Removing a Library Drive

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supember

Commendable
Mar 9, 2016
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Greetings all.

I was wondering what would happen if I removed a hard drive containing the videos library from my computer. Let me describe the full situation: I have a computer with three drives: 240GB SATA SSD (OS), 1TB SATA HDD (games, pictures, music, documents, etc.), and a 3TB SATA HDD (videos). The video drive is installed as a system drive, and it contains my default "Videos" library in Windows. It is connected to a sort of "hot swap bay" on top of my case, while the other two drives are mounted inside the case. Every time I move my computer, I remove the video drive and carry it separately, as to prevent damaging the case or the drive. To keep things kosher, I don't turn on my computer without reinstalling the video drive into the hot swap bay.

Now, I understand that the easiest solution is simply install the drive into a permanent mount inside my case (which is entirely practical and not difficult). However, please humor me: what would happen if I turned on my computer without putting the drive in the bay? Or, furthermore, what if I ripped the drive out while the computer was on? Just some things that I've been wondering about. Thanks in advance!
 
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1. First of all, your 240 GB SSD is your boot drive; not the HDD containing your video files which is a secondary HDD in your system. Ordinarily we refer to our boot drive as the "system drive", not a secondary drive as such.

2. There is certainly no need to connect the video secondary HDD before you boot to your OS as long as it's connected after bootup AND you've enabled "hot plugging" in your BIOS.

3. While there's usually no problem disconnecting/uninstalling a secondary drive while the system is running you would obviously not do that if you were in the midst of working with that secondary drive at the time you disconnected it from the system. Obviously there's a likelihood of losing data that way but otherwise it would be rare...
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popatim

popatim

Titan
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Dec 2, 2009
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What happens depends entirely on how windows configured the drive. Can you link to a picture of your disk management screen? (Imgur hosting is often used here)
If windows wrote system files to the drive then windows will not boot without the drive in.
If windows did not then the drive would simply not show in explorer.

Ripping the drive out with the system on is a bad idea as it can physically damage the drive if its being used at the time power is disconnected.
If the bay is Hot-swappable then you can rt click on it and eject it from explorer. You will be informed when it is safe to remove just like when you eject a flash drive.
 
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RolandJS

Reputable
Mar 10, 2017
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"...what if I ripped the drive out while the computer was on?..."
"...Ripping the drive out with the system on is a bad idea as it can physically damage the drive if its being used at the time power is disconnected..."
Adding to popatim's wise words:
end-user error will not be eliminated by later end-user remorse.
 
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S

supember

Commendable
Mar 9, 2016
3
0
1,510


Here is my disk management screen
 
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ArtPog

Admirable
Sep 17, 2014
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1. First of all, your 240 GB SSD is your boot drive; not the HDD containing your video files which is a secondary HDD in your system. Ordinarily we refer to our boot drive as the "system drive", not a secondary drive as such.

2. There is certainly no need to connect the video secondary HDD before you boot to your OS as long as it's connected after bootup AND you've enabled "hot plugging" in your BIOS.

3. While there's usually no problem disconnecting/uninstalling a secondary drive while the system is running you would obviously not do that if you were in the midst of working with that secondary drive at the time you disconnected it from the system. Obviously there's a likelihood of losing data that way but otherwise it would be rare to suffer any permanent long-term damage to the drive other than a potential loss of data. And, as I've indicated, even that's a rare event in our experience.

4. We've been working with removable HDDs for nearly 20 years and with SSD's over the past five years or so. All our desktop PC's are equipped with mobile racks to house removable drives. I wouldn't build a PC without one or more. So we've had a great deal of experience inadvertently (in most cases - sometimes for experimental purposes) in disconnecting this or that secondary drive from the system while the system is running. Truth to tell, we've rarely experienced any problem with loss of data or any later untoward event with the drive itself. (Of course it goes without saying one would never purposely disconnect a running boot drive from the system, right?)

5. Now having said all that...of course we would never recommend that a user routinely disconnect his/her HDD/SSD from a running system. It happens, of course, inadvertently, e.g., a loss of power or some such or as a mistake on the user's part. But as I've indicated problems resulting from this "mistake" are few & far between in our experience.
 
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Solution
popatim

popatim

Titan
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Dec 2, 2009
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As mentioned, you're system is setup correctly and the boot files and OS reside solely on the SSD.
You can 'eject the drive' while the system is on if its sata port is configured as a hot-swap port with no ill effect so long as you wait until windows tells you its safe to do so.
Otherwise, as you have been doing, power off before removing.
 
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