Internal HDD and SSD showing as removable media?

[tinpanalley]

My internal SSD C drive and HDD storage drives are appearing as removable drives that are disconnectable in the "Safely Remove Hardware" tool in my taskbar. I've never seen that before with my harddrives. Did I do something wrong in installing them?

 

[dave_the_nerd]

I've had that happen with Intel RAID controllers.

 

[WilliamM2]

In the UEFI on my board, there is a setting for each SATA port - removable yes/no. I can make any drive show up as removable that way. I have it enabled for the port my e-sata connector is attached to, other wise my external drives isn't hot swapable.

And it won't let you dismount the system drive anyways, so if that's not it, it's not a huge deal.

 

[BarkingGhostar]

Aren't AHCI already removable?

 

[code65536]

HDDs are hot-swappable.

Intel's AHCI drivers don't give you the option (at least not in the standard safe-removal menu), which is why I avoid the Intel AHCI drivers on my systems where I do make use of hot-swap. msahci doesn't have that problem and will list as hot-swappable any drive that is marked as hot-swappable in UEFI/BIOS.

 

[WilliamM2]

HDDs are hot-swappable.

Intel's AHCI drivers don't give you the option (at least not in the standard safe-removal menu), which is why I avoid the Intel AHCI drivers on my systems where I do make use of hot-swap. msahci doesn't have that problem and will list as hot-swappable any drive that is marked as hot-swappable in UEFI/BIOS.

I use the Intel AHCI drivers and the drives are hot swap-able. I have run into a version or two that removed that option though. And the latest version on 8.1 makes it take about 10-15 seconds for a drive to appear when plugged in, probably about 1 second with an older version.

Didn't know others had issues with Intel drivers like that, I thought it was a compatibility issue with my board.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

I think it depends on the controller, the BIOS and the "mode" (AHCI versus RAID).

On an older non-UEFI motherboard, an AHCI drive will be thrown up as removable or hot-swappable in the system try "safe removal" icon pop-up.

So far, I've tried to change this behavior to my liking, but -- "no cigar."

For my own systems -- workstation and server -- it doesn't bother me. But Mom's boot-system SSD appears in the pop-up and could be "removed" by accident.

Mom has been known to click on "stuff" by accident. I have to continually reset her e-mail browser to a view that she's used to. At her age, she needs more help with her "personal" computer than most, even having used one for two decades.

The problem I face with that: I installed a hot-swap tray for certain occasional backups of her system. We use thumb drives. I can remove the icon, but then I may need it.

 

[Elixer]

For my own systems -- workstation and server -- it doesn't bother me. But Mom's boot-system SSD appears in the pop-up and could be "removed" by accident.

Actually, no, it will not let her remove a system drive. It will say the drive is in use, and you can't do that.

Mom has been known to click on "stuff" by accident. I have to continually reset her e-mail browser to a view that she's used to. At her age, she needs more help with her "personal" computer than most, even having used one for two decades.

The problem I face with that: I installed a hot-swap tray for certain occasional backups of her system. We use thumb drives. I can remove the icon, but then I may need it.

You can hide the icon in the system tray, just set it to always hide.

 

[stlc8tr]

HDDs are hot-swappable.

Intel's AHCI drivers don't give you the option (at least not in the standard safe-removal menu), which is why I avoid the Intel AHCI drivers on my systems where I do make use of hot-swap. msahci doesn't have that problem and will list as hot-swappable any drive that is marked as hot-swappable in UEFI/BIOS.

Not sure if the Intel RST/AHCI drivers are any better than Microsoft's but I use them anyway. And since I have a hotswap cage, I just use this utility to eject the HDDs.

http://mt-naka.com/hotswap/index_enu.htm

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Not sure if the Intel RST/AHCI drivers are any better than Microsoft's but I use them anyway. And since I have a hotswap cage, I just use this utility to eject the HDDs.

http://mt-naka.com/hotswap/index_enu.htm

I've used that nifty little utility. It is needed on systems that aren't AHCI or don't have the hotswap switch in BIOS.

My problem with it: I can't see how, once it is installed, that it can be uninstalled.

Maybe I missed something. But maybe I missed it as a line-item in "Programs & Features," I missed seeing an "uninstall" item in its program folder, and I missed seeing any program folder for it at all.

 

[stlc8tr]

I've used that nifty little utility. It is needed on systems that aren't AHCI or don't have the hotswap switch in BIOS.

My problem with it: I can't see how, once it is installed, that it can be uninstalled.

Maybe I missed something. But maybe I missed it as a line-item in "Programs & Features," I missed seeing an "uninstall" item in its program folder, and I missed seeing any program folder for it at all.

I've not needed to uninstall but AFAIK, one of the right-click options is "Uninstall".

According to the website, this will:

"Deletes the registry, disables the auto startup and then closes the program. You can then remove the program file."

 

[Z15CAM]

I'm not certain but perhaps having the SATA Controllers enabled as HOT SWAP in BIOS might have something to do with your issue.