My internal SATA device appears in Devices and Printers and in the Safely Remove Hardware area of the system tray?

Question

Hello,

When looking in my Devices and Printers I see my SATA hard drive listed, it’s also listed in the Safely Remove Hardware list. This makes it look like the drive can be ejected when I know it can’t, why is this happening?

Thanks Christi

Answer 1

Hello Christi,

This is happening because Windows 7 added support for eSATA functionality. Some hardware vendors have incorrectly configured all SATA ports as eSATA ports. This causes all internal and external SATA devices to be treated as removable. This issue can affect hard disks, DVD drives, and other hardware attached to the internal SATA ports of the system.

This issue can be ignored because it does not have an effect on your computer. To resolve this issue you should contact the computer manufacturer for a BIOS update or other type of resolution to correct the misconfiguration of the internal SATA ports.

To work around the issue, a registry key can be set to change the behavior of the SATA ports.

Adding the TreatAsInternalPort value and setting it to 1 will cause a SATA port to be treated as an internal port and attached devices will no longer be considered removable. This value can be applied to specific ports as needed. To do this, follow these steps:

1.       Click Start

2.       In the Search programs and files box, type command

3.       In the Programs list, click Command Prompt and click Run as administrator

 If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or click Continue.

4.       Copy and paste or type each of the commands into the command prompt and press Enter after each command

reg.exe add "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\msahci\Controller0\Channel0" /f /v TreatAsInternalPort /t REG_DWORD /d 0x00000001

reg.exe add "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\msahci\Controller0\Channel1" /f /v TreatAsInternalPort /t REG_DWORD /d 0x00000001

5.       Restart your computer to enable the registry changes

**Note:**There may be some trial and error to determine the correct ports (also referred to as "channels").

The channel numbers shown in Device Manager may not match the channel number in the registry, so you may need to set the value and verify the desired effect.

Answer 2

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ SYSTEM\ CurrentControlSet\ services\ msahci

and create a new KEY called "Controller0"

inside Controller0, create a new KEY called "Channel0"

Now inside Channel0, create a new DWORD called "TreatAsInternalPort"

set this value to "1"

(this sets SATA port 0 (Drive C)to no longer show up in "Safely Remove Hardware")

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Now, go back into the Controller0 folder again.

inside Controller0, create a new KEY called "Channel1"

Now inside Channel1, create a new DWORD called "TreatAsInternalPort"

set this value to "1"

(this sets SATA port 1 (Drive D)to no longer show up in "Safely Remove Hardware")

---

And so on, until all internal SATA ports are set to be treated as Internal.

My motherboard has 6 SATA ports, so I have set Channel0 to Channel5

Answer 3

Bobby's answer is not completely true.  It is not a problem with manufacturers designing SATA /  eSATA port not is just limited with a Windows 7 "quirk."   The SATA drive connection specifications have a "feature" to disconnect the drive(s) when the power is on (aka Hot-swapping.)  However, Windows, when the SATA / eSATA "native" (not IDE translation) drivers are install, will not allow you to "eject" the Windows Boot drive nor any other SATA drive with files opened from it.

Answer 4

I have this same issue, but this answer does not resolve my problem.

Answer 5

I have faceing the same problem. Thanks Bobby for your nice post.