I'm quite confused about SATA plug and play.  I have an unraid server that I use for backups and general testing.  8 disks on an LSI, and zero disks on the six onboard SATA ports, however those six ports have been used in the past to plug disks in for various purposes.  I use unassigned devices to manage disks on those ports.

 

I've successfully plugged in, and mounted and used, disks on those onboard ports while unraid was running.  I've also had no reaction from the server whatsoever when I plug disks in.  In fact, using the exact same disks, I sometimes get them recognized, and sometimes not.  When they are not recognized, a reboot gets them seen by unraid/unassigned devices. 

 

I have also used a USB dock for the same purpose, however literally every disk I plug in immediately starts throwing SMART errors, and I believe the USB dock is to blame.

 

I am confused.  Does SATA PnP/hot swap work with unraid or not?

 

Edited November 12, 20223 yr by tucansam

it works, but only, if you configure it in the BIOS correctly.

 

Many controller can handle hot-plug, but it is usually turned off in the Bios and you have to enable it seperately for each drive.

 

Usually the settings are lost after a BIOS update, so you have to redo them then.