Question HDD drives show up as removable in Win 7 (can't find fix)

Newb888

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Nov 30, 2006
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Since I have a total of 3 HDDs I have on occasion by accident removed HDDs instead of USB drives.

I read some tutorials, but they all require to know the specific bus number my new HDDs are using in order to disable the "safely remove hardware" option.

I did all imaginable troubleshooting, including ensuring "Quick Removal" is NOT checked in Device Manager.
 

Newb888

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Nov 30, 2006
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Unfortunately not. No hotplug setting in the BIOS.

The issue disappears using the same HDDs on Windows 8.1

IF I install the Intel(R) ICH10R SATA AHCI Controller and NOT use Windows 7 then the issue also disappears but it causes all issues like blocking Windows Update, Invalid driver signing issues, and blocking Windows Defender and Microsoft Updates . So I'm stuck using the generic Windows 7 SATA controller drivers.