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Strange HDD Recognition Behavior On TWO New Builds - Long Post

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  • #1

    Strange HDD Recognition Behavior On TWO New Builds - Long Post

    Hi all,

    Help please.

    I have just finished building two almost identical new builds. This is the first serious full builds that I have undertaken and the first time that I have had any dealings with ASRock motherboards.

    Spec. 1.

    ASRock X99 Extreme 6 MB
    32GB Crucial Ballistix Sport RAM
    Intel 5820K CPU
    ASUS GTX960 STRIX 2GB GPU
    XFX 850Watt Black Edition Gold Power supply
    Corsair 100i Extreme Liquid CPU Cooler
    Crucial MX200 1TB SSD
    Akasa Card Reader with USB 2 & 3 ports and eSATA port
    LiteOn DVD Drives x 2
    Orico 1105ss Hotswap Caddy x 6
    Windows 7 Pro
    WD 2TB Black HDD's (two for main data storage drives and four for rotated back up of the data drives).

    Spec. 2.

    As Spec. 1. apart from,
    Windows 8.1
    1 x DVD Drive
    7 Hot Swap caddies.

    Both machines booted first time without any apparent problems and went into BIOS via F2 Key. AHCI was selected.
    In Storage the SSD and DVD(s) were recognised.
    At this time NO HDD's had been installed in the caddies.
    Everything worked fine and Windows loaded without problems in both cases.

    In the Spec. 2. build, the hdd's were installed one at a time and set up via disc manager to GST, Simple Volume, Formatted and drive letters were allocated.

    In the Spec. 1. build, all six of the hdd's were installed and set up as previously stated.

    Now the strange behaviour that I do not understand.

    In both machines the hdd's were loaded into the hot swap caddies. The caddy power switches were turned "ON" and the pc's booted. ALL of the drives were recognised in the UEFI Storage and ALL of the drives were shown in Windows (both 7 and 8.1) Computer and This PC respectively. ALL of the drives were also identified in Windows Explorer with allocated drive letters.

    However, in both cases, with the machines shut down and the hdd caddies turned off, the pc's were booted without problems. But when the hdd caddies were turned on (with drives installed) one at a time, NONE of the hdd's were recognised. If the hdd's are removed from the caddies and the pc's booted with the caddy power switches on and the hdd's hot plugged one at a time NONE of the drives are recognised.

    I thought that the Orico caddies were supposed to allow for the hot swapping of hdd's but this does not appear to be the case.

    Can anyone please advise on the order that drives should be connected to the SATA ports on this motherboard?

    Also, as in the old days does it make any difference as to the order of connection of the SATA power connections of multiple plug power leads to the SATA drives?

    Neither the M.2 or the rear eSATA ports are connected to anything. This I thought would prevent problems with the shared SATA ports.

    Thanks in advance for any guidance.
    Tags: caddies, drives, hdds, power, time
  • #2
    Re: Strange HDD Recognition Behavior On TWO New Builds - Long Post

    In uefi under Advanced / Storage Configuration each sata port can be set to Hot-Plug. Enable this setting for each of the caddy hdd's. Does this make any difference?
    ---
    Mind is not cumulative, but stupidity is.

    Comment

    • #3
      Re: Strange HDD Recognition Behavior On TWO New Builds - Long Post

      Originally posted by SandsOfTime View Post
      In uefi under Advanced / Storage Configuration each sata port can be set to Hot-Plug. Enable this setting for each of the caddy hdd's. Does this make any difference?
      Thank you for the guidance. Unfortunately this makes no difference on either pc. I had already set each caddy to Hot Plug in the UEFI settings. I also tried setting the caddies to external but then the Hot Plug option disappears. The only time that the drives are recognised in Windows is if the drives are already installed in the caddy and the power witch turned ON before booting.

      Not sure how you are supposed to do back-ups of data drives under these circumstances.

      Thanks again.

      Comment

      • #4
        Re: Strange HDD Recognition Behavior On TWO New Builds - Long Post

        Hot Swap and Hot Plug, while "inferring" the same thing are actually very very different in their implementation.

        Since we're not talking of true Server hardware, Server OS's, and or RAID arrays here the capability we have is actually Hot Plug.

        OP, power a/the OS recognized drive down first then slide a different sled/HDD in and then supply power to this one you just changed in.
        ADDED: You should find powering down, remove, insert new, and then powering up works properly / correctly. But never just pull a spinning drive out on desktop MB's. Write Caching and improper drive removal is asking for disaster.

        Software you might consider are "Hot Swap!" (told ya, confusing), freeware that I personally use here. Or the paidware Zentimo xStorage Manager.
        Last edited by - wardog -; 09-07-2015, 09:26 PM. Reason: Corrections and additional
        #1 - Please, when seeking help, enter the make and model of ALL parts that your system is comprised of in your Signature, or at least the model #'s in your System Specs, then "Save' it.
        ____If you are overclocking, underclocking, or undervolting any parts, informing us of this and their values would prove beneficial in helping you.


        #2 - Consider your PSU to be the foundation from which all else is built upon. Anything built upon a weak foundation is poorly built.

        Comment

        • #5
          Re: Strange HDD Recognition Behavior On TWO New Builds - Long Post

          How goes it?
          #1 - Please, when seeking help, enter the make and model of ALL parts that your system is comprised of in your Signature, or at least the model #'s in your System Specs, then "Save' it.
          ____If you are overclocking, underclocking, or undervolting any parts, informing us of this and their values would prove beneficial in helping you.


          #2 - Consider your PSU to be the foundation from which all else is built upon. Anything built upon a weak foundation is poorly built.

          Comment

          • #6
            Re: Strange HDD Recognition Behavior On TWO New Builds - Long Post

            Sincere apologies for late response. I have been on the move and had no access to internet.

            The problem is that there are multiple hot Swap caddies in each machine. If they are all populated and switched on prior to booting the HDD's are recognised in the BIOS and allocated drive letters by Windows. The drives show up in explorer. If any one (or more) of the caddies are switched off the hdd's are not recognised by Windows on switching them on again. Also with the pc booted, loading a caddy with an HDD and then powering up the caddy the drive might be recognised in the BIOS but does not display in Windows or explorer.

            I will look into the software you mention.

            Thanks for your input and guidance.

            Comment

            • #7
              Re: Strange HDD Recognition Behavior On TWO New Builds - Long Post

              Get Hot Swap! from the authors page below

              HotSwap!

              Then tell me where it recognizes your caddies at, Removable or System.

              If I didn't know better I'd say AHCI wasn't / isn't installed properly, if at all.

              Maybe time for a fresh Windows install, with AHCI set in the BIOS before the OS install.

              Keep me posted. I'm waiting patiently.
              #1 - Please, when seeking help, enter the make and model of ALL parts that your system is comprised of in your Signature, or at least the model #'s in your System Specs, then "Save' it.
              ____If you are overclocking, underclocking, or undervolting any parts, informing us of this and their values would prove beneficial in helping you.


              #2 - Consider your PSU to be the foundation from which all else is built upon. Anything built upon a weak foundation is poorly built.

              Comment

              • #8
                Re: Strange HDD Recognition Behavior On TWO New Builds - Long Post

                Thanks again. The first time of booting, both pc's were booted into the UEFI. The boot sequence was set to DVD and then SSD. No other HDD's were installed and all of the caddies were switched off. AHCI was set in both machines. The DVD drives were opened and the windows cd's were placed in the drive. With the DVD drawers open the pc's were shut down. The DVD drawers were manually closed and the machines powered up. Both installs of Windows, 7 and 8.1 went without any problems.

                I will be out of internet access for a few days, probably until Tuesday next week, due to travelling (mostly at sea) but I will be seriously looking into sorting this from then.

                Please bear with me for a few days. Apologies for not being able to get to grips with this right now. It is very frustrating to say the least.

                Thanks again.

                Comment

                • #9
                  Re: Strange HDD Recognition Behavior On TWO New Builds - Long Post

                  Hello
                  You are not allowed to hot-plug/hot-swap a fixed disk unless it is so configured that a "safely remove" item exists on the task bar for that drive (as sign of removable drive).
                  It depends on bios and driver. In bios, set drive(s) as removable.
                  At the OS do this to see if helpful or not (I am not sure):

                  Device Manager > [under] Disk drives > Properties > Policies Tab > [check] Quick Removable

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