Hotswap eSATA Drive?

How do I set my motherboard's extra RAID controller to support removable esata drives? I have one of those Vantec sata drive docks that you slap an internal drive in and can eject it out with a button.v It connects over sata. Right now I can safely remove the drive, but if I power cycle the dock or remove/replace the hd, it doesn't add the hard drive back until reboot. What I've done... Set the JMicron controller in the BIOS to ACHI Load JMicron's esata driver (the disablewritecache one) Any additional advice?

It seems this is not an eSATA featured controller, just SATA.

With SATA, provided that you use the sata-style power cable, and not the old 4pinned one, it's safe to remove and plug any drive, any time...only problem, if they're not eSATA, the OS needs to refresh its devices or restart in order to detect them. (Device Manager - Scan for hardware changes).

Some controllers do that though with a similar simplicity like pluggin and removing a USB...

In simple terms, the device must support eSATA.

I have a similar problem with my esata port on Asus P6T Jmicron controller. I have tried the whql 17.47 driver and the newest 17.48 driver, jmicron bios set to ahci mode. The hard drive that is connected to the esata port shows up in the safely remove device windows, but windows doesn't let me eject the drive( saying that the drive is busy please close all programs thats accessing it). I also have to restart windows if I switch drives for it to be discovered(scanning for hardware changes doesn't work). But if I boot up the computer without a esata drive connected and then plug it in, windows discovers it just fine. Thank you for your time and your help!

Someone please help me out, this is driving me crazy!

Hi! Thanks for the reply. Both system restore and page filing are turned off on that drive. It is also been set to "optimized for quick removal".

I have the Thermaltake BlacX version of the same external eSata/USB drive dock. My solution was to use one of the 6 native Sata ports for eSata purposes and use the JMicron ports with permanently attached "secondary purpose" hard drives (meaning not my boot drive nor my primary data storage work space). I've got all Sata ports set for ACHI/RAID in my BIOS.

hey weh,
Are you using the jmicron ports for your boot drive and the mobo ports for esata? I am currently using the mobo sata ports (ICH10) for my boot drive and the jmicron ports for esata. The main reason I am doing this is because the esata port in the back of the motherboard is controlled by jmicron controller by default. Did you have the same problems as me before you switched the ports? I could use one of those sata ->esata panels to switch the setup around...

Okay, this is strange. I had not noticed that I have essentially the same problem.

I have the Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD5 motherboard. Drive assignments are (were) as follows:

• ICH10 . . . 6x Sata-2 ports
  
  • Port 0: WD1500HLFS boot drive
  • Port 1: (reserved for 2nd boot drive, RAID-0 array)
  • Ports 2 & 3: 2x WD1002FBYS RE3, RAID-1 array
  • Port 4: Pioneer DVR-217DBK burner
  • Port 5: [was] connected to case's eSata port (used for external HD backup)
• JMicron . . .4x Sata-2 ports, 1x IDE ATA-133 port (master & slave)
  
  • Port 0: 1.5TB WD15EADS
  • Port 1: (not used)
  • Port 2: 1.5TB WD15EADS
  • Port 3: [was] (not used) [now] connected to case's eSata port
  • IDE Port: (not used)
• Adaptec 5805 array controller . . .
  
  • All ports: 8x 1.5TB WD15EADS, RAID-6 array

Gigabyte does not include a dedicated eSata port. Instead, it includes a dual eSata port bracket to be inserted in one of the back plane slots and connected to any of the available "regular" sata ports. However, I am not using the bracket. My case has an eSata port included in its top-panel I/O connections array. It is that eSata connection that I have attached to the ICH10/Port-5 Sata connection on the motherboard and which I use to connect my Thermaltake BlacX ST0005U docking station.

• I can hot-swap to any of the ports on the Adaptec array controller without problems (I'm notified that a drive has failed and the array begins to rebuild automatically when a drive is replaced).
• I can "hot" remove a drive from the Thermaltake BlacX (connected to the ICH10) -- although I do NOT have permission to do so -- it's grayed-out on the "Safely Remove Hardware" list.
• I can "hot" remove a drive connected to the JMicron controller -- with or without using the "Safely Remove Hardware" list.
• I can "hot" add a drive to either of the motherboard-based controllers without problems if, and only if, there was no drive connected to that port at boot time.
• If I "hot" add a drive to a port that has previously been in use with either motherboard-based controller, whether using the Thermaltake BlacX or not, I get a blue screen, core memory dump, automatic re-boot, and a message that Windows did not shut down properly.

I had discovered the problem with the JMicron controller early on; but had assumed -- incorrectly -- that it was a JMicron problem. I had added a drive using the ICH10 controller but had not tested replacing a drive. I normally change the drive in the BlacX docking station only once a week. I use 3 drives in a weekly rotation for backup purposes, a full backup of my OS and primary data space once a week and then incremental backups daily.

Based on this, I have now moved my case's eSata port connection to one of the JMicron Sata ports so that I can properly safely remove hardware, should the need arise. And I join the search for a solution to the hot-swap problem.