Quote:
Originally Posted by Dilbert1234567
the SATA standard is hot swappable, but the controller has to support it as well.
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Aye, this drives people nuts. While the hardware won't generally have any problem with being swapped, the driver has to specify the attached drives as removable or else swapping means a restart. The simple answer is to look for "supports hot swap" when buying your controller. Many of the low-end cards do not, most notably the jungle of sub-$50 Silicon Image based cards.
Whatever drive you buy, make sure you're getting the best warranty available. I don't mean you should buy additional coverage, just make sure you get the best coverage offered by that manufacturer for that drive. The usual boxed retail packages sold by office chains include a $1 cable and screws but only a 1 year warranty, while the same drive packaged bare as "OEM" has a 3 or even 5 year warranty. This varies so do your homework.
Even if you have a warm & fuzzies about a favorite brand, remember: they all fail. If you don't back up, they'll get you eventually. A second drive is extraordinarily cheap compared to the effort and expense of recovery.