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Thread ID: 128287 2012-12-10 20:20:00 External HDD bk T (215) Press F1
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1317560 2012-12-10 20:20:00 I've got an external HDD which has an E-SATA connector; and I have a E-SATA to SATA cable.

If, I connect this HDD to my PC's SATA header (I've an extended this SATA header to the rear panel of the PC), is it OK to turn the Power (external HDD) ON /OFF while the PC is ON? Or, I've to turn OFF the PC first before turning ON /OFF the external HDD?

Cheers
bk T (215)
1317561 2012-12-10 20:30:00 SATA is designed to be hot-swappable so there should be no problem. Make sure the filesystem is unmounted before disconnecting of course, though. Agent_24 (57)
1317562 2012-12-10 20:31:00 Its Ok to turn it off without turning the PC off. Just make sure you have closed all files that might be open from the drive. ronyville (10611)
1317563 2012-12-10 20:32:00 I have an eSATA device - a caddy - connected that way (ie, to a regular SATA port). If I turn it on with Win 7 already running, it does not get recognised (have to reboot with the device turned on). That's because it is connected to MB's SATA not eSATA.

Likewise it does not show up in Safely Eject. If I want to unplug it, I open resource monitor/disc activity and wait until there are no files with that drive letter. Then I just turn it off and unplug it.

[If I wait until there are no instances of the drive letter, and then try to safely eject, it generates new instances! So I wait until there's nothing showing and just switch it off]
BBCmicro (15761)
1317564 2012-12-10 21:20:00 I have an eSATA device - a caddy - connected that way (ie, to a regular SATA port). If I turn it on with Win 7 already running, it does not get recognised (have to reboot with the device turned on). That's because it is connected to MB's SATA not eSATA.

I think that problem is because your SATA ports are running in IDE emulation mode, rather than native SATA (but don't change it unless you fancy reinstalling your OS).

I've got a front SATA port and a front eSATA port, and both of them are hotswappable in Windows 7 and Windows 8.
pcuser42 (130)
1317565 2012-12-10 21:42:00 I have an eSATA device - a caddy - connected that way (ie, to a regular SATA port). If I turn it on with Win 7 already running, it does not get recognised (have to reboot with the device turned on). That's because it is connected to MB's SATA not eSATA.

Likewise it does not show up in Safely Eject. If I want to unplug it, I open resource monitor/disc activity and wait until there are no files with that drive letter. Then I just turn it off and unplug it.

[If I wait until there are no instances of the drive letter, and then try to safely eject, it generates new instances! So I wait until there's nothing showing and just switch it off]

What I do in similar circumstances (sata drive in e-sata caddy connected to e-sata port and with IDE emulation) is to switch power on to the caddy, then go into device manager - disk drives and ask it to detect new drives which it does.

When finished using the drive, back into device manager and uninstall the external drive, then switch off the power to it.
Terry Porritt (14)
1317566 2012-12-10 22:06:00 I think that problem is because your SATA ports are running in IDE emulation mode, rather than native SATA...

I've just checked. It says:

XHD = disabled
PCH SATA Control Mode = RAID (I have Intel's cacheing SSD installed - although temp removed)
SATA 0 - 3 Native mode = enabled (It says Enabled = Native IDE rather than Legacy IDE - no other options)
GSATA3 Ctrl Mode = IDE (Other options are AHCI, RAID)

Any advice?

I'm not sure what port my eSATA caddy is connected to. The only other SATA ports in use are 2 x 3.5" HDDs internal + SSD cache
(I'm a fan of USB3 - I tend to use my USB3 caddy for everything)

TerryP: I haven't tried using Device Manager as you describe but have tried Disc Manager rescan (and also refresh) and it does not detect it
BBCmicro (15761)
1317567 2012-12-10 22:25:00 Check you have the latest SATA drivers also Agent_24 (57)
1317568 2012-12-10 22:34:00 An e-sata connector is different to a sata one, so it is most likely that your caddy is plugged into an e-sata port.

If the drive has not been installed at boot it wont show up in Disk Management. So I'd certainly try device manager, right click on disk drives and click on 'scan for hardware changes' after power has been applied to the caddy.
Terry Porritt (14)
1317569 2012-12-11 00:40:00 Am I right to conclude that it is safe (for both the PC and external HDD) to turn the HDD ON/OFF while the PC is ON? bk T (215)
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