Optical HDD caddys and micro switches ?

[user33331]

Hello ( Laptop's optical HDD caddys )
Any info how many and what kind of micro switches a good optical HDD caddy should have ?

I know caddys come:
- In different height sizes: 7, 9.5 and 12.7mm.
- IDE or SATA connector.
- Different speed connectors\circuit boards: SATA-1,SATA-2,SATA-3.

I have looked that I need a 9.5mm and SATA connector but now it seems HDD caddys have different micro switches which functions I don't understand.

Micro switches' selections=channels seems different to some laptop brands:
- Like HP, Lenovo, Dell and Apple each have different selections...

Any info what kind of micro switched caddy should I buy ?
- Lots of caddy variations exist in China ebay.

 

[jboydgolfer]

ive purchased these as a means to add an extra storage drive to a laptop with no space for extra storage. The ones i use, just have a standard sata connector, and the switches ive never touched. I simply put the drive in on each occasion, ad it was done. I had wondered what they were for, but i never needed them. as long as your using a standard sata drive, and a sata interface, or are listed on the supported device list, you should be the same

this is the one i used for the 8540p elitebook, with no issues

 

[user33331]

Do you use the optical caddy as a master or slave drive ?
- Some say shutdown and sleep-functions might give errors on some caddys ?

 

[jboydgolfer]

Do you use the optical caddy as a master or slave drive ?
- Some say shutdown and sleep-functions might give errors on some caddys ?

Slave.

As far as I know it's to skip the diagnostic or enable the diagnostic pin for the caddy. Unless you're having issues you shouldn't require it on. Unless it has some other purpose I'm unaware of, which is possible.

If your booting from the Caddy Drive, you're gonna want it enabled most likely, but it won't hurt to try it off. I would recommend against using that drive as the primary if you don't need it , but I understand if you're using a dual boot machine it is required. I found it simplest just to install a solid-state drive in that place . I was just very concerned about having it being a mechanical drive with a fear of movement or shaking of the Caddy adapter , likely unfounded tho.

Edit
BTW, it seems like the one you posted images of is the exact same one I bought a couple times. In each case they're functioning just fine and we never had a problem. One of them went in the laptop for a family member and ran fine for years. The other went in A friend of mine's laptop, and I believe I bought it in 2014, last I knew it ran fine ,but unfortunately that friend passed away ,so the updates stopped as far as the condition of the laptop in end of 2017. But both times I installed them, they were for people who were all but 100% computer illiterate and they never reported any issues