Can not eject or "hot-swap" drives in Windows 8 pro 64bit

New build with a Gigabyte-Z77X-UP5 TH mother board, Intel i7 3770K, Thermaltake TGP-750 power and Level 10 case, 32 GB G skill 1600 ram, Gigabyte GTX 660oc,Samsung 840 128BG ssd for op system, 2 WD RE4 500BG storage drives, running Windows 8 pro 64bit. Booted Bios up and checked that everything was set to AHCI for the ssd and hot-swapping storage drives. Board REV: 1.0 and Bios F11

Board was set to AHCI by default so didn't have to change anything for AHCI. My understanding was that Windows 8 had AHCI south bridge drivers like Windows 7 did so no need to add drivers before loading Windows 8. Install went fine......Gigabyte driver disk would not run on Widows 8 even though the box said Windows 8 ready. No problem got drivers from Gigabyte web site (probably newer drivers anyway...so better)....all seemed to go well. Problem !!!! drives do not show up on tray to eject or hot-swap if you will. Also can not right click to eject in "My computer". They show up in "My computer" and function fine just can not eject or hot-swap. In "Device Manager" under IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers only "Intel (R) 7 series/C216 Chipset Family SATA AHCI Controller" is showing.... not all the separate channels like in my Windows 7 build.....which hot-swapping is working fine.

What went wrong ? Seems very odd....everything works fine but can not eject drives. I have know problem starting over and reloading Windows 8 ...but want to understand what went wrong 1st so I don't repeat the mistake. Is it possibly something is wrong with Gigabytes Win. 8 drivers.....did I miss a driver ? Do they not have all the drivers under my mother board name ?

I really could use some help with this if anyone out there is using this board and windows 8. Can you eject your drives ? Where did you get your Drivers ? Is this a known Gigabyte or Windows problem ? I have been Googleing this and can not find it happening with anyone else. Thanks for any help......Peter

No One has any idea what could be wrong here ??

I am unsure why you would be wanting to swap out the storage drives.

Thank you for replying...... It is simple.... I am a Photographer , I have a ssd with op system and programs. I also have a ESATA box with backup drives. I have to large storage drives ( 1 for RAW & 1 for Work file) in main box that has 4 eject-able drive bays. I change these with what jobs I am doing at the time. Very important to me.......this is why I bought this computer case. The mother board and window 8 is capable of doing this......my older windows 7 build does this fine.......this is how windows is to work under AHCI. This is important to me ....why should I not want it to work the way it is deigned to. Once again thank you for your reply.....can you help me ?

Peter Le said:

Thank you for replying...... It is simple.... I am a Photographer , I have a ssd with op system and programs. I also have a ESATA box with backup drives. I have to large storage drives ( 1 for RAW & 1 for Work file) in main box that has 4 eject-able drive bays. I change these with what jobs I am doing at the time. Very important to me.......this is why I bought this computer case. The mother board and window 8 is capable of doing this......my older windows 7 build does this fine.......this is how windows is to work under AHCI. This is important to me ....why should I not want it to work the way it is deigned to. Once again thank you for your reply.....can you help me ?

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Makes sense. It worked for me in 7, but I have not tried it in 8. If I get some time at work tomorrow, I will give this a test and see what I see.

Thank you....I will bet yours is working.....I know of some that are working fine. Just don't understand what went wrong with mine. At this point have have not yet loaded programs and don't mind re-installing the op. system. Just want to find out first what went wrong so I dion't do it again when re-installing. Did I miss a driver ? Are they not all on Gigabytes web site ? Just don't get it....everything was set to AHCI when I installed windows....

I have the same problem with a ASRockFM2A85X Extreme 6 not hot plug on any of the native Sata ports.
But after connecting my 3 EZ SWAP4 to the installed Startech pcie 4 port Sata 3 Hot plug is a breeze. I then use Zentimo to disconnect. Right after I push my HD in again and up it comes.

6000mile across the pond in Germany my brother bought over there the very same MB, CPU and Startech adapter has the very same results also running Windows 8 pro.

This proves without doubt it is either a hardware or MB driver problem. Both of us have the latest bios update 1.70.
I returned my board for a Gigabyte GAF2A85X-UP4 A85 FM2R and hope it works. Otherwise I keep returning MBs until I get one that works. I hope everybody does that to teach these beta peddlers a lesson.

As the new MOBO's now have a uEFI/BIOS firmware.
How to install Windows 64 bit on a uEFI/BIOS firmware:
http://www.eightforums.com/tutorial...e-firmware-interface-install-windows-8-a.html

opi said:

I have the same problem with a ASRockFM2A85X Extreme 6 not hot plug on any of the native Sata ports.
But after connecting my 3 EZ SWAP4 to the installed Startech pcie 4 port Sata 3 Hot plug is a breeze. I then use Zentimo to disconnect. Right after I push my HD in again and up it comes.

6000mile across the pond in Germany my brother bought over there the very same MB, CPU and Startech adapter has the very same results also running Windows 8 pro.

This proves without doubt it is either a hardware or MB driver problem. Both of us have the latest bios update 1.70.
I returned my board for a Gigabyte GAF2A85X-UP4 A85 FM2R and hope it works. Otherwise I keep returning MBs until I get one that works. I hope everybody does that to teach these beta peddlers a lesson.

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Hey opi.......I kind of gave up on this for a while. But here is what I found out. It amazes me there isn't more info out here about this. After many phone calls with Gigabyte support this is what I found out. It pissed me off so much I just dropped for a while. I guess it is time to follow it some more.
What Gigabyte tech suggested was to reload Windows 8 and see what happens. What I decided to do was load windows and before installing any drivers see if the drives were listed in the tray to eject. To my surprise yes they were.....just like they are supposed to be. Then loading one drive at a time I checked the tray. When I installed the Intel SATA drivers poof !! gone from the tray and replaced with the stupid "Intel Rapid Storage Technology" icon. This icon opens info about the drives but does not allow you to do anything. Reading the help files it claims hot-swapping is supported.....But.. the big But ...is it does not seem to give you anyway the stop the drive before disconnecting it. This is very typical of Intel .... change something as big as this but tell no one how to do it. I googled hot-swapping drives with Intel rapid storage tech and found some people just as puzzled as we are. They suggested just pulling the drive. This might be the way to do it.... BUT I would not do this till something from Intel says you can. So it is for sure Intel drivers that is causing this..... what the solution is I don't know yet. I plan on trying to call Intel if I can find I tech number and try to get to the bottom of this. So again it is not your mother board maker..... it is an Intel driver causing this.

Hi Peter Le

.But.. the big But ...is it does not seem to give you anyway the stop the drive before disconnecting it. This is very typical of Intel .... change something as big as this but tell no one how to do it. I googled hot-swapping drives with Intel rapid storage tech and found some people just as puzzled as we are. They suggested just pulling the drive.

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This problem can be solved with ZENTIMO software. It tracks all USB and SATA connection and lets you remove/release any of them.

Zentimo is an external storage manager