Would this setup allow for "Removable" status of the drive?

[taisingera]

I have an external enclosure that is SATA to USB2.0/SATA (not eSATA). I would like to use the eSATA bracket for the Giga G33-DS2R and get a eSATA to SATA external cable to plug the enclosure into the bracket. My question is, I don't have AHCI installed (using XP), would the enclosure show up as removable (since it is not a hard drive directly attached to the port)?

 

[Old Hippie]

I don't have AHCI enabled either ( XP SP2). I've been playing with eSATA and SATA (external), and have had them connected via MB SATA ports and an eSATA PCI card. I have never had any combination show as removeable.
My vote to your question is "no".

 

[taisingera]

Let me rephrase the question then. Will I need to have the drive powered on when I boot up the system? I would like to be able to turn on the enclosure in Windows when I want to backup and then turn it off after I'm done. If it doesn't show as removable then I could always go into Device Manager and uninstall it.

 

[Old Hippie]

I would like to be able to turn on the enclosure in Windows when I want to backup and then turn it off after I'm done.

This is essentially the eSATA hot swap feature and should be supported by your MB.
My vote for your new question is "yes, it should work like you want it to". You should be able to turn the external on at any time and have it be usable.

 

[taisingera]

Even without AHCI?

 

[RebateMonger]

Whether you can HotSwap your SATA drives depends on whether your SATA chips and drivers support HotSwap. Nothing else really matters. Depending on your SATA chipsets, you may not see the drive designated as "Removable". Silicon Image SATA controllers, which I use exclusively, NEVER show the drive as removable. But they work just fine.