ASRock K8SLI-eSATA2 User Manual - Page 31

2.12 Hot Plug and Hot Swap Functions for SATA / SATAII HDDs and eSATAII Devices K8SLI-eSATA2 motherboard supports Hot Plug and Hot Swap functions for SATA / SATAII / eSATAII Devices in RAID / AHCI mode. ULi M1697 chipset provides hardware support for Advanced Host controller Interface (AHCI), a new programming interface for SATA host controllers developed thru a joint industry effort. AHCI also provides usability enhancements such as Hot Plug. AHCI requires appropriate software support (e.g., an AHCI driver, which is contained in our support CD). NOTE What is Hot Plug Function? If the SATA / SATAII HDDs are NOT set for RAID configuration, it is called "Hot Plug" for the action to insert and remove the SATA / SATAII HDDs while the system is still power-on and in working condition. However, please note that it cannot perform Hot Plug if the OS has been installed into the SATA / SATAII HDD. What is Hot Swap Function? If SATA / SATAII HDDs are built as RAID1 then it is called "Hot Swap" for the action to insert and remove the SATA / SATAII HDDs while the system is still power-on and in working condition. eSATAII is equipped with Hot Plug capability that enables you to exchange drives easily. For example, with eSATAII interface, you may simply plug your eSATAII devices to the eSATAII ports instead of opening your chassis to exchange your SATAII hard disk. If you obey "safely remove hardware" mechanism like USB flash drive, you can enable eSATAII device write cache on the driver by ULi RAID configuration tools to enhance the eSATAII performance. While keeping write data to disk can be flush out when removing the eSATAII device. 31