Hi, I am working in a little project that I need to be able to disable the internal hard disk drives in a branded desktop (probably HP) easily.
My initial thought is a DPST switch on the +5 and +12 lines going to the power of the drives, but now I am looking at keyswitches instead of just a simple switch (to keep the students from being able to turn it back on too easily). I have found a few DPST, but they are much more expensive (2x the cost of SPST), and I am wondering what the collective things of just turning off the +12. Would it work well, or would having the +5 still connect cause problems. These are standard 3.5" SATA drives. DPST: http://shop.willyselectronics.com/browse.cfm/-key-switch-on-off-dpst-solder-lugs-barrel-key-/4,4802.html SPST (well, sorta, I would wire pin 1 = +12, 2 and 3 = ground, and 4 = +12, thus two positions = on, and the center = off): http://www.allelectronics.com/make-a-store/item/KSW-30/3-POSITION-KEY-SWITCH/1.html -Harry
