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!HDD removal durring windows?!

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SybrCLocK

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Nov 2, 2003
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ok.. i witnessed it`s possible.. to remove a HDD when the pc wasen't shut down yet...the HDD suvived... now.. the question is.. :

is it safe.. is there some steps to follow.. when removing a HDD durring a windows session?
i really wouldn`t want to test it on a 80gig HDD
 
There is hot swapping that can be done with certain controllers in RAID arrays but there is a process that has to be followed... I wouldn't recommend just yanking things out. In a normal system you shouldn't ever remove something from a system that is pulling a load from the PSU.

If a drive is removeable then it should invoke the unplug/eject hardware utility when it is connected... Like a USB flashdrive does. I think.
 
The only component that I know of that is hot-swapable is the floppy drive. I wouldn't risk loosing or corrupting the data on your hd just to hot swap it.
 
i witnessed a 40gig HDD been plugged in during windows xp running.. and it found it as new hardware... the guy beeing a total idiot in computers then plugged the drive out when he'd done the job.. again..no damage to the drive...

here is what's happening...i guess...
when windows isn't reading any data from the drive that is beeing removed.. data corruption shouln't happen

and another thing.. when in the system - device manager - HDD properties.. there is a option "removable device" then it can be unplugged...

well before testing i would like some more opinions :rolleyes:
 
Saw a guy do that before also a few years ago. Something I've only done on computers I could give a crap less about. Would NEVER do it on my main rig or anything within a few years old.
 
Well you can go to disable a component through device manager... That might halt any access on the drive, but I don't know if thats guaranteed. I still wouldn't recommend it.
 
I accidently slid in a drive bay and closed the handle FRYING the drive while windows was running lol... Usually killing a drive is the result of attaching or detaching it from a system running..
 
Seems to me, if nots your main drive and you disconnect the power first you should be able to then disconnect the ide cable and remove the hard drive without causing any damage. When replacing make sure that you connect the ide cables first then the power, done this on older drives in systems I don't care about to find out if it would work. Ten times with no problems I could find. Have to agree with nerd4life, would'nt do it anything that counted.
 
Did you watch as you connected/disconnected the power molex? ;)

If you do it "right" you get sparks as the electricity jumps from the molex to the HDD pins.

As everyones pretty much said, its just not recommended. Could always do it if you wanted though and theres a good chance you could get away with it. Theres also a good chance you can fry your drive too. :)
 
I am thinking that in the past, if you did do this, it would destroy a drive. I'm talking really ancient hard drives who, when they lost power would cause a head crash.

That has been solved by the hard drive manufacturers, so that you wouldn't loose so many hard drives due to a power outtage.

What I am saying is that what you are doing most likely is using the emergency features of a hard drive. If some cables fall out of the drive for who-knows-what reason, do you want a totally dead drive from that? Most likely the drive has emergency procedures to handle situations like this. I still wouldn't throw my drive into those procedures because I was too lazy to shut down my machine.

If you really need a hot-swappable hard drive, get a hard drive enclosure that has firewire/usb 2.0 connections on the back. That was designed (as far as I know) to hot swap.

Anywho, as the old saying goes, you were told that doing that was bad, so if it breaks when you do it, you can only be held responsible. If you do try it, good luck!
 
I would never try and unplug my drives. Wouldn't it run into problems with irqs since those are asigned at startup, If you plug in after startup how does the device get a irq?
 
i'm curious if he did both ide and molex, or just the ide cable. the ide i could see, but i'm not so sure about the actual power being removed without some sort of hot swappable system. i thought it could possibly fry your power supply and drive?
 
IDE was never made to be able to add or remove devices on the fly.
SCSI and SATA have the ability to be added and removed on the fly.

You can remove IDE harddrives on the fly, but most of the time your system will freeze the next time you try to access it.

The trick is to turn off write caching. In windows, as long as you don't access the drive in any way while it's removed, there should be no problems. This would include starting up My Computer, or anything else that would query anything off the drive.

Although it should work, and I have done it, it's not the greatest thing for the system... it wasn't meant to have them removed. It is easier to remove it on linux because you can power it down at will.
 
wow su root, right to the point...
i think we all got the idea.. but how can you remove a SATA?
is there a option in windows to power it down like in linux?
 
What about disabling the IDE drive from device manager? Would that solve the problem of accessing/querying the drive on accident after it was removed?

Any thoughts on removing the power also? For some reason that seems like a really bad idea to me. Maybe its the whole sparks thing. :rolleyes:
 
SybrCLocK said:
wow su root, right to the point...
i think we all got the idea.. but how can you remove a SATA?
is there a option in windows to power it down like in linux?
I'm not sure whether all SATA drive support hot swapping or not, but to do it is easy. If it comes with software, use the software. If not, go to control panel, add/remove hardware, and follow the wizard.

If the harddrive is not in the list, make sure you are not using the harddrive, and pull it out. Windows should cough and then complain that you would do such a thing without telling it, and warn you that you need to eject it from now on. (And, next time it's inserted, it should appear in the eject button on your taskbar).

As for disabling the hardware, that requires a reboot... uninstalling it would work, but I don't know if it would find it again when you swap it back in, or you might need to reboot.
 
the major problem and cause of killing drives when unplugged while the system is running is because the hot pins touch before the ground pins do. if the hot pins touch and there is no ground, where will the power go to? that is what will often times cause the drive to fry. that is why on sata power adapters the ground connectors inside are longer than the hot wires.
 
mbentley said:
the major problem and cause of killing drives when unplugged while the system is running is because the hot pins touch before the ground pins do. if the hot pins touch and there is no ground, where will the power go to? that is what will often times cause the drive to fry. that is why on sata power adapters the ground connectors inside are longer than the hot wires.
You sure about this? In order for electricity to do any harm, it must ground to complete the circuit and allow electricity to flow.. the only thing that it can ground to would be the ground pins.. (or, should it be overly dry or humid in the room, then it could ground through the dry or wet air).

The only problem that I could see is that when you connect it, the ground pin just touches it as you are plugging it in, when the connection surface is too small, and you could get electrons arcing gap to the ground, causing heat, melting, and other nasty stuff.

If you use an appropriate, certified hotswap harddrive bay with a hotswap certified harddrive, then there should be no problems.

I used a non-certified removeable bay when I was doing it, and ran into no problems (other than system hickups)
 
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