removing a shorted protection diode.

See http://www.users.on.net/~fzabkar/HDD/TVS_diode_FAQ.html

.... and http://www.users.on.net/~fzabkar/HDD/ (photo clips)

- Franc Zabkar
 
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