I just built a PC and want to properly configure it to allow hot swapping of backup hard disk drives. The way I hot swap is with an Antec Easy SATA Docking Station installed in the front panel of the PC. I slide a bare internal hard disk drive into or out of the docking station. The drive seats in the docking station in such a way that SATA power and data connectors make electrical contact to allow the drive to function. I also want to hookup an external SATA connector.
The PC has the following components:
Motherboard: Intel DH67BL
Processor: Intel i5-2500k
Memory: Crucial 4 GB Memory Kit
Boot/System Drive: Intel 320 Series 80 GB SSD
Data Drive: Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1 TB HDD
Optical Drive: ASUS DRW-24B1ST DVD writer
Operating System: Windows 7 Ultimate 32 Bit
-----------Current BIOS Configuration Section for SATA Drives is below------------------
System Setup
Configuration
SATA Drives
Chipset SATA Controller Configuration
Chipset SATA ----- <Enable>
Chipset SATA Mode <AHCI>
S. M. A. R. T. ----- <Enable>
SATA Port 0 ----- Intel SSDSA2CW(80.0 GB – 3.0 Gb/s)
SATA Port 1 ----- [Not Installed]
SATA Port 2 ----- ST31000528AS (1000.2 GB – 3.0 Gb/s)
SATA Port 3 ----- ASUS DRW-24(1.5 Gb/s)
eSATA Ports <Enable>
Internal eSATA Port 4 ----- [Not Installed]
External eSATA Port 5 ----- [Not Installed]
Hard Disk Pre-Delay <No>
----------End of BIOS Section---------------------
The controller is capable of handling 6 ports (0 through 5). However, the motherboard only has 5 ports (0 through 4). I want to hookup 1 external SATA connector and my docking station. I propose that I use Port 4 for the external SATA connector and Port 1 for the docking station. Is that OK? If it is, what do I do to prepare the controller for the swapping of the HDD on Port 1 or Port 4? (There is some implication that since Port 4 is under the eSATA category, it is ready for hot swapping.) I had to assign drive letters to the existing drives using Windows 7. I presume I will have to do the same for ports 1 and 4. Anything else I need to do?
Many thanks for any help you can give!!
