Can you unplug SATA drives in motherboard whilst pc is switched on?

Jimbo · 15 Apr 2014 at 09:46

Just wondering cos it would be easier. Is it called hot plug/switch?

Mirmo · 15 Apr 2014 at 10:04

I'm sure you can if the sata port supports hot-swapping. You can configure this in the bios if your mobo supports it.

Surely it's the same as the hot-swappable drive bays some cases have (650d)

OracIe · 15 Apr 2014 at 11:55

Mirmo said:
I'm sure you can if the sata port supports hot-swapping. You can configure this in the bios if your mobo supports it.

Surely it's the same as the hot-swappable drive bays some cases have (650d)

As above, you can do it depending on the hardware and setup you're running.

If not, you can still do it (Wouldn't really recommend it) but you would need to plug in and reboot for it to show up again.

smilertoo · 15 Apr 2014 at 19:34

esata or usb3 addon would be better if you want to do it routinely.

Jimbo · 15 Apr 2014 at 22:04

Thanks I was just asking cos i wanted to unplug my sata drives when my new SSD arrives so I only have my C: drive connected. I was Gonna do it hot plug but I think il not be lazy and do it powered off instead.

ots3go · 15 Apr 2014 at 22:25

SATA's hot swap, so go nuts.

The only issue you might hit is if the mobo / RAID controller doesn't support hot swap, in which case you'll have to reboot for the new disk to be detected.

bledd · 16 Apr 2014 at 15:14

ots3go said:
SATA's hot swap, so go nuts.

The only issue you might hit is if the mobo / RAID controller doesn't support hot swap, in which case you'll have to reboot for the new disk to be detected.

Bad advice.

Not all SATA are hot swap.

By far the best way to do it is to look for the 'Safely remove hardware' icon in your Taskbar, click this and see if the drive you want to remove is listed. If it is, click 'Remove' or whatever it is that comes up.

Otherwise there could be file locks present on the drive.

-Also, you can do a 'Rescan Disks' in Disk Management to find newly connected drives.

Josh · 16 Apr 2014 at 15:16

I did a hot swap whilst installing a new PSU and bricked my SSD & HDD, turn the system off it takes seconds.

bledd · 16 Apr 2014 at 15:21

^That's different (and reckless

)

Josh · 16 Apr 2014 at 15:26

bledd. said:
^That's different (and reckless )

Oh yes tell me about it luckily Seagate and OCZ are brilliant and replacing them for me.

Lesson learned the hard way.

wazza300 · 16 Apr 2014 at 18:24

I do it all the time,but I have a 5.25" hdd dock with power switches,i turn off/unplug without any issue

hotswap is enabled in the bios though for all ports