ASRock 960GM-S3 FX manual Hot Plug and Hot Swap Functions for Sata / Sataii HDDs

2.9Serial ATA (SATA) / Serial ATAII (SATAII) Hard Disks

Installation

This motherboard adopts AMD SB710 south bridge chipset that supports Serial ATA (SATA) / Serial ATAII (SATAII) hard disks and RAID (RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 10 and JBOD) functions. You may install SATA / SATAII hard disks on this motherboard for internal storage devices. This section will guide you to install the SATA / SATAII hard disks.

STEP 1: Install the SATA / SATAII hard disks into the drive bays of your chassis.

STEP 2: Connect the SATA power cable to the SATA / SATAII hard disk.

STEP 3: Connect one end of the SATA data cable to the motherboard’s SATAII connector.

STEP 4: Connect the other end of the SATA data cable to the SATA / SATAII hard disk.

If you plan to use RAID 0 or RAID 1 function, you need to install at least 2 SATA / SATAII hard disks. If you plan to use RAID 10 function, you need to install 4 SATA / SATAII hard disks.

2.10 Hot Plug and Hot Swap Functions for SATA / SATAII HDDs

This motherboard supports Hot Plug and Hot Swap functions for SATA / SATAII Devices in RAID / AHCI mode. AMD SB710 south bridge 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.

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 RAID 1 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.

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