Vista x64, reactivating every time I swap my 3rd drive.

S

s10010001

Supreme [H]ardness
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Sep 17, 2002
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ok so my OS is on a 250gb 72.10 drive, my data is on a 500gb drive. I have a hot swap bay in my 5 1/4 " bay that gets swapped to 3 different 500gb drives for backups.

Now my motherboard dose not like hot swapping the SATA drives (some do some don't I found) So I do shut down to swap the drives when needed. Ever time I do this, vista decides the drive has a problem, and needs to checkdisk it, only to find nothing, and then it decided that I need to re activate the fucking OS just to log in.

Very annoying... WTF Microsoft.. this is a 3rd drive, who cares how many drives I pull in and out of my computer as long as its not the OS drive.

Any thought on how to stop this?


info:
Vista Ultimate x64
im using synctoy 2, Cobian backup for my backup jobs. (synctoy is just for my 2.5" USB drive I take with me... nothing major)
 
nothin hua guys?

I have a MSDN call open for the issue with MS, but there not getting back to me.
 
I've found that before you unplug a drive, you must use Safely Remove Hardware to get a clean unplug, otherwise the scanner will pop up every time you plug a drive back in, potentially triggering activation.
 
It's not the fact that it's checking the drive that's causing the activation, it's just that Windows Vista is like that. The activation is meant to pop up when hardware is changed. New RAM, new bios update, ect. Just live with it and accept it.
 
L33t Masta said:
Just live with it and accept it.
Click to expand...

You're joking, right? Are you seriously suggesting that this is acceptable behaviour for an operating system?
  1. It's a pain in the ass (been there, I'm afraid)
  2. No other OS in existence does it
I'd say that this is a clear indication that VIsta's hardware detection/reactivation trigger is far too sensitive.
 
killerbobjr said:
I've found that before you unplug a drive, you must use Safely Remove Hardware to get a clean unplug, otherwise the scanner will pop up every time you plug a drive back in, potentially triggering activation.
Click to expand...

I will try that next time i remove the drive.

L33t Masta said:
It's not the fact that it's checking the drive that's causing the activation, it's just that Windows Vista is like that. The activation is meant to pop up when hardware is changed. New RAM, new bios update, ect. Just live with it and accept it.
Click to expand...

ummmm no, you see I have other vista machine that don't give me this problem... and Just live with it is not acceptable.

:LJ: said:
You're joking, right? Are you seriously suggesting that this is acceptable behaviour for an operating system?
  1. It's a pain in the ass (been there, I'm afraid)
  2. No other OS in existence does it
I'd say that this is a clear indication that VIsta's hardware detection/reactivation trigger is far too sensitive.
Click to expand...

I don't know if its too sensitive, I have swapped my CPU, ran and videocard with no problems
 
Ugg. Sounds like a very frustrating problem. I guess the only way I would know to get around it would be use external USB/e-sata enclosures. Not as cool and spiffy. But Vista wouldn't throw a fit then.

Only off hand suggestion besides that.....what if you disable the physical disk in Device manager before swapping? That will cause the drive to unmount, and vista wouldn't be looking for it at boot time.
 
I(illa Bee said:
Now my motherboard dose not like hot swapping the SATA drives (some do some don't I found) So I do shut down to swap the drives when needed. Ever time I do this, vista decides the drive has a problem, and needs to checkdisk it, only to find nothing, and then it decided that I need to re activate the fucking OS just to log in.

Very annoying... WTF Microsoft.. this is a 3rd drive, who cares how many drives I pull in and out of my computer as long as its not the OS drive.
Click to expand...


If the messed up motherboard doesn't support hotswapping SATA drives, what makes you think it would handle a simple SATA drive swap in a power off state any better? Just because you power it off? I'd be willing to bet the motherboard does a full controller chipset to SATA tree enum when it detects a new drive and that's triggering the reactivation.

The first time you did this, did the OS give you any "new device found" reports?

Go check the %windows%\inf\setupapi.dev.log and see if you have multiple instances of your SATA controller showing up. Not the drives, but the controller itself.

I(illa Bee said:
Any thought on how to stop this?
Buy a new motherboard?
Click to expand...

Yup. I do this exact scenario during the day, except my motherboard DOES like hot swappable SATA drives. Never had to reactivate Weeendows Weesta yet.
 
der_jackal said:
If the messed up motherboard doesn't support hotswapping SATA drives, what makes you think it would handle a simple SATA drive swap in a power off state any better? Just because you power it off? I'd be willing to bet the motherboard does a full controller chipset to SATA tree enum when it detects a new drive and that's triggering the reactivation.
.
Click to expand...

what I mean is if I just remove the drive while in vista, device manager will not let go of the drive.. I refresh it but nothing happens the drive stays there, and if I put in a new drive it while windows is on it wont detected it. Hence the Hot swap...

Now, if I shut down, pull the drive and put in the new one, the BIOS picks it up fine and so dose windows.. that why I know it works in the power off state..
 
well I fixed the problem for now.. I just used the BIOS activation hack, I applied it to my vista installed with my Key so I see no reason its not legit, its just not every bothering to activate...

seems to be working great.
 
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