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Mitron Duplus DUP-35 HDD Selector

This is a guest post by David Luu of Overclockers Online

Manufacturer: Mitron Interlink Inc.

Mitron Interlink Inc. is a new face on the computer component industry, manufacturing PC modding gear to hard drive enclosures. Based in Taiwan, this company is giving us a first hand look at their HDD Selector (Duplus DUP-35).

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This hard drive selector device is aimed towards the crowd which uses two hard drives which have issues with booting and O/S isolation. Although this is not a completely new idea on the market, it is rare to come across these in a PC hardware store.

Package

The unit that was sent to us is a pre-production model, so it did not come in a retail package. However, everything included was shipped.

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The selector comes with the switch, power cables, and screws. The selector is designed to fit into a standard 3.5″ bay.

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As you can see, the selector is a very simple device which takes up very little room. Since this unit is so small, it is wide open for enthusiasts to do their own case modding to fit this device in.

Before we try this gadget out, let’s take a look at the features.

Features

The selector is describes on the website:

  • Separate two bootable drives isolating HDD from each other prevents virus infection from one HDD to another
  • Easy installation and straight forward operation
  • Three modes operation with LEDs indication: boot from A, boot from B, user selectable boot A+B
  • The A+B mode allows two HDD to be power on making file sharing possible between two HDD
  • MCU controlled preventing a user to accidentally shut down the hard drive in use while the system is power on. To select another bootable HDD, the system needs to be powered off for the change to take effect.
  • Convert 4 pin Molex 12V & 5V input from PSU to 12V, 5V & 3.3V output for SATA HDDs

    • The device gives the user the convenience of turning a knob to turn on/off hard drives without having to open up the computer. This is great for users who have multiple operating systems of have problems with virus infections.

    Now let’s move onto installation and testing.

    Installation and Testing

    Installation is fairly simple, as it only requires fitting the unit into the case and replacing the current hard drive power cables with the wires supplied into the switch.

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    The addition of this device may lead to more cable management chaos.

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    The switch is a metal knob with a grippy texture for easy turning. The knob clicks firmly in place when switching hard drives and the LED indicator clearly shows the switch position.

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    Power to A&B, Power to B, Power to A

    The hard drives are successfully switched on and off when tested, and no damage was done to the hard drives with the addition of the selector. The operation can only be done when the PC is turned off. Do not attempt to change modes while the PC is in operation.

    Conclusion

    Mitron has produced a large number of products such as noise dampening, fan grills, even case lights, making Mitron a competitor in the computer accessory market.

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    Mitron’s HDD Selector is a very clever device which allows the user to switch hard drives when necessary. The unit was very easy to install, and works flawlessly. The only drawback of this design is the limited control of two hard drives.

    Advantages

  • Easy to install

    • Disadvantages

  • Limited to two hard drives

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