Hot Plug Sata Hard drive

[T-boy_29]

Hello,

I have a computer running windows 7 that I would rather not turn off. In short.

if I open it up and plug in a Sata hard drive. Will it detect it and will I beable to use it.

Thanks

 

[Pyree]

If your sata ports are hotswaptable then there is no problem. In window 7, they just act like a usb device and they can be spinned down and unplug. BUT do you really want to install hardware into your case when it is still running and risk electrocution when connecting the power to the HDD, or worse, accidentally short circuit something and kill the rig?

 

[ssddx]

OP:

if you want hot swappable the best way to go about it would be to do one of the following. keep in mind what tboy said that you need to make sure they are hotswappable.

A) install a SATA hotswappable enclosure into one of your free "empty" spaces on the front of your case. from here you can simply insert a drive (normally in a type of slide in enclosure) and use it and remove it anytime you aren't writing to it.

B) its not sata but they make "hard drive docks" which are USB that you can literally just set any standard hard drive into. you'd have to watch out for touching the exposed circuits though.

C) e-sata, external hard drive case.

hotswap bay devices are the best route. you might spend more on parts (enclosure, drive rails) but things are much cleaner.