Windows – How to remove internal SATA disks from the “Safely Remove Hardware” menu

ejectsatawindows 7

I have installed Windows 7 (Ultimate) on a PC with an ASRock 960GM/U3S3 FX motherboard, which is an AMD AM3+ motherboard with an AMD 760G/SB710 chipset. Everything installed OK with the latest drivers for all hardware and chipset drivers, but the internal SATA disks appear in the "Safely remove hardware and eject media" menu from the tray icon. I would prefer the internal SATA disk does not appear in this menu as it is not removable and it shows the icon in the notification area of the system tray even when no USB devices are plugged in.

I tried the solution proposed here, but it didn't work.

I did not have high hopes it would work because the SATA controller is configured in IDE mode instead of AHCI mode in the BIOS and the BIOS has no "hot plug" setting for the SATA connectors.

I've seen suggestions to install the latest Intel Rapid Storage Technology driver, but that wouldn't work on an AMD motherboard either.

How can I fix this problem?

Best Answer

As written here - all your SATA connectors have 'hot plug'. Maybe this option has different name in BIOS?

Also, have you tried this solution?

Quote (solution by t0adphr0g):

This is a Registry fix. You should ALWAYS back up your registry before you make changes - it only takes a second to do it, and if anything happens to it you'll need to reinstall... Here we go...

Regedit your way to: 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")

You should be able to change "Controller" and "Channel" values to your needs.

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Windows 7 – How to Remove Eject Option for SATA Drives

The answer really depends on what driver you're set up with. I have a 6 port SATA connector (Intel ICH9 - 2922) and I use the default MS-AHCI driver. If you're in the same boat, create a couple of new keys here:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\msahci

\Controller0\Channel0
            \Channel1
            \Channel2
            \Channel3
            \Channel4
            \Channel5

Now create a new DWORD - name: TreatAsInternalPort, value: 1 under each of the ChannelN keys. Now reboot for the changes to take effect and the drives should no longer show up under 'Safely Remove..'

Geeky stuff:

The root cause of the problem is the SATA driver incorrectly determined that your internal SATA port is external. So, if you look at the 'Capabilities' value for your drive(s) under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Enum\IDE\..\.. its probably set at 0x4 which makes it removable (as per the bit flag ORing done of the values below) Once you add the setting to the registry, the SATA driver now returns a different Capabilities value (most probably 0) and the drive stops showing up under 'Safely Remove..'

//from inc/api/cfgmgr32.h (WINDDK)
#define CM_DEVCAP_LOCKSUPPORTED     (0x00000001)
#define CM_DEVCAP_EJECTSUPPORTED    (0x00000002)
#define CM_DEVCAP_REMOVABLE         (0x00000004)
#define CM_DEVCAP_DOCKDEVICE        (0x00000008)
#define CM_DEVCAP_UNIQUEID          (0x00000010)
#define CM_DEVCAP_SILENTINSTALL     (0x00000020)
#define CM_DEVCAP_RAWDEVICEOK       (0x00000040)
#define CM_DEVCAP_SURPRISEREMOVALOK (0x00000080)
#define CM_DEVCAP_HARDWAREDISABLED  (0x00000100)
#define CM_DEVCAP_NONDYNAMIC        (0x00000200)

Windows – External HDD incorrectly detected as internal – how change to enable hot swap/eject

It may seem like a stupid question, but do you have the latest manufacturer-specific drivers installed for your eSATA add-in card? I just had essentially the same issue with an external drive (but attached to my motherboard's SATA controller), and it turned out that Microsoft's generic SATA AHCI driver wasn't up to the task: Windows 7 Disk Management utility doesn't show disk with ext3 (type 83) partition

Best Answer

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Windows 7 – How to Remove Eject Option for SATA Drives

Windows – External HDD incorrectly detected as internal – how change to enable hot swap/eject

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