hot plug/hot swap IDE hard disk

  • Thread starter Thread starter CW
  • Start date Start date
C

CW

Anybody knows what hardware is required if I like to hot plug/hot swap
an IDE hard disk from an ordinary PC running Linux while it is
powered-on?

System Configuration
* Standard IBM/Intel PC with standard ATA/IDE south bridge
* Standard 3.5" HDD
* Linux

While the PC is powered on, after unmounting the HDD in Linux, I like
to remove it and replace it with another, followed by mounting it.

* Is there any special hardware I need to ensure neither the PC nor
the HDD gets spoiled (considering disk head spin-down, hot swap issues
like voltage/current surge, etc.)
* Where can I buy this hardware?
* Any software command/program needed besides umount?


Thanks!
 
CW said:
Anybody knows what hardware is required if I like to hot plug/hot swap
an IDE hard disk from an ordinary PC running Linux while it is
powered-on?

System Configuration
* Standard IBM/Intel PC with standard ATA/IDE south bridge
* Standard 3.5" HDD
* Linux

While the PC is powered on, after unmounting the HDD in Linux, I like
to remove it and replace it with another, followed by mounting it.

* Is there any special hardware I need to ensure neither the PC nor
the HDD gets spoiled (considering disk head spin-down, hot swap issues
like voltage/current surge, etc.)
* Where can I buy this hardware?
* Any software command/program needed besides umount?
Click to expand...


Use SATA.
 
Ron said:
Use SATA.
Click to expand...

But make sure that the host adapter is fully compliant with the standard.
There are some that don't support hot-swap even though it's required by the
standard.
 
CW said:
Anybody knows what hardware is required if I like to hot plug/hot swap
an IDE hard disk from an ordinary PC running Linux while it is powered-on?

System Configuration
* Standard IBM/Intel PC with standard ATA/IDE south bridge
* Standard 3.5" HDD
* Linux

While the PC is powered on, after unmounting the HDD in Linux,
Click to expand...
I like to remove it
Click to expand...

You have to make sure that it has stopped spinning when you do.
and replace it with another, followed by mounting it.

* Is there any special hardware I need to ensure neither the PC nor
the HDD gets spoiled
Click to expand...
(considering disk head spin-down,
Click to expand...

That is the main concern.
hot swap issues like voltage/current surge, etc.)
* Where can I buy this hardware?
Click to expand...
* Any software command/program needed besides unmount?
Click to expand...

A spin-down command would be nice if unmount doesn't do that already.
 
Previously CW said:
Anybody knows what hardware is required if I like to hot plug/hot swap
an IDE hard disk from an ordinary PC running Linux while it is
powered-on?
Click to expand...
System Configuration
* Standard IBM/Intel PC with standard ATA/IDE south bridge
* Standard 3.5" HDD
* Linux
Click to expand...
While the PC is powered on, after unmounting the HDD in Linux, I like
to remove it and replace it with another, followed by mounting it.
Click to expand...

And there is the problem: You will have to re-detect the new HDD,
just like the old one was on start-up. As far as I know the current
kernels (including 2.6.x) cannot do this for IDE.
* Is there any special hardware I need to ensure neither the PC nor
the HDD gets spoiled (considering disk head spin-down, hot swap issues
like voltage/current surge, etc.)
Click to expand...

Yes and no. You need special hardware in order to protect HDD and
controller, but you cannot be sure it really works, since this was
never specified for IDE.
* Where can I buy this hardware?
* Any software command/program needed besides umount?
Click to expand...

A kernel-patch that allows IDE re-scanning? I do not know whether
such a patch exists.

Better Options: FireWire, USB, SCSI. All these do hot-plugging under
Linux without anuthing special besides running 'rescan-scsi-bus.sh'
after the new device has ben plugged in. (Yes, USB/FireWire are
treated as SCSI.) Of course you will ned to unmount and power-down a
device before unplugging and if you use SCSI, you have to plug it in
before powering it up.

Arno
 
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