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)
11I wonder, how stable W7 runs after ejecting the boot HDD. Can you eject the CPU or the mainboard, too? – maaartinus – 2011-02-14T05:06:41.433
2Upon upgrading from Vista to Windows 7 RTM, my SATA drives no longer show in the Safely Remove Hardware menu, can you confirm that this is still an issue for you on the RTM version of Windows 7? – bdukes – 2009-08-27T16:30:53.313
1Same problem in my Windows 8.1, and I guess this will be the same in all Windowses from 2000 through XP, Vista, 7 and 8. I suggest you add more tags ;) – LogicDaemon – 2014-02-16T08:52:08.610