Can you hot swap an internal sata drive?
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#1
Hi there,
Got a new 2 terabyte backup drive. Went to do the ‘drag and drop’ backup plan to an external docking bacy for a whackload of movies I have and the time estimate came up at…..14 hours
My thought is it would be nice to just hot swap it into a sata cable and power cable inside the actual computer tied to the mobo — surely that must be faster than an external usb docking bay. Worst case, I can power down and install it (if it is going to be faster than 14 hours) but was thinking it would more convenient to hot swap if possible.
YD
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Yeah, SATA will be much faster that USB.
Shut down the PC and put the drive inside.
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SATA spec support hotplug, but your controller card must implement it for it to work. So unless you have some hot shit RAID controller or similar, you probably can’t.
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#4
Yes its possible.
I’ve done it Once with a laptop drive. The trouble is yanking the power out and not ripping the other wires of the other drive out. And the data cable. A full 3.5″ drive i would not do it with because its wasn’t really meant for movement during operation.
The external SATA docking bay is really much faster and safer in the sense that you can power down the drive with a switch and let it spin down before you move it. You just need use one of those internal to external headers. Its semi-kosher.
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#5
The SATA controller must be in AHCI or RAID operation mode to support hot plugging.
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#6
I’ve done it on multiple systems. As long as it’s in AHCI mode it’s worked fine for me.
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#7
If you are going to be doing such backup operations repeatedly, you could get a hot-swappable drive bay dock like this one from StarTech for $26, prior to shipping costs.
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#8
Almost* all consumer level SATA controllers support hot swapping.
They’re not SATA controllers if they don’t, it’s part of the basic SATA spec.
* In RAID mode this is much less reliable, since then the controller is free to do what ever the fuck it likes and has no need to comply with AHCI.
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RobL777″:3l1d33qq said:
If you are going to be doing such backup operations repeatedly, you could get a hot-swappable drive bay dock like this one from StarTech for $26, prior to shipping costs.
Click to expand…
As an alternative, I have an Antec Easy SATA and like it a lot; about the same cost, IIRC.
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zelmark, I think the only difference is yours has an eSata connection, which could be handy if your mobo has an eSATA connection on it.
It looks like Newegg deactivated their Antec Easy SATA dock item, but Amazon still has it for $21.53, before shipping.
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USB 2.0 with TB drives is shorthand for ‘a long bloody time to accomplish anything’. I have four SATA bays, two with plastic cases for the drives and two without.
If you only have one drive or you’re transporting the drives elsewhere, choose the case. If you’re constantly shuffling drives, though, the caseless models are much more convenient.
SATA hot-swap is hit or miss. If your drive isn’t picked up, open Computer Management, right-click Disk Management, and choose ‘Rescan disks’. That’s made mine pop up every time.
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Are HDD Hot Swappable? (Explained)
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Have you ever wondered if your Hard Disk Drive (HDD) is hot swappable?
Any SATA, SAS, or FireWire hard drive is hot-swappable, which is most of the hard drives on the market. Whether an HDD is hot-swappable or not depends on the port or bay on the system more than the HDD proper.
If the system has hot-swappable bays, chances are you can hot-swap the drive.
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What Is Hot Swapping?
Hot swapping is the process where you replace an active component of a computer or similar system without shutting off the power. You may have had someone warning you that you should never play with the motherboard of a computer while the power is on. Because you run the risk of getting shocked.
Hot swapping goes against that principle. With a hot-swappable system, you are allowed to swap out parts while the power is still on. This way you can make changes to live systems where you cannot afford to stop the computer.
Typically, you are able to hot-swap the hard drive, SSD, USB, CD, etc. But you cannot swap out the RAM, processor, or graphics card unit (GPU). Hence, these parts are what we call “cold-pluggable” parts as they can be changed only when the power is completely cut off.
Are All HDD Hot Swappable?
There are two factors that determine whether a hard drive is hot-swappable or not – the external bus interface (EBI) on the hard drive and the actual port or bay that you connect the hard drive to.
Most of the HDD (hard disc drives) you will find on today’s market will belong to a few standards. These standards are SATA, SAS, FireWire, etc. These standards are based on the interface on the connecting point of the hard drive. And all of them are hot-swappable.
Meaning if you have a hard drive with a SATA or SAS interface, you can be pretty sure that it will be hot-swappable. And since pretty much all the drives on the market use this interface, you are covered as far as hot-swappable hard drives go.
Now for the other part of that equation, the connecting bay or port. This is the designated area on your device or system’s mainframe or motherboard where you plug in the hard drive. If that bay is hot-swappable, you will be able to exchange the hard drive without stopping the power.
How Do You Know If Your Hard Drive Is Hot Swappable?
As we mentioned, most of the hard drives you find will be hot-swappable. But you can never be too careful. So, it is best to make sure that is the case before you temper with an active system.
There are a couple of things you can check to verify whether you can hot-swap your hard drive or not. The first is on the drive itself. Grab your hard drive and check to see if there are any purple tabs on the body. If there are, you can be certain the drive is hot-swappable.
The other thing you need to ensure is concerning the storage type of the drive. If the drive utilizes a RAID setup, it is swappable. And similar to the interface mentioned before, almost all the hard drives you find are on this setting. But just make sure this is indeed the case by reading the label or asking your supplier.
Similarly, when buying or installing the system, you can ask the technician or the supplier if the system has hot-swap bays.
If it does not, you can ask them to put only hot-swap ports in so that you can change your drives on the fly.
If the hard drive is only cold-pluggable, you need to stop the power supply before changing it. Otherwise, you may damage the drive, your system, and yourself.
Where Are Hot Swappable Hard Drives Used?
Hot-swappable drivers are frequently used in systems that need to run all throughout the day. You will find these systems in factories that use an automated production line or a company that provides continuous online services.
Is Hot Swappable Hard Drive Good?
Hot-swappable hardware is all the rave right now and for good reasons. But some might still be concerned about the whole thing. So, let’s look at the pros and cons of a hot-swappable hard drive and evaluate whether or not they are worth it.
Replace Failed Drive Storages
If there is any problem with the driver, you will be able to replace it with a new one. Now, this sort of system usually has multiple drivers.
So, when you change one driver, as long as the power is going, the data will be saved on the other driver. And you can freely replace the failed drive storage.
Non-Stop Service
Large industries, software companies, or online service providers require multiple storage units to house all their data. And they need to continuously supply their customers with their service, a lot of them are active 24/7. For instance, Google provides their service non-stop as pausing for even a couple of hours can have huge financial implications.
So, if there is any problem with the system these companies use, they would need to stop the entire process, especially if their system is cold-pluggable. The same goes for surveillance units and 24-hour monitoring. These services need to go on without stopping for a second.
And that is where the hot-swappable hard drive comes into play. Because if there is any problem with the storage or you need to upgrade your current storage capacity, you will be able to do so without shutting down the entire operation.
Zero Downtime
Downtime is the time you lose when repairing and maintain a system or a server. In many manufacturing facilities, hard drive failure is a common occurrence. This can happen due to airborne contaminants, high temperatures, or vibrations.
Now if the system did not have a hot-swappable storage system, it would lose hours of productivity trying to fix the issue. You would have to shut off the power, open up the casing, send it to the technician for repair, and wait for them to deliver.
But with flexible hard drives, you can cut this downtime to practically zero. Your technician can work on the problem as the system carries on.
Quick And Simple
Replacing a hot-swappable hard drive is much simpler than the alternative. Plus, you can get the job done significantly quicker. You will also be able to test out the changes to see if they had any effect almost instantly.
Add an Extra Storage Anytime
Most systems will have additional slots for hard drives.
Now, with a cold system, you would need to invest significant time to add the extra storage drive. But with the hot and flexible system, you can add one or two hard drives at any time, at your leisure.
Cons of using a Hot Swappable Hard Drive
Sometimes, when you swap out the hard drive in a hot-swappable setup, the system fails to detect the new driver. This sort of situation can occur if the driver does not fit properly with the hot-swap bay.
Should You Use Hot Swappable Hard Drives?
Despite that last point we mentioned, a hot-swappable system is entirely beneficial to all parties involved. It saves you downtime, keeps your business going even during a malfunction, allows you to upgrade an active system, and so much more. A hot-swappable hard drive just adds so much flexibility to your system.
Conclusion
A hot-swappable hard drive just adds so much flexibility to your system. So, if you have the option, you should always go with a hot-swappable hard drive.
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How to properly connect a hard drive to a computer hot
There is an HDD with a SATA interface, used for backups. There is a separate power supply for this hdd. The idea arose to bring the sata (data itself) cable “outside” of the system unit and, during operation, connect DATA first, and then turn on the power. Then in the «device manager» update the hardware settings. Unmount in the opposite way, using utilities (the same usb safely remove), then turn off the PSU and disconnect the data cord.
How safe is this procedure? In sata, it seems that iron hot swap is supported and some contacts are “closer” and others are “away”. Or is it better not to «joke» with this?
You have outlined the absolutely correct way. Indeed, you can connect peripheral storage media to a PC, not only SATA, but even IDE “hot” in the sequence you specified, first the interface, then the power, and turning it off in the reverse order, first the power, then the interface.
On our workstations, «hot-swapping» our own media is fairly common. I just want to make a few additional points. nine0003
First, if there is such a possibility, then I would recommend using external PCI-SATA controllers for the hot plug, not standard controllers on the motherboard. Personally, I use controllers on Marwell 91xx, and I can especially recommend the SATA Raid controller based on Silicon Image Sil 3114 as it is cheap and works fine. When connecting SATA disks to such controllers on a hot one, you don’t even have to press refresh system devices, after connecting the disks will appear in the list of devices without additional gestures. And in the same way, the controller correctly handles the shutdown — you can simply pull out the hard drive and it will disappear from the list of devices according to the same principle as USB devices — due to the lack of availability in BSOD. I faced this. nine0003
Of course, you need to keep in mind that at the time of shutdown, no volume letters should be mounted in the system.
Otherwise, the OS may begin to seriously slow down or even freeze. In addition, if you disconnect a disk mounted as a volume on the fly, you can get a file system crash, followed by the joys of file recovery using all sorts of different easy recovery.
Well, of course, a normal power supply must be installed on the PC, which does not sag when connecting additional. loads. Ideally, use an external PSU for hot swap disks. And it is very desirable that the system unit has a ground connection. nine0003
In addition, you can watch the training video on how to connect and disconnect the hard drive or SSD “on hot” on our YouTube channel
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Hot replacement of a hard disk — Dudom
Hot Swap during its operation without turning off the power and stopping (the system) (HotPlug), as well as replacing (reconnecting) the unit as a whole ( Hot Swap ).
There is also a term for the opposite of hot swapping — Cold swap , i.e. all (re)connections are made after the system is stopped and the voltage (residual potential) is removed.
The equipment is divided according to this principle into allowing hot swap and not allowing .
Contents
History [edit | edit code ]
Previously, equipment designed to be connected during replacement work was used only in expensive systems and was considered difficult to design. Recently, such systems have become common even on inexpensive computers. nine0003
- Designed to be hot-swappable and therefore hot-swappable to PCMCIA, USB, FireWire, Fiber Channel and eSATA standards.
Devices of this type include flash drives, some hard drives, including those for arrays in servers, expansion cards in PCI-X, PCI Express[1] , ExpressCard (PCMCIA, also formerly called PC Cards) formats that are used in laptops , and even some power supplies.
- Does not fully hot-swap SATA disk interfaces and does not fully support protocol > System design [edit | edit code ]
Computers designed for hot swapping of equipment must somehow detect when a device is disconnected, and contain electrical circuits that are immune to power surges when connected and disconnected. In addition, the software part must be designed for a sudden loss of communication with the device.
Some hot-swap schemes require a detach command to be issued first, which simplifies their design, but threatens data integrity if the device is not detached in the correct way or an error occurs in it. nine0003
More complex schemes have a margin of redundancy and easily restore data in the event of a sudden shutdown of the device.
The term «hot swap» is used in two ways. On the one hand, it means the ability to disconnect or connect the device without turning off the power. On the other hand, it can also imply automatic device detection when connected.
The first meaning of the term applies to interfaces RS-232, FireWire and the simplest implementations of SCSI, the second meaning — to USB, FireWire, PCI Express and complex variants of SCSI. nine0003
Socket construction [edit | edit code ]
Most modern hot swappable devices use moving contacts. One of them is made longer than the others in order to be the first to come into contact with the attached part, a ground wire is connected through it. The remaining contacts are made shorter, in total there can be up to 3 different lengths. The delay between the connection of the first contact and subsequent ones is from 25 to 250 milliseconds.
The power circuits are connected in two stages: in the first, the current limited circuit is connected using longer contacts, and then the full power supply is connected with shorter contacts. All circuits involved in the connection contain protection against static electricity. nine0003
Here is an example of a typical connection sequence:
- The longest contacts are closed (ground).
This ensures the electrical safety of the connection and protection against static charge. - Long or medium pre-feed contacts close. The input circuits of the power circuits are being charged.
- Delay in tens of milliseconds.
- Short power contacts are connected.
- The connection is considered established. The power-up signal turns on. nine0022
- The soft power-on circuit supplies voltage to the device.
- Delay in tens of milliseconds.
- The power circuit has completed soft connection. The power-up signal turns off.
- The device starts full operation.
Connecting several devices is especially difficult, since connecting a second or third device may disrupt the operation of an already connected one. To combat this phenomenon, filters are used in the output circuits or a temporary logical shutdown of data transmission. nine0003
Hot plugging in software [edit | edit source]
The term «hot plug» is also used in relation to software and means the ability to change the program without stopping its execution.
Only a few programming languages support this feature, including Lisp, Erlang, and Smalltalk. The Java language only supports this feature while running the debugger (Java Platform Debugger Architecture, JPDA).
Question asked by:
There is a SATA HDD, used for backups. There is a separate power supply for this hdd. The idea arose to bring the sata (data itself) cable “outside” of the system unit and, during operation, connect DATA first, and then turn on the power. Then in the «device manager» update the hardware settings. Unmount in the opposite way, using utilities (the same usb safely remove), then turn off the PSU and disconnect the data cord.
How safe is this procedure? In sata, it seems that iron hot swap is supported and some contacts are “closer” and others are “away”. Or is it better not to «joke» with this? nine0003
You have mapped out the absolutely correct way. Indeed, you can connect peripheral storage media to a PC, not only SATA, but even IDE “hot” in the sequence you specified, first the interface, then the power, and turning it off in the reverse order, first the power, then the interface.
On our workstations, «hot-swapping» our own media is fairly common. I just want to make a few additional points.
Firstly, if there is such an opportunity, then I would recommend using external PCI-SATA controllers for the hot plug, not standard controllers on the motherboard. Personally I use controllers on marwell 91xx, and I can especially recommend the SATA Raid controller based on Silicon Image Sil 3114 as cheap and working fine. When connecting SATA disks to such controllers on a hot one, you don’t even have to press refresh system devices, after connecting the disks will appear in the list of devices without additional gestures. And in the same way, the controller correctly handles the shutdown — you can simply pull out the hard drive and it will disappear from the list of devices according to the same principle as USB devices — due to the lack of presence BSOD. I faced this. nine0003
Of course, you need to keep in mind that at the time of shutdown, no volume letters should be mounted in the system.
Otherwise, the OS may begin to seriously slow down or even freeze. In addition, if you disconnect a disk mounted as a volume on the fly, you can get a file system crash, followed by the joys of file recovery using all sorts of different easy recovery.
Well, of course, a normal power supply must be installed on the PC, which does not sag when connecting additional. loads. Ideally, use an external PSU for hot swap disks. And it is very desirable that the system unit has a ground connection. nine0003
In addition, you can watch a tutorial video on how to connect and disconnect a hard drive or SSD «hot» on our Youtube channel , As I know. The shutdown sequence is not specified.
However, on one forum I read somehow: «God help you pull out the data cable from the working screw.» I giggled, saying that a person about technology finally does not know. nine0003
About a year has passed since then. Yesterday it was necessary to connect a 4TB screw in order to transfer something to it.