Hot Swap SATA Broken

[Rich_A]

Hi all,

   I have several SATA (3gbs) hard drives.  Also a tray-less SATA Rack.  This is a removable SATA drive rack.

The drives are formatted properly.  When I try using these drives on a friends PC they work perfectly.  We can plug them in .. view/modify contents.  We can pull the drive and plug in a new one and all works well.  

However, for some reason these drives will not work on my own two PCs at home.  It's a very strange combination of problems.  


I am using Windows XP Pro with all updates and SP2.  The drives power source is a proper SATA Power Connector directly from the power supply (no adaptors)   My friend has the same main board and such.  

So something is missing /broken in my system.  (I guess)  I've tried a full re-install of windows.  

Any ideas why my SATA drives will hot swap properly on several friends PCs but not mine?  

Addition strange happening:   IF I first plug any of my drives into a "working" computer (my friends PC) THEN I have the following scenerio:

I CAN plug it into my own computer while running (hot swap) and it works normally.  BUT if it is left in the computer and the computer is shut down and restarted, it will not work and locks up the system.  So it will only work normally as a true hot swap and only after the computer has been started first.  

I can bring the 1/2 dozen drives to my friends house and have him just plug each one into his system and from then on they will work.  But why ??  And also why do they crash my system if they are already plugged in after a system start ??   Very weird problem.  

[patio]

Do you have a spare PSU with SATA connectors lying around ? ?
Hook it up to the SATA Rack and see if this helps...

[Rich_A]

Do you have a spare PSU with SATA connectors lying around ? ?
Hook it up to the SATA Rack and see if this helps...

Already tried that.  It shouldn't really need to have the dedicated power connection from the supply anyway.  We used them at my friends house by just plugging them into a normal 4 pin molex power jack and they worked correctly.  

But I did try a couple other pwr supplies with dedicated SATA power plugs.  Same problem.  BTW, I have TWO PCs of mine and BOTH of them have this problem.  So I'm thinking there is something in my Windows setup that is different from my friends setup where it works in his but not mine.  

Another possible related thing.  I also have a usb external hard drive that should also be able to be plugged in to access.  And when I do, I have to get into the computer file management area and "re-activate" the disk every time.   I'm pretty sure it should just work like a USB key (which DOES work normally)

[patio]

The only thing i can think of between your machine and your friends would be the SATA drivers themselves or possibly a setting/switch in the BIOS...

[GX1_Man]

Where did you get a 3 gig. SATA drive?

What are the operating systems on the systems that work and don't? Any other hints on the machines? See below.

[Rich_A]

The only thing i can think of between your machine and your friends would be the SATA drivers themselves or possibly a setting/switch in the BIOS...

I've been through the BIOS several times .. everything that should be set is set properly.  And it is running the latest.  I've also played with various SATA drivers etc.  

I'm a retired owner of a computer repair shop.  The "friends" are former employees (three technicians there) They are all stumped as well.  Just to be sure we took one of my hard drives and "stuck" it into several computers on the work bench.  All found it fine and worked fine.  It's still a puzzle.

[patio]

I'm perplexed...i checked MSKB and nothing...does this dock use drivers also ? ?

[Rich_A]

Where did you get a 3 gig. SATA drive?

What are the operating systems on the systems that work and don't? Any other hints on the machines? See below.

I mis-typed .. instead of 3gbs it should be 3 Gb/s.  I was referring to that as opposed to a SATA 150.  These 3 Gb/s SATA drives are also referred to as 300 MB/s drives.   The drives in question are a 500 GB Seagate Perpendicular recording, a couple 250 GB Seagates and three 250 GB Western Digital.  All 7200 rpm and 300 MB/s rated drives.

We are all using Windows XP Pro.  My ABIT AN8 Fatality PC (where it doesn't work) is almost identical to one of the service techs own computers.  And it works in his.  My other PC is an Asus A8N main board and we also have tried this on the same type of main board at the shop and it works.  But not on mine.  

Processors are Athlon 4400 64 x2 and an Althon 3800 64.  All my computers run trouble free except for this one puzzling thing.  In fact for the first time ever, I actually wiped the hard drive on one and re-installed Windows fresh.  Still the same thing.  

Maybe I need a witch doctor?  <grin>

[Rich_A]

I'm perplexed...i checked MSKB and nothing...does this dock use drivers also ? ?

No.  Doesn't need drivers in WinXP.  (or so the manufacturer says)  It is a "caddy-less" docking bay.  Kind of like some large commercial hot swap arrays have.  You open the door and a lever pushes out the bare drive.  It's designed so the native connection of the SATA pwr connection is used, as when inserting or removing the drive the actual power and data connection contact points are engaged at different times.  That way you don't need a SATA sensing capable power supply.  But I AM using a proper SATA power anyway.    
 
In the shop, believe it or not one guy just plugged in an available SATA cable and hooked up to an available molex connector and Windows found the drive fine .. that was with NO drive bay.  
 
The weirdest thing is that my drives are not recognised at all, UNTIL I first plug them into anyone else's machine.  It's like the process of hot plugging the drive into a "good working system" stamps or imprints tags something onto the disk medium, sort of "initializing" it as a hot swap or removable drive.  Once that is done THEN they do work as hot swap drives on my own system.  
 
The easiest thing for me to do would be to trot over to the shop (I hang out there all the time anyway) with all my removable drives and just plug each one into their system once.  After that they will work fine in my machine.   But that doesn't address the fact that something is "wrong" with my own system where it can't do that.    
 
I've also enabled and disabled the Windows Disk properties where you can choose to "Optimize for quick removal".  Doesn't make any difference.