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eSATA should be hot swapable correct?

I have one of these external SATA hard drive bays... you know the kind where the bare drive just drops in. I should be able to plug in and pull out the cable while the computer is on and it will auto detect just like a USB HDD. ??? Cause I can not. It will only see the drive if it is pluged in at boot up.

If you have an eSATA enclosure (enclosure connects to the PC via eSATA cable) AND your mobo's controller supports hot swapping (not all do) then yes, you can hot swap.

I'm guessing your mobo doesn't support it or (more likely) your SATA controller is configured to emulate IDE (which is fairly common by default today to avoid having to use SATA drivers). If the SATA controller is emulating IDE it won't be hot swappable for sure.

It is a SATA HDD in this dock:
I am connecting vis eSATA Cable (not USB) ... But I guess I might connect via USB cable if it allows me to hot swap. My computer is Shuttle SN27P2. Looking up specs now.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6817709017

I've been using a via 1964a to hot swap DVD drives and I have to run the device manager "scan for hardware changes" to get them to show up. I believe I've seen eSATA cases that come with software for hotswapping.

Hot swap isn't manditory for ESATA, it's just optional if the manufacturer wants to implement it. Like Badmojo said though, many times if it doesn't pop up, scanning for changes will work.