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Hot Swap


I have a problem with two of my SSD's showing up as removable and non internal. One has my operating system on it so I'm hesitant to remove that one, but the other one only has games on it so I can use that for testing purposes. Here's some of what I've tried based on scouring blog and the internet: Disabling write caching (on or off no change), disabling hotswap in the BIOS (they were already set to off), and trying to update my Intel Chipset (Intel doesn't support drivers or something for Windows 10, of course I had this same problem in Windows 7, and I did a clean install of 10).

I'm using IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers - Standard SATA AHCI Controller

I also tried installing the Intel Rapid Storage technology which didn't really do anything other that confirm that its only detecting my SSD it considers "internal". I have since deleted it because it was useless.



If I go into the properties for my drive, the one that it thinks is external (oddly enough it also thinks its internal) either in the Device Manager or where ever, it shows that there's a portable partition on it (its listed under Disk Drives and Portable Devices). When I go to the tab for Events under the portable one, it says Device install required and Device not migrated. I should also mention I have Samsung SSD's and I installed Samsung Magician, though I'm not 100% sure why other than it came with the drive. The issue may have started with that software because I don't remember the problem being present after the clean install.

Hi, I'm not attempting to answer this, but it will help people if you post a screenshot as follows:
Windows key +R
type
diskmgmt.msc <Return>

and post a screenshot. Thanks!

The solution to the problem is usually to install an updated SATA AHCI controller driver.
Windows provides a generic AHCI driver but this does not work with all motherboards. So it is best to use the driver supplied by the motherboard manufacturer.

If the manufacturer does not post an actual SATA AHCI driver they will usually post an Intel Rapid Storage Technology driver instead (for Intel based motherboards, of course) and that will normally install a working AHCI driver.

What I've run into a couple times now on the blog is that some people are using the secondary SATA controller on the motherboard to take advantage of the extra 6GB ports. What happens is that the secondary controller and those ports are using a proprietary driver, not the standard SATA AHCI driver the main 6 ports on the chipset are using. Therefore you get this problem.

I can't tell you why the secondary controller driver does not handle AHCI and hot swapping capability as it should. It could be just because it is a secondary controller and there is some functional conflict with the main chipset.

If this is the problem in your case you can test this simply by connecting one of the problem SSDs to one of the 6 main ports on the Intel controller. If it shows up as a fixed drive there then that would pretty much clinch it.

For the record, it isn't actually a problem. There's nothing wrong and it isn't hurting performance. It is just the way Windows handles the particular AHCI drivers you have installed. If you can't find others to "resolve" the issue, I wouldn't worry about it.

The motherboard I'm using, the Asus P8Z77-V doesn't have any updated drivers for windows 10, some people were saying to use the windows 8.1 drivers. Can I just delete these portable partition (whats shown in the picture I linked above) and be done with it?

There are some beta chipset drivers on the Asus website: P8Z77-V | Motherboards | ASUS USA
I'm using Windows 10 Pro 64 bit.

To clear up any misunderstandings, please post a screenshot of disk management. Disk Management - How to Post a Screenshot of and post the screenshot here, this will tell you how. Screenshot - Take in Windows 10

If you are concerned that the drives are showing up in safely remove, DeaconFrost is correct. That is just the way Windows handled the AHCI drivers. One of the features of being installed in AHCI mode is the drives are 'hot swappable' which means they can be removed or added without shutting down the computer. That is perfectly normal.



The disks that are considered removable are C and H.

@OP
You might want to check your MB BIOS, it does have an option to enable/disable hot plug when the Sata configuration is set to AHCI Mode.


Interestingly enough it only lists two disks in the SATA config in my BIOS, the two that aren't considered Portable, and those both have the Hot Swap feature disabled.

I should also note for everyone helping me that I uploaded an updated BIOS for my motherboard several months back since someone thought that might help, alas it did not.

Hot Swap