HD help please.

[Corabar Entertainment]

I've only half been following this thread, so please forgive me if I've got completely the wrong end of the stick about what's going on here and what you're after....but, presumably the caddy pops out of the the dds drive very simply? ...and (from the looks of the pictures on thomman that Peter posted) it looks like the drive just pops in to the caddy pretty easily. True? then read on. If not, then don't bother reading further!

If that is the case, how about using a hard drive docking station? Something like this: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Winstars-Commu...-/130468028378 (I happen to know this particular ebay seller personally and got given one of these as a little pressie the other week, and it's just dawned on me that this might be useful for what you're after)

[Excalibur]

I've only half been following this thread, so please forgive me if I've got completely the wrong end of the stick about what's going on here and what you're after....but, presumably the caddy pops out of the the dds drive very simply? ...and (from the looks of the pictures on thomman that Peter posted) it looks like the drive just pops in to the caddy pretty easily. True? then read on. If not, then don't bother reading further!

Angela, going on what I have heard/seen, I believe you are basically correct. It does however seem a bit fiddly and over complicated to have to disassemble the whole affair to connect it to the PC. Ah well, back to the drawing board. I'll know more when the drive arrives.

Did you know I've got my own personal shopper at Thomann? How's that for posh?

[Megamix]

I've ordered one, mainly for the CD playing ability (if called for) - I will probably keep the HDD unchanged and add updates via USB stick and then do HDD update every few weeks, which won't be so tiresome.
As my backup system it doesn't need updating so much.

[Corabar Entertainment]

It does however seem a bit fiddly and over complicated to have to disassemble the whole affair to connect it to the PC

Oh well, I thought I'd mention it just in case

[Excalibur]

Oh well, I thought I'd mention it just in case

A perfectly valid reason for doing so. Thanks.

[Jason]

here speaketh a man who had a dds80

the bit you can't buy is the cradle which the hd plugs into,you can buy the caddy so in effect you could alternate and run different drives

the unit you have purchased has a usb socket on the back for attaching to computer to update,which is a pain in the preverbial,as you have to have flight case in proximity to the computer.

Its not a 25 way D-Type (as per old PC Parallel port) as this is not enough to carry the (40-way) IDE signal.
I can't be bothered to drag mine out, but I suspect its probably a 50-Way connector, with the extras being used for Power? (HD50 is a standard connector type for SCSI, and may be used by NuMark)
Some magic with a soldering iron, USB to IDE adapter and a very steady hand may yield something that works. A longer USB cable may be cheaper, but I was very disappointed that NuMark were unable to help.

When I used the DDS with the Drive Bay, I used a USB extension from the DDS, and so had a suitable point to disconnect from the DDS and connect the drive bay to a PC.

ie;
DDS<-----USB Extension-------><---USB A-B---><---DDS Drive Bay--->
and
PC<---USB A-B---><---DDS Drive Bay--->

This was because the DDS connector to the Drive bay was at the rear of the system, and difficult to reach.

[Excalibur]

Jason,yes that would undoubtedly work, but still requires you to move the case to the pc, rather than simply unplugging a HD and carrying that in.

[DJ James Lake]

I'm almost certainly going to get one of these.
http://www.thomann.de/gb/numark_dds_drive.htm

It's tidy, and I believe you can remove the HD from the unit to update it, without lugging an entire flightcase about. My query is, would something like this be what I need to connect the bare drive to a PC?
http://cpc.farnell.com/akasa/ak-ic00...ock/dp/CS18363
Thanks.

Any idea if this would work with a Numark D2?

[Booche]

The local pub to me always rings me up to help her with computer issues etc and i noticed she had bought 2 of the docking statons fromMaplins (link below)

As they do both ide and sata and it's got a card reader etc on it so it's ideal for her karaoke and music videos and because it's a hotswap docking station all she has to do is lit the hdd out and swap.

She has one upstairs and one downstairs in the pub both just connect via usb and hey presto all done.

Sorry if i too have got the wrong end of the stick

SATA and IDE HDD Docking Station with Hub & CardReader

[Corabar Entertainment]

Same make, and same basic functionality as the one I mentioned in post #21

EDIT: Actually, I think that they are the same thing completely - the Communicator C2 - just that one picture is of the older design to the other.