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Date:      Thu, 5 Oct 2006 16:34:03 +0200
From:      Jonathan McKeown <jonathan@hst.org.za>
To:        freebsd-questions@freebsd.org
Subject:   Re: Removing removable ATA hard drives
Message-ID:  <200610051634.03895.jonathan@hst.org.za>
In-Reply-To: <200610051034.35795.jonathan@hst.org.za>
References:  <200610051034.35795.jonathan@hst.org.za>

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On Thursday 05 October 2006 10:34, Jonathan McKeown wrote:
> I recently bought a drive caddy for an ATA hard drive. The unit is in two
> parts: a cassette, into which can be fitted a standard ATA hard drive, and
> a carrier permanently fitted into a standard drive bay. The carrier
> includes a power keyswitch for the drive bay.
>
> I installed it, brought the box (running 4.9) back up, and then switched on
> the power to the drive. FreeBSD didn't recognise the drive even after an
> atacontrol reinit of the channel.
>
> I then dropped the box and brought it back up with the keyswitch for the
> drive in the ON position. It now recognises the drive (could this be
> BIOS-related?).

OK, having got to this point and with some trepidation, I started fiddling. 
The removable drive is on ATA channel 1 along with a CD writer.

> Is it safe to simply switch the power to the drive off using the keyswitch
> and then remove the cassette with the server running but the drive bay
> powered down? Do I need to do anything other than ensure that the drive is
> unmounted at the time?
>
> And having done that, if I replace the drive and then reapply power using
> the keyswitch, would I need to do anything to get FreeBSD to notice the
> return of the device?

So far doing an atacontrol detach 1, powering down the drive with the 
keyswitch, removing it and doing an atacontrol attach 1 to get my CD back, 
seems to work without problems. Adding the drive back in, powering it up and 
then doing an atacontrol reinit 1 also seems to work without problems.

Potentially slightly less safe, I guess, simply powering the drive off and 
doing an atacontrol reinit 1 seems to work.

Does anyone have any horror stories or awful warnings before I make this part 
of my backup procedure?

Jonathan



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