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Hot plug or plug and play with Windows

Q: I have heard that PCI Express, and SATA are hot plug or plug and play, but how can I do this with Windows? If I connect a drive after logging in, why does in not show up? How can I remove a SATA or eSATA drive without first shutting down the computer?

A: This is yet one more area where Windows is ridiculous. As you have guessed, you will have to do all of this manually. If you have connected a SATA drive, and it is not detected, you will need to scan for hardware changes within the Device Manager. To disconnect without powering down, you will need to use a utility like HotSwap!. To do this manually instead, go to Device Manager, expand Disk Drives, right click on wanted disk, and select Remove/Disable. To detect a drive that you just connected, right click anywhere within the Device Manager and select "Scan for hardware changes".

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