AHCI hard drive won't go away when power is switched off in Windows XP

[c627627]

EDIT: The topic is Windows XP, not Windows 7



When using AHCI mode, I understand you can hot swap hard drives. I have one of them connected to a separate power source so I just press the power button and the drive shows up just as if it were an external drive powered on.


But when I wish to power it off and do so, it still stays under My Computer. How do I "eject" it when it never shows up under Safely Remove Hardware (like external drives do)?



EDIT: SATA to SATA may not always work but with SATA to eSATA it worked.


Final EDIT:

Intel Chipset Software Installation Utility 9.1.2.1007 was installed on Windows 7 but not on Windows XP originally. I believe this was the cause of original problems.

This entire topic is probably only about simply running Intel Chipset Software Installation Utility 9.1.2.1007 and Marvell 6121 SATA Driver v1.2.0.69 update so that all controllers are updated with latest drivers because original ones could not handle hot swapping correctly.

_____________________
Intel i7 920 [200] BCLK x 19 = 3.80 GHz @ [1.4000] CPU Voltage & [1.35000] QPI/DRAM Uncore Voltage, Batch 3836A394
3 x 1GB G.SKIL DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) [DDR3-1691MHz] 10-10-10-24 @ 1.64 DRAM Bus Voltage
ASUS P6T Deluxe v.1 [LGA 1366 Intel X58] BIOS 1606
Thermalright Ultra-120 eXtreme 1366 RT with 120mm Scythe S-Flex F fan
ASUS EAH4850 Radeon HD 4850 1GB DDR3 @ 625 MHz GPU & 1986 MHz Memory
OCZ Agility 60GB SSD
Asus Xonar DX sound card
Antec nine hundred case, two front 120mm fans, one back 120mm Fan, one top 200mm fan
Corsair CMPSU-750TX 750W

 

[Know Nuttin]

do you have your chipset drivers installed??

 

[Psycogeec]

Did you try and refresh My computer and see if it is actually there or just not refreshed yet?
did you look in the device manager, when with show hidden turned on, and see what occurs there when you shut it off?

when all else fails go into the device manager and disable it.
and when you get tired of that, DEVCON.exe which after some figuring you could make a batch that enables or disables about any driver or device in your system.

those external sata connectors have (the ability to) have power on them, mabey the controller board is still staying powered? but then if it was accessed after that wouldnt it toss errors?

 

[Randyman...]

do you have your chipset drivers installed??

+1. Intel = RST 9.6 FTW

 

[c627627]

I do believe i did install chipset drivers. I can try updating? is this the download page? http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Product_Filter.aspx?ProductID=816

What is RST 9.6?





_____________________
Intel i7 920 [200] BCLK x 19 = 3.80 GHz @ [1.4000] CPU Voltage & [1.35000] QPI/DRAM Uncore Voltage, Batch 3836A394
3 x 1GB G.SKIL DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) [DDR3-1691MHz] 10-10-10-24 @ 1.64 DRAM Bus Voltage
ASUS P6T Deluxe v.1 [LGA 1366 Intel X58] BIOS 1606
Thermalright Ultra-120 eXtreme 1366 RT with 120mm Scythe S-Flex F fan
ASUS EAH4850 Radeon HD 4850 1GB DDR3 @ 625 MHz GPU & 1986 MHz Memory
OCZ Agility 60GB SSD
Asus Xonar DX sound card
Antec nine hundred case, two front 120mm fans, one back 120mm Fan, one top 200mm fan
Corsair CMPSU-750TX 750W

 

[Randyman...]

What is RST 9.6?

This:

http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Sea...t=Intel®+Rapid+Storage+Technology+(Intel®+RST)


The DL link you posted was for the general ICH/MCH type Intel Drivers (INF drivers) and does not include the RAID/AHCI drivers you'll need. RST is Intel's "Rapid Storage Technology" - that's what you need...

 

[c627627]

This is what I downloaded originally but I'll try your link and report back.

http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&DwnldID=17882

EDIT, i think they're the same thing. I'll try reinstall.

 

[c627627]

Nope, I switch the power off and it is still showing up under My Computer.


Refresh has no effect.


The only reason I did this is because it is a 2TB drive housing stuff I need once in a blue moon so I thought by powering it on/off only when I need it would prolong time before total failure of the drive,

 

[c627627]

Hard drive powered off appears to be displaying contents of previously accessed folders but not the ones I haven't accessed while it was powered on. I created an empty txt file and I appeared to have copied it from the powered off drive, that shouldn't be...

 

[Psycogeec]

The only reason I did this is because it is a 2TB drive housing stuff ,

so it is in an external Sata case, and it has a controller in the case?
connected via E-Sata?

 

[bing]

How bout HotSwap program ? -> http://mt-naka.com/hotswap/index_enu.htm

 

[c627627]

Not an external drive, no case. Internal drive. It is a plain 2 TB HD to which I connected an external cable which I plugged into an extension cord with a power switch. Regular SATA.


Thank you Mr. bing. I will try that.

 

[petteyg359]

Windows has a feature to cache stuff on external and network drives, so you can still access the files after unplugging. Look for that and make sure it is off.

Is it plugged into an eSATA port, or to an internal SATA connector? If it is eSATA, you should be able to "safely remove" it.

 

[c627627]

That would require a special eSATA to SATA cable which I do not have.


Mr. bing's HotSwap program http://mt-naka.com/hotswap/index_enu.htm solution works however:


1. You must first used the program to "safely hotswap" the drive.

2. Get the attached error (every time) and click on OK.

3. Only then power switch off the drive.

4. Refresh My Computer window.

 

[Psycogeec]

mabey the device requested a system restart Before, when it was powered up and reinitialised in the system.

so if you rebooted with the drive up installed and running, then mabey that particular error will go away, or at least for the next disconnection.

 

[c627627]

No, it always requests a restart like that. Maybe eSata to SATA cable is the only solution.

 

[petteyg359]

That would require a special eSATA to SATA cable which I do not have.

I assume that means it's a normal SATA drive connected to a normal SATA internal port.

If you've got an eSATA port, you could try this $5 cable from Monoprice.

 

[c627627]

I'm debating that vs. $1 eBay.

 

[c627627]

The side effects, I've noticed of powering the drive on/off this way is corrupt recycle bin error messages and strangely, loss of sound on web browsers (not playing music files, etc,) just web browser sound is off until I reboot.


I'll try sata to esata.

 

[Psycogeec]

I'll try sata to esata.

Have you tried disabling the drive in the device manager (first) before powering it down? the system take some time to disable, so i assume it has built in cache flushing and checking routines.

Then it is just a matter of sending the device "console" the command of disabling that, checking that it is fully disabled and playing a sound that it is done.

i can do it here in XPpro, WITH a off to the side drive that is not being accessed , that has no system connections and all, takes about 6 seconds to do/undo, and no requester.