Managing hot-swap harddisks

[Daniel Rudy]

Hello,

I have a hot-swap drive bay that is plugged into the mainboard IDE port.
For some time now, the only way that I could get the system to see the
HD is if the HD was in the bay when the system booted, and I had to
reboot to remove it from the bay. Not very usefull for a hot-swap
device.

Now I have discovered a procedure that will allow the disk to be seen
and mounted while the system is running. The harddisk must be
preformatted as a DYNAMIC disk. Also, you will need to disable
write-behind caching for that disk as well.

To initially activate a disk that was not present when the system
booted:

1. Insert HD carrier tray into hot-swap bay and turn the key to
activate.
2. Start -> Control Panel -> Add Hardware wizard.
3. Click Next.
4. When the wizard asks if the hardware is already connected, select
YES.
5. Click Next.
6. Select the harddisk device from the choices given. In my case, it's
labeled as ST3400832A.
7. Click Finish.
8. Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Computer Management.
(or Start -> Administrative Tools -> Computer Management,
or Start -> Programs -> Administrative Tools -> Computer Management
depending on your setup).
9. Navagate to Storage > Disk Management
10. Select the disk. It will have a RED dot with a white dash in it.
It will say Dynamic, Offline, and will have the size of the disk.
11. Right Click in that box that has the info described in step 10 and
select Reactivate Disk.
12. The disk is now Online and ready for use...Without a reboot.

To deactivate disk:

1. Close any and all programs that might be using that disk.
2. Open Computer Management from Administrative Tools.
3. Navagate to Storage > Disk Management.
4. Right Click in the information box which shows the current
online/offline status of the disk and select properties.
5. Under device usage, select Do not use this device (disable)
6. Click OK.
7. You may now remove the disk.

To reactivate:

1. Insert disk into hot-swap bay and turn the key to activate disk.
2. Open Device Manager by Start -> Control Panel -> System ->
Hardware -> Device Manager -> Disk Drives
3. Select the disk that is in the hot-swap bay and right click. Select
Enable.
4. Goto Computer Management and right click on the info square and
select reactivate.
5. Disk is now ready for use.

Now, for my question:

Does Microsoft or anyone else make a utility that does this cleanly
without all this fluff? You should be able to designate that a hardisk
is in a removable tray and be able to activate or deactivate it on the
fly. With home desktop computers beginning to come with hot-swap bays
pre-installed, this is going to be more and more of an issue when
someone is working with files on different movable hardidsks. For waht
it's worth, I tried the fsutil dismount command and that had no effect.
Only when I disabled the hardware did the drive dismount and I could
remove it from the system.

Furthermore, in the case of backing up your computer, writing to CD/DVD
is not feasible if you have a 160GB harddisk that is even half full.
Given an average compression ratio of 2:1, that would translate to about
40GB which would take up about 10 4.7GB DVDs. Tape is usefull, but the
drives are expensive. I know, I have a tape backup solution on my
system. The hot-swap harddisk system seems to be the only viable
alternative to high-capacity backup solutions...When you figure that the
current market rate for a harddisk is about $0.75/GB. Even 80GB drives
can be had for about $60.00 if you look.

 

[Ron Sommer]

The Bios has to detect IDE devices.
If you had bought a USB 2 or Firewire drive, the drive would be hot
swappable.

 

[DaveH]

Hello,

I have a hot-swap drive bay that is plugged into the mainboard IDE port.
For some time now, the only way that I could get the system to see the HD
is if the HD was in the bay when the system booted, and I had to reboot to
remove it from the bay. Not very usefull for a hot-swap device.

Now I have discovered a procedure that will allow the disk to be seen and
mounted while the system is running. The harddisk must be preformatted as
a DYNAMIC disk. Also, you will need to disable write-behind caching for
that disk as well.

To initially activate a disk that was not present when the system booted:

1. Insert HD carrier tray into hot-swap bay and turn the key to activate.
2. Start -> Control Panel -> Add Hardware wizard.
3. Click Next.
4. When the wizard asks if the hardware is already connected, select YES.
5. Click Next.
6. Select the harddisk device from the choices given. In my case, it's
labeled as ST3400832A.
7. Click Finish.
8. Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Computer Management.
(or Start -> Administrative Tools -> Computer Management,
or Start -> Programs -> Administrative Tools -> Computer Management
depending on your setup).
9. Navagate to Storage > Disk Management
10. Select the disk. It will have a RED dot with a white dash in it. It
will say Dynamic, Offline, and will have the size of the disk.
11. Right Click in that box that has the info described in step 10 and
select Reactivate Disk.
12. The disk is now Online and ready for use...Without a reboot.

To deactivate disk:

1. Close any and all programs that might be using that disk.
2. Open Computer Management from Administrative Tools.
3. Navagate to Storage > Disk Management.
4. Right Click in the information box which shows the current
online/offline status of the disk and select properties.
5. Under device usage, select Do not use this device (disable)
6. Click OK.
7. You may now remove the disk.

To reactivate:

1. Insert disk into hot-swap bay and turn the key to activate disk.
2. Open Device Manager by Start -> Control Panel -> System -> Hardware ->
Device Manager -> Disk Drives
3. Select the disk that is in the hot-swap bay and right click. Select
Enable.
4. Goto Computer Management and right click on the info square and select
reactivate.
5. Disk is now ready for use.

Now, for my question:

Does Microsoft or anyone else make a utility that does this cleanly
without all this fluff? You should be able to designate that a hardisk is
in a removable tray and be able to activate or deactivate it on the fly.
With home desktop computers beginning to come with hot-swap bays
pre-installed, this is going to be more and more of an issue when someone
is working with files on different movable hardidsks. For waht it's
worth, I tried the fsutil dismount command and that had no effect. Only
when I disabled the hardware did the drive dismount and I could remove it
from the system.

Furthermore, in the case of backing up your computer, writing to CD/DVD is
not feasible if you have a 160GB harddisk that is even half full. Given an
average compression ratio of 2:1, that would translate to about 40GB which
would take up about 10 4.7GB DVDs. Tape is usefull, but the drives are
expensive. I know, I have a tape backup solution on my system. The
hot-swap harddisk system seems to be the only viable alternative to
high-capacity backup solutions...When you figure that the current market
rate for a harddisk is about $0.75/GB. Even 80GB drives can be had for
about $60.00 if you look.

Because IDE is not truly hot-swappable, you need to look at the
alternatives. SCSI is a possibility but I suggest USB. Buy one of the USB
2.0 enclosures (about $25.00US).

Dave H.

 

[Daniel Rudy]

The Bios has to detect IDE devices.

Not True.

Because the drive is 400GB, and the BIOS can only see the first 137GB, I
have told the BIOS none for that port/position. Windows sees it just
fine. I had a similar problem with a Unix server. I did the same
thing, works just fine. Back in the era of DOS, adn even Win98 and
WinME, I would agree with you, but today with these modern
protected-mode operating systems that use their own drivers to access
the hardware, they scan the hardware on their own and configure
themselves to it, more or less ignoring the BIOS. The drive was in when
the machine booted, but the BIOS still said none. Right now it is
designated as drive k:.

If you don't beleive me, try it with WinXP. That's how I am able to get
around the 137GB HD size limit imposed by the BIOS.

If you had bought a USB 2 or Firewire drive, the drive would be hot
swappable.

Maybe I should, but I have a hot-swap bay in the case. I might as well
use it. I wish Microsoft would make it easier to deal with IDE hot-swap
devices.

 

[Ron Sommer]

Thanks for the information.
What I do for USB devices when I want to disconnect is hibernate the
computer.
Maybe that will work for your drive.