6 removable drive limit in Windows?

[M76]

I've noticed the strangest thing. I built a computer with 7 hot swap racks in it. But if all the racks are populated then shit starts to hit the fan. Like there is some kind of IO error going on. Windows never sees more than 6 drives at a time. Even if I insert them in an off state without hot plug, and then try starting the computer windows fails to boot up.

But it works if I remove any one of the drives, it doesn't matter which one at all.

Before you ask why do I need 7 racks, it's specialized use, to transfer data from portable disks used in surveying equipment that uses 5 drives to store data. Plus I added 2 regular 3.5 racks to be able to copy the data directly to backup 3.5 drives.

 

[DrLobotomy]

Maybe it is a power issue with the power supply or some kind of strange short somewhere.

 

[pendragon1]

bios and chipset drivers up to date?

edit: also make sure there are only 2-3 drivers per power cable, no power splitters

 

[arestavo]

I am throwing in with the power problem.

I run two separate RAID arrays with (8) traditional 3.5" spinner drives each. With anything less than a 1000W PSU I cannot successfully boot my server box or my main rig - that includes stripping out all high end discrete video cards, removing all overclocks, and running only 1 stick of RAM. Granted, it would probably work with a 900 watt PSU, and I only had a 750W Platinum and two 1000W Platinum PSUs as well as a 1350W Gold rated PSU to test with.

 

[Krispy Kritter]

I've currently got 10 spinner and 2 SSD's in my media server (glorified PC) running Win 7. The only drive limitation in Windows is based on drive letter assignment (ie: A - Z).

So whatever you have going on is a hardware issue. How is everything connected? If you are using motherboard ports, ensure all of the ports are always available. Sometimes ports have restrictions on use, so you can't always use all of the ports at the same time.