Can I connect a SATA hard drive to to my PC, while it is running?

I am trying to do a hard drive recovery, and want to know if I unplug and plug the hard drive back in, while the PC is on (running Windows 7). This is a secondary hard drive, not the primary one.

I know this is possible with eSATA, but I'm not sure it is with SATA, and don't want anything to go wrong.

So, the question is: can I connect a SATA hard drive to to my PC, while it is running?

Solution 1:

If your computer supports AHCI, and the SillionImage SATA controller supports it, then yes. There are various hot swap utility out there, like 'HotSwap!', so use what ever that suits your need.

For the moment, the number of manifactures that provide AHCI support is limited. Check your SATA controller.

Some reading:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Host_Controller_Interface

http://mt-naka.com/hotswap/index_enu.htm

http://www.google.com/images?num=50&hl=en&safe=off&q=sata%20esata%20bracket&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi