SATA power switching circuit

I'm planning a 19" rack enclosure which will house two SATA drives connected to a Firewire/USB to SATA bridge board. The two drives will be used for two completely different purposes, so I see no reason to have to power them both up at once, wearing them out unnecessarily. That's why I'm suggested 3 switches for the front panel of the enclosure:

- main power switch (gives power to the bridge board)

- drive A power (turns on drive A)

- drive B power (turns on drive B)

The main power switch would be an AC switch which would give power to the power supply. A rocker switch (with a built-in LED) would be fine for this.

For the drives I was first thinking of a high amperage switch (as I've been told that hard drives involve a lot of current) for each of them. The problem with this is that most switches like that are pretty big and bulky and appearance-wise that's not good. So the next solution would perhaps be a "soft switch" solution where I'd be using a small and elegant tacticle switch or something, which in turn would control a relay for the actual on/off power switching for the drive in question. I would probably need some sort of electronic circuitry for this, which would turn the relay on when pressed the first time, and off when pressed the second time. I assume the best solution would be to have nothing happen when I first turn on the AC switch, but that would mean having to press it every time, even if the drive had previously been turned on the last time I used it (unless some sort of memory circuit could be constructed).

A third solution (also involving relays) could be having locking two-position switches. That way I could just leave the drive A or B switches in whichever position I wanted.

Any thoughts/comments?

I see that the SATA power connector is pretty complex. Which pin(s) would I need to switch on/off through the relay in order to safely have it turned on or off?

Reply to
NoSp
Loading thread data ...

ElectronDepot website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.