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So from what I've read online, if AHCI is enabled in the BIOS, I should be able to hot-swap a SATA drive and it will supposedly "just work".

However, that has not been my experience.

When I hot-swap a SATA drive on my system, it is never detected. It doesn't show up in lsblk, it doesn't show up in Gparted, nothing even shows in dmesg.

So, I am wondering what the issue is?

I am using 16.04 on an Asus M5A97 R2.0

Edit to address Takkat's suggestion:

I have no such option:

enter image description here

You'reAGitForNotUsingGit
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1 Answers1

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SATA hot plugging needs to be allowed with a setting in some BIOSes. The names of this may differ, ranging from allow hot-plug to eSATA.

For the ASUS M5A97 the relevant BIOS setting is in Advanced > SATA Configuration > SB SATA Configuration:

SATA Hot Plug on Port1~6 [Disabled]
These items appear only when you set SATA Port1 - Port6 to [AHCI] and allow you to enable or disable the SATA port hot-plug support.

This entry needs to be set to "Enabled" to allow SATA hot-plugging.

Takkat
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  • I have no such option in my BIOS. See the edit to my question. – You'reAGitForNotUsingGit Apr 13 '17 at 14:43
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    @AndroidDev Well, I only gave you the information I had from reading the [user manual](https://www.asus.com/Motherboards/M5A97/HelpDesk_Manual/) which indeed looks different to your screenshot but I am pretty confident that **SATA ESP** is short for external SATA port. I'd enable this on the port you wish to hot-plug. – Takkat Apr 13 '17 at 14:50
  • Ah, hold on a sec. You looked up the manual for the M5A97, but I have the M5A97 R2.0. I actually went down to the basement and dug out the paper manual that came with the motherboard, and it makes no mention of SATA hot-plugging. Nevertheless, I will try toggling SATA ESP and I will report the results. – You'reAGitForNotUsingGit Apr 13 '17 at 14:59
  • @AndroidDev: here's your manual: https://www.asus.com/de/Motherboards/M5A97_R20/HelpDesk_Manual/ - It does not explain ESP but what else should it be? – Takkat Apr 13 '17 at 15:08
  • @AndroiDev SATA ESP is explained [here.](https://superuser.com/questions/1039619/what-does-sata-esp-set-sata-port1-to-external-sata-port-do) :-) – Elder Geek Apr 13 '17 at 16:02
  • @ElderGeek - Yeah, funnily enough I stumbled upon that same link. I just can't reboot my system to try it right now because I've got a bunch of things running and and ~30 browser windows open :) – You'reAGitForNotUsingGit Apr 13 '17 at 16:29