How do I eject a SATA hard disk under Windows XP ?

[Guilbert STABILO]

Hi all,

I configured my BIOS so it handles the SATA AHCI feature which allows SATA
disks to be hot-plugged on my computer. I also replaced my Windows XP disk
driver with the Intel AHCI disk driver so the AHCI can also be managed
under Windows XP.

I tested it and it works fine : if I boot my computer, login under Windows
XP, plug my SATA disk into the rack and start it, it is automatically
recognized by Windows like it is when you plug an USB device (but the disk
transfer speeds are much higher when using AHCI than when using USB).

If I turn the disk off and physically remove it, I can see the disk
immediately disappearing from the desktop explorer. But I am quite unhappy
with this. Because I am electrically stopping the device, I suppose some
data could be corrupted. I thought that the AHCI driver would add an
"Eject" feature on the right-click menu (like it is with USB devices or
flash disks) but I did not found any in my menu (only the "Format" item).

=> Do I have to configure Windows XP so I get an "Eject" item in the right-
click menu ? How could I do this ?
=> Is there another way to disconnect the disk "softly" before physically
disconnecting it ?

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[Jesco Lincke]

Hi all,

I configured my BIOS so it handles the SATA AHCI feature which allows SATA
disks to be hot-plugged on my computer. I also replaced my Windows XP disk
driver with the Intel AHCI disk driver so the AHCI can also be managed
under Windows XP.

I tested it and it works fine : if I boot my computer, login under Windows
XP, plug my SATA disk into the rack and start it, it is automatically
recognized by Windows like it is when you plug an USB device (but the disk
transfer speeds are much higher when using AHCI than when using USB).

If I turn the disk off and physically remove it, I can see the disk
immediately disappearing from the desktop explorer. But I am quite unhappy
with this. Because I am electrically stopping the device, I suppose some
data could be corrupted. I thought that the AHCI driver would add an
"Eject" feature on the right-click menu (like it is with USB devices or
flash disks) but I did not found any in my menu (only the "Format" item).

=> Do I have to configure Windows XP so I get an "Eject" item in the right-
click menu ? How could I do this ?
=> Is there another way to disconnect the disk "softly" before physically
disconnecting it ?

Thanks in advance for your help.

um ... via the "safely remove hardware" icon in your taskbar?
*inconspicuously looking for the hidden camera*

 

[Guilbert STABILO]

um ... via the "safely remove hardware" icon in your taskbar?
*inconspicuously looking for the hidden camera*

On my computer the "safely remove hardware" is only available for USB
devices (only the USB drive letters are displayed), I have nothing for the
SATA disks directly plugged on the motherboard SATA ports.
That's why I was asking.

 

[Jesco Lincke]

On my computer the "safely remove hardware" is only available for USB
devices (only the USB drive letters are displayed), I have nothing for the
SATA disks directly plugged on the motherboard SATA ports.
That's why I was asking.

In device manager, check if the write cache is activated for your
drive(s). Right click on the drive and check the policies tab in properties.
If the write cache is not enabled you can stop worrying about data loss.
, as the data gets written to your disk immediately (or should be, at
any rate. Who can really tell, with windows...).

 

[Arno Wagner]

In device manager, check if the write cache is activated for your
drive(s). Right click on the drive and check the policies tab in properties.
If the write cache is not enabled you can stop worrying about data loss.
, as the data gets written to your disk immediately (or should be, at
any rate. Who can really tell, with windows...).

Without write buffer, you can still kill the filesystem with
complete data loss, namely when you unplug during a write.
It is just less likely.

Never remove a drive before the "savely remove" feature tells
you it is safe to do so!

Arno

 

[Guilbert STABILO]

Without write buffer, you can still kill the filesystem with
complete data loss, namely when you unplug during a write.
It is just less likely.

Never remove a drive before the "savely remove" feature tells
you it is safe to do so!

Thanks but where is the "safely remove" option for SATA connected drives ?
(not USB or Firewire).

 

[Jesco Lincke]

Thanks but where is the "safely remove" option for SATA connected drives ?
(not USB or Firewire).

You enable write caching here:

In device manager, check if the write cache is activated for your
drive(s). Right click on the drive and check the policies tab in
properties.

Then the drive(s) should show up in the "remove hardware safely" dialogue.

 

[Yousuf Khan]

Hi all,

I configured my BIOS so it handles the SATA AHCI feature which allows SATA
disks to be hot-plugged on my computer. I also replaced my Windows XP disk
driver with the Intel AHCI disk driver so the AHCI can also be managed
under Windows XP.

I think you may have shot yourself in the foot with this action. I
typically tend to stay way from Intel's drivers (or any proprietary
drivers) when it comes to certain hardware like disk drives. The Intel
drivers tend to be very finicky compared to the standard Microsoft
drivers. There may be some minor performance improvements available when
going with the Intel drivers, but less compliance with various
standards. See if you can't go back to the standard Microsoft drivers again?

Yousuf Khan

 

[Guilbert STABILO]

There may be some minor performance improvements available
when going with the Intel drivers, but less compliance with various
standards. See if you can't go back to the standard Microsoft drivers
again?

If I get back to the Microsoft standard driver, I will lose the hotplug
feature which is what I want. Indeed, the hotplug is only managed by the
Intel ACHI driver which is not provided by Microsoft (except with Windows
Vista but I don't have and don't want it).

Moreover, I did many write/read tests : I made a backup from my primary
disk to the racked one, I stressed my disk using Everest and I ran some
performance test using HD Tach. I also let my computer running all day long
with many disk I/O processes running and it perfectly worked (no crash, on
unstability).
So, I have no reason to do the rollback.

My motherboard is shipped with an Intel SATA controller so I hope the Intel
driver should appropriated.

 

[Guilbert STABILO]

You enable write caching here:


Then the drive(s) should show up in the "remove hardware safely"
dialogue.

I checked/unchecked the write cache box but this is alwyas the same : no
eject function nor safely remove in task bar.

 

[Arno Wagner]

Arno Wagner <[email protected]> écrivait

Thanks but where is the "safely remove" option for SATA connected drives ?
(not USB or Firewire).

It shows up when the drive has been set to be "removable"
in the device manager.

Arno

 

[Arno Wagner]

Jesco Lincke <[email protected]> écrivait news:[email protected]:

I checked/unchecked the write cache box but this is alwyas the same : no
eject function nor safely remove in task bar.

Hmm. Are these disks perhaps running in ATA emulation? You may
be missing the SATA driver. At least with SP#, SATA disks are
allways removeable.

Arno

 

[Arno Wagner]

It shows up when the drive has been set to be "removable"
in the device manager.

Correction: It seems this is a historic option. It may
depend on yoru disk driver whether the drive is removable
or not. I have both my internal SATA drives show up as removable,
and I am pretty sure I never set anything for them.

Arno

 

[Guilbert STABILO]

Correction: It seems this is a historic option. It may
depend on yoru disk driver whether the drive is removable
or not. I have both my internal SATA drives show up as removable,
and I am pretty sure I never set anything for them.

Hi and thanks for your help.

I am sure that I am using the right driver: when I go on the Device
Manager and open the ATA/ATAPI IDE driver tree, I can see that the
current loaded driver are "Intel(R) ICH9R/DO/DH SATA AHCI Controller"
(this is for SATA devices) and "JMB36X Standard Dual Channel PCIE IDE
Controller" (this is for my IDE CD/DVD burner).

Before I installed the latest version of Intel driver (which comes in the
Intel package called "Intel® Matrix Storage Manager" drivers), I did some
hard removing by switching on/off then off/on my SATA HD (I did it on a
brand new disk because I did not want to lose any important data
corrupted by the hard remove) => even when switched off, the driver
letter stayed in the Windows explorer but if I tried to access it,
Windows hung up.
I tried to start my computer without my test disk in order to test the
hotplug feature and even when switched on, the disk was still not
recognized under Windows.

Now that I installed the Intel disk drivers and correctly set my BIOS to
AHCI, the disk immediately disappears when I switch it off and
immediately appears when I switch it on (this is much faster than with
USB).
So this is OK for hot-pluging the disk on but NOK for hot-pluging it off
because I have no way to tell Windows to stop the disk I/O.

Finally, none of my SATA disks are showed as removable :-( but
physically, they are !
I know I am close to the solution

 

[Arno Wagner]

Arno Wagner <[email protected]> écrivait

Hi and thanks for your help.

I am sure that I am using the right driver: when I go on the Device
Manager and open the ATA/ATAPI IDE driver tree, I can see that the
current loaded driver are "Intel(R) ICH9R/DO/DH SATA AHCI Controller"
(this is for SATA devices) and "JMB36X Standard Dual Channel PCIE IDE
Controller" (this is for my IDE CD/DVD burner).

Before I installed the latest version of Intel driver (which comes in the
Intel package called "Intel® Matrix Storage Manager" drivers), I did some
hard removing by switching on/off then off/on my SATA HD (I did it on a
brand new disk because I did not want to lose any important data
corrupted by the hard remove) => even when switched off, the driver
letter stayed in the Windows explorer but if I tried to access it,
Windows hung up.
I tried to start my computer without my test disk in order to test the
hotplug feature and even when switched on, the disk was still not
recognized under Windows.

Now that I installed the Intel disk drivers and correctly set my BIOS to
AHCI, the disk immediately disappears when I switch it off and
immediately appears when I switch it on (this is much faster than with
USB).
So this is OK for hot-pluging the disk on but NOK for hot-pluging it off
because I have no way to tell Windows to stop the disk I/O.

Finally, none of my SATA disks are showed as removable :-( but
physically, they are !
I know I am close to the solution

Keep looking. Probably some minor issue somewere.

Arno

 

[Guilbert STABILO]

Keep looking. Probably some minor issue somewere.

Arno

Yes, I am going to Google deeper and deeper and let you know on the forum
when I find.

 

[Guilbert STABILO]

Yes, I am going to Google deeper and deeper and let you know on the
forum when I find.

I finally found a solution.

In facts, a lot of people do not have any "Safely remove" icon for SATA
devices. I suppose this is a mis-integration of SATA under Windows XP and
some SATA disk drivers (it seems to work fine under Windows Vista).
Anyway, a developper built this software which really works fine for me:

http://mysite.verizon.net/kaakoon/hotswap/index_enu.htm

Of course, you still need to have the SATA/AHCI feature integrated in the
motherboard hardware to be able to do this.

 

[Arno Wagner]

Guilbert STABILO <[email protected]> écrivait

I finally found a solution.

In facts, a lot of people do not have any "Safely remove" icon for SATA
devices. I suppose this is a mis-integration of SATA under Windows XP and
some SATA disk drivers (it seems to work fine under Windows Vista).
Anyway, a developper built this software which really works fine for me:

Of course, you still need to have the SATA/AHCI feature integrated in the
motherboard hardware to be able to do this.

AHCI is becommingo more common as it saves cost in driver
development. Anyways, congratulations, and thanks for sharing this.

Arno