Last modified 02/09/2008
The latest version 4.1.1.0 (02/09/2008 Updated!)

This software is designed based on the information Knowledge Base Article #10744 - SATA: Hot Plugging Drives under Win2000/XP provided by Silicon Image, and in order to make Serial ATA (SATA) drives are easy to hot swap.

Basically it does the same thing as you can remove devices from Device Manager, but the user interface is much friendly as compatible with the "Safely Remove Hardware" icon in the notification area and it is much safer as it prevents the drive being removed if the drive is in use. With this software, you can use SATA/eSATA drives as even better removable drives than USB/IEEE1394 drives.

• Compatible user interface with the "Safely Remove Hardware" icon on Windows XP.

• Confirms all volumes assigned to the drive are not in use before removing it.

• Spin-down the drive to remove the drive safely.

• Not only fixed disk drives but also other type of drives can be removed.

• Runs without user interface by given command line switch and also the message popup can be suppressed.

• Trilingual user interface. Supports English, French and Japanese.

• Windows XP / 2003 / Vista (32-bit and 64-bit)

• Silicon Image SATA Host Controller (SiI3112A, SiI3114, SiI3132, etc)

• Silicon Image SATA-PATA (Parallel ATA) Bridge Controller (SiI3611)

• SUNPLUS SATA-PATA Bridge Controller (SPIF3611)

• SATA Host Controller (AHCI mode) (e.g. Intel Controller Hub (ICH), JMicron JMB363)

• When SiI3132 is used, drive will spin-down automatically on removal.

The following combination of devices have been confirmed to work.

• SIIG SATA Host Adapter Serial ATA PCI : SC-SAT212
  

• SIIG SATA Host Adapter Serial ATA 4-Channel PCI : SC-SA4011
  

• BELKIN SATA Host Adapter SATA II RAID 2-Port PCI Express Card : F5U251 (Need to flash to non-RAID BIOS)
  

• ViPowER IDE to SATA SwapRACK : VP-1001LSF
     

• Addonics Technologies Mobile Rack25SA : AERHD25SAW
     

Extract the downloaded file and run the program HotSwap!.EXE, the icon will show up in the notification area. Once it runs, the program starts up automatically when system restarts.

Left click the icon, a menu pops up listing drives similar to the "Safely Remove Hardware" icon.

To remove a drive, select the drive from the popup menu. A balloon pops up if there is no volume in use on the selected drive, and then you can power off the drive and remove it. The drive listed in grey is either selected as non-hot swap drive or used by Windows and cannot be removed.

Left click the icon by pressing Ctrl key, a different menu pops up and you can select a drive as non-hot swap drive. The selected drives then cannot be removed.

Right click the icon, the configuration menu pops up.

Scan for hardware changes

Does the same thing as you can perform it from Device Manager. This is unnecessary for Silicon Image SATA Host Controllers as the driver automatically detects new drives.

Fixed disk drives
Removable disk drives
DVD/CD-ROM drives
Safely removable devices
Non-hotswap devices

By default, only Fixed disk drives are listed in the popup menu but you can configure Removable disk drives and DVD/CD-ROM drives to be included. The drives removable from the "Safely Remove Hardware" icon also can be configured. The non-hot swap drives also can be configured but listed in gray.

English
French
Japanese

Select the language used for the user interface. Languages are selectable only when the language files are installed on Windows.

Autostart

Starts automatically or not when the user logs on.

Uninstall

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

Usage

Pops up a dialog showing the usage and the drives with drive letter assigned. Invalid command line switch also results popping up the same dialog.

Homepage

Shows up this homepage.

About

Displays version information.

Exit

Closes the program.

What's the advantage of SATA/eSATA drives over USB/IEEE1394 drives?

The overhead of command conversion is very small or almost none. In general, it has less compatibility issue and minimum performance loss. USB drives max out at about 20 to 35MB/sec and IEEE1394(S400) drives max out at about 40MB/sec, however, SATA/eSATA drives can handle even the fastest devices of 100 to 120MB/sec. Also the "Turn off hard disks" setting in the Power Schemes functions.

What's the problem hot swapping the drives without removing them?

The following error and warning events are written to the system log, and the volumes and files may be corrupted.

Why "The device 'X' cannot be stopped because a program is still accessing it." warning pops up?

Some volumes assigned to the drive are still in use. Close folders and files on the volume, then try again.

Why "The device 'X' cannot be uninstalled right now because the device requested a system restart." error pops up?

Even if no program is accessing the drive, if other driver or something is referencing the memory or driver of the drive, Windows fails to remove the drive and requests a system restart. Unfortunately, it is almost impossible to prevent this situation before actually attempting to remove the drive. Please try again later or restart Windows.

Why Windows locks up for a while after the drive is plugged in?

Windows locks up (for 7 to 10 sec with 3.5" hard disk drives and 3 sec with 2.5" hard disk drives) while the disk spins up and the drive being recognized after the drive is powered. It is unconfirmed, however, looks like the driver is holding the system while it is recognizing the drive.

Installing the latest drivers from Windows Update, SiI3112A Version 1.3.65.2 and SiI3114 Version 1.3.10.0, the lock up problems while the disk spins up or when you power off the drive appear to have been fixed.

Why Windows totally hangs up after the drive is powered?

It is confirmed to happen when the internal hard drive and the drive are sharing the same power cable. Looks like the internal hard drive restarts and reinitializes if the power becomes unstable, and therefore Windows totally hangs up accessing it. This can be resolved by connecting individual power cable to the drive which is being powered.

Why the drive doesn't spin-down after the drive is removed?

The drive will spin-down only when IDE type device driver like Windows inbox atapi.sys and msahci.sys is used. SCSI type device driver doesn't support ATA pass through command and thus it is not supported. Also the drive has to support the ATA standby command. By the way, ATA pass through command requires Windows XP Service Pack 2, Windows XP x64 Edition, Windows Server 2003 and later.

Does HotSwap! support Windows 2000?

Windows 2000 is no longer supported since Version 3.0.0.0. Please use Version 2.0.0.0.

Why Windows Defender blocks to autostart and UAC requests for permission to run?

You can workaround this issue by disabling the autostart and registering to Task Scheduler. Make sure to start a program when user logs on and run with highest privileges. Please check the setting because the task is set to stop if it runs longer than 3 days by default. Note that this workaround may change in the future because Microsoft doesn't recommend to use Task Scheduler for such a purpose.

HotSwap! Version 4.1.1.0

HotSwap! Version 4.1.0.1

HotSwap! Version 4.1.0.0

HotSwap! Version 4.0.0.0

HotSwap! Version 3.0.0.1

HotSwap! Version 3.0.0.0

HotSwap! Version 2.0.0.0

HotSwap! Version 1.1.0.2

HotSwap! Version 1.1.0.1

HotSwap! Version 1.0.0.0

Version 4.1.1.0 (02/09/2008)

• Fixed problem that the icon doesn't show up in the notification area after Explorer crashed and restarted on Windows Vista.

Version 4.1.0.1 (01/04/2008)

• Fixed problem that the icon sometime doesn't show up in the notification area when started from Task Scheduler.

Version 4.1.0.0 (12/08/2007)

• New feature to configure autostart. (workaround for Windows Defender and UAC)

• New feature to support a path (e.g. mount point) in command line mode.

• Fixed problem that balloon sometime doesn't pop up on Windows Vista.

Version 4.0.0.0 (09/17/2007)

• New feature to spin-down the drive after the drive is removed.

• New feature to support French. (Thanks to Alexandre Lautel for French translation)

• New feature to display the icon in the balloon popup. (small icon on XP SP2 and 2003/XP64 SP1, large icon on Vista)

• Changed the language menu to display the check mark.

Version 3.0.0.1 (06/17/2007)

• Fixed problem that dialog pops up saying "Entry Point Not Found" when starts up on Windows 2000.

• Fixed problem that command line doesn't allow extra spaces.

• Changed the development on Windows Vista SDK/DDK.

Version 3.0.0.0 (10/23/2006)

• Fixed problem that removable disk drives are identified as fixed disk drives on Windows Vista.

• Fixed problem that safely removable devices are not identified correctly on Windows Vista.

• Due to the changes to fix problems above, Windows 2000 is no longer supported.

• New feature to display the first found mount point if no drive letter is assigned to the volume.

• Changed command line switch specifier from slash (/) to dash (-).

• Revised usage dialog.

Version 2.0.0.0 (03/25/2006)

• New feature to support Windows Vista and User Account Protection (UAP).

• Include 64-bit version.

• New feature to display the volume lavel as well as the drive letter.

• Upgraded to Visual Studio 2005.

Version 1.1.0.2 (04/08/2005)

• "Select non-hotswap devices" menu no longer pops up when no drive to select.

Version 1.1.0.1 (01/06/2005)

• New feature to select non-hot swap drives.

Version 1.0.0.0 (12/31/2004)

• Official release.

Version 0.9.3.0 Beta3 (12/20/2004) - 0.9.3.2 Beta3.2 (12/23/2004)

• Evaluation started.

Suggestion, question or comment? Please send a mail at kaakoon@verizon.net. Thanks!

The author is no responsible for any damage or loss caused by this software.