2TB Seagate drive and hot swapping in Win 7

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rubberpix

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Dec 31, 2013
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I have my SATA set to AHCI and I just reinstalled Windows 7. I previously had it in RAID mode hoping it could fix this problem and it did, but not in the way I had hoped. I have two 2TB Seagate Barricudas that I use in an internal drive bay so I can swap them out to my hearts content. With the controller in RAID mode (without any drives utilizing RAID) I was able to get the computer to see the drives when I inserted them, but couldn't get the drives to be included in the 'Safely Remove Hardware' icon in the tray. Now I have it back in AHCI mode with this new install of Win 7 and I can't get Windows to see the drives unless they are in there from startup and even when that happens, I can't get the computer to stop seeing it until I reboot even if I 'safely remove' it. My WD Green drive can be swapped out easily at any time so I now know it's a problem with those two drives and not my computer. I have service pack 1 installed and did Windows update completely. Any ideas? I read someplace that it's a timing issue, but the fix for them came with Service Pack 1. Is there a way to maybe increase this time by editing something in the registry?

Andy
 
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yoji

yoji

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Jul 1, 2011
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Without special "hot swap" capable hardware.. I am not aware that you can do what you trying to do...
The fact you got the WD green to do it is probably more luck than judgement...
So it more.. you got lucky with the WD green.. rather than a "problem" with the other 2.

Be interested to read other peoples opinions.
Cheers

 
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yoji

yoji

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Ahh..
But looking at it.. it does not seem to do anything but be a straight pass through for the SATA connections.. so its just like manually plugging in a hard drive "on the fly"... which is always going to cause problems..
Does not look very "Hot swappable" at all..
I may be wrong.. but to me.. you been sold a pup..

Cheers
 
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rubberpix

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Dec 31, 2013
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It's been my belief that you don't need 'special' equipment to hot swap so a passthrough adapter like this one should work, and DID while it was in RAID. Here's the really odd part I can't understand, why would I be able to hot swap the Seagate drives when the controller was in RAID mode, but when I switch it to AHCI and a new install of Win 7, it acts like it needs to be in there from startup? My thinking is that it's something to do with AHCI and hot swapping. Maybe I DO need special hardware to handle AHCI hot swapping, but if so, why would my WD Green drive work fine in both RAID and AHCI? I really don't understand it.
I do have a USB 3.0 enclosure I am using for one of the Seagate drives and I guess I can use that for both drives if I must, but I would prefer being able to use both so I don't have to keep swapping inside that enclosure. It's tool-less, but it's pretty hard on the fingers and not in a good spot for me to switch them out frequently.

Thanks for the quick response, I really appreciate that even if it didn't give me a solution. :)

Andy
 
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rubberpix

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Dec 31, 2013
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I already have the internal rack set as eSATA and I've been hot swapping my Western Digital drive at least once daily getting folders and data moved over to the new drive so it's not a problem of getting the rack to be seen as hot swappable, it's getting the Seagates to behave properly.

Andy
 
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