HotSwap 4.1.1.0 is a System Utility product from mysite.verizon.net, get 4 Stars SoftSea Rating, The HotSwap! software was designed basically to help you remove devices from Device Manager.
But the user interface is much friendly as compatible with the "Safely Remove Hardware" icon in the notification area and it is much safer as it prevents the drive being removed if the drive is in use.
With this software, you can use SATA/eSATA drives as even better removable drives than USB/IEEE1394 drives.
Basically it does the same thing as you can remove devices from Device Manager, but the user interface is much friendly as compatible with the "Safely Remove Hardware" icon in the notification area and it is much safer as it prevents the drive being removed if the drive is in use. With this software, you can use SATA/eSATA drives as even better removable drives than USB/IEEE1394 drives.
Features:
* Compatible user interface with the "Safely Remove Hardware" icon on Windows XP.
* Confirms all volumes assigned to the drive are not in use before removing it.
* Spin-down the drive to remove the drive safely.
* Not only fixed disk drives but also other type of drives can be removed.
* Runs without user interface by given command line switch and also the message popup can be suppressed.
* Multilingual user interface. Supports English, French, German and Japanese.
Supported Hardware and OS:
* Windows XP / 2003 / Vista (32-bit and 64-bit)
* Silicon Image SATA Host Controller (SiI3112A, SiI3114, SiI3132, etc)
* Silicon Image SATA-PATA (Parallel ATA) Bridge Controller (SiI3611)
* SUNPLUS SATA-PATA Bridge Controller (SPIF3611)
* SATA Host Controller (AHCI mode) (e.g. Intel Controller Hub (ICH), JMicron JMB363)
* When SiI3132 is used, drive will spin-down automatically on removal.
By default, only Fixed disk drives are listed in the popup menu but you can configure Removable disk drives and DVD/CD-ROM drives to be included. The drives removable from the "Safely Remove Hardware" icon also can be configured. The non-hot swap drives also can be configured but listed in gray.
What's the advantage of SATA/eSATA drives over USB/IEEE1394 drives?
The overhead of command conversion is very small or almost none. In general, it has less compatibility issue and minimum performance loss. USB drives max out at about 20 to 35MB/sec and IEEE1394(S400) drives max out at about 40MB/sec, however, SATA/eSATA drives can handle even the fastest devices of 100 to 120MB/sec. Also the "Turn off hard disks" setting in the Power Schemes functions.
Version 4.5.0.0 (01/10/2009)
* New feature to support Windows 7 Beta.
* New feature to support German. (Thanks to Tobias Bauer for German translation)
* New feature to display Physical Device Object (PDO) name.
* New feature to support Physical Device Object (PDO) name in command line mode.
* Changed spin-down feature selectable.
* Changed menu to pop up even if no drive to select.
* Corrected some messages.
* Fixed problem that the registry key is created at startup.
* Fixed problem that the autostart path isn't enclosed with double quotes.
* Changed command line mode to honor the settings in the configuration menu. The license of this windows utility software is Freeware, you can free download and free use this Windows Utility software.