SATA DRives, are they hot swapable?

[JT]

I have a couple of SATA drives in my PC at this
point...and need to hook one up (it used to my my boot
drive with XP on it) to get a few files off of it, then
to format it....Do I need to power down, then power up
hoping that the right o/s will load, or is SATA hot
swapable..meaning even though it's internal...I can add
the drive while windows is up and running? Any help
would be appreciated!!

Thanks!

 

[NoNoBadDog!]

Are you serious?

Tell me this is not a troll....


Bobby

 

[Testy]

This is not a troll, do some research on the feature of SATA.

Testy

 

[joust in jest]

Nothing internal to your computer is "hot swappable". Adding / removing
hardware inside the case while the power is on is a recipe for disaster.

Remove the bulb from a lamp. Turn the lamp on. Put your finger in the socket
where the bulb used to be.
That is how your hard drive will feel when you plug it into (or unplug it
from) a powered system.

Whether a drive is IDE, SATA, or SCSI is not relevant. Whether a removable
drive is hot-swappable depends entirely upon the specs of your hard drive
rack and caddy. Hot-swappable rack/caddies are considerably more expensive
than non hot-swappable.

If your rack / caddy is not designed for hot swapping, you can fry your
drive, or your power supply, or your motherboard, or all of them in one fell
swoop.

 

[Testy]

Do some research and you will find
"SATA drives can even be plugged in whilst a system is running!"

Testy

 

[Nathan McNulty]

Testy is entirely correct. I do it all the time on my computer. I use
a drive rack that is connected through SATA and I have three computers
that I can swap it with. No need to turn the power off any of them
before plugging it in or pulling it out.

 

[Testy]

Gee it is so rare for people here to agree with me! Almost scary

Testy

 

[joust in jest]

Testy and Nathan:

See my red face?

steve

Testy is entirely correct. I do it all the time on my computer. I use
a drive rack that is connected through SATA and I have three computers
that I can swap it with. No need to turn the power off any of them
before plugging it in or pulling it out.

 

[Testy]

No problem, happens to all of us on occasion.

Testy

 

[Carl]

Hi Nathan
Got a dumb question here for you being as you use SATA drives and handle
them often.
Do you have much trouble with the cables going south on you ?
I have 2 SATA drives in my PC and had to buy 2 new cables already because
the ends crack open on the connector , makeing poor contact then.
Maybe i am just to rough with mine. It happens just from bumping them around
while i am doing something inside PC.
Thanks

 

[Nathan McNulty]

I actually have had problems with them not fitting snugly. I have never
broken one, but I have had to get into the case and reconnect them a few
times. They just don't seem to clamp in the way IDE cables do and are
much more fragile. The hotswap feature was the main reason I purchased
this drive over IDE, but I have come across a couple of complications
over the last couple of years. Just never unplug one while Windows is
still writing to it. They don't like that too much for some reason

 

[Carl]

Hi Nathan
Thanks for the reply.
Thought maybe i was the only one with a complaint.
thanks again