Can I plug in SSD into turned on PC?

[Eldin]

Basically I want to boot Ubuntu that's on my HDD and then use it to format SSD.
But the problem is that PC is trying to boot OS from SSD (there's no OS on SSD).

So I have to turn on PC with HDD only so it can boot Ubuntu. Then I have to plug in SSD while PC is running.

Is it safe to do that?

[r.linder]

No, I wouldn't do that while the system has power flowing through it.

[Omega]

The SATA data cable is hot-swapable. Do NOT hotplug the SATA power cable, doing so might kill the drive.

You should just change the boot order or use the boot override to boot from the correct driver instead.

[Andrius227]

You could also just buy a 'Sata to usb' cable. Very cheap and handy for situations like this.

[Eldin]

Originally posted by Omega:

You should just change the boot order or use the boot override to boot from the correct driver instead.

That was the first thing I wanted to try. But there's no option to set boot order of drives in BIOS.
In boot order I can only choose between USB Device, Integrated SATA and Network Controller.

Originally posted by Omega:

The SATA data cable is hot-swapable. Do NOT hotplug the SATA power cable, doing so might kill the drive.

So I plug in the power cable to SSD and unplug SATA cable.
Then I turn on PC and boot Ubuntu.
Then while PC is running I only plug in SATA cable.
Is that right?
And will Ubuntu recognize SSD when I plug it in, so I can format it?

[nullable]

Change the boot order of the drives? Is there a reason that doesn't work?

[Eldin]

Originally posted by Brockenstein:

Change the boot order of the drives? Is there a reason that doesn't work?

Have you read my previous post?

"There's no option to set boot order of drives in BIOS.
In boot order I can only choose between USB Device, Integrated SATA and Network Controller."

[nullable]

That doesn't sound right, what motherboard are we talking here?

[vadim]

Yes, its safe to hotplug SSD. All modern drive interfaces support hotplugging. But depends on BIOS settings its possible that the operating system may not automatically recognize SSD after hot plugging.

[Eldin]

Originally posted by Brockenstein:

That doesn't sound right, what motherboard are we talking here?

HP 3031h
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1739673713

[Omega]

Originally posted by Eldin:

Originally posted by Omega:

You should just change the boot order or use the boot override to boot from the correct driver instead.

That was the first thing I wanted to try. But there's no option to set boot order of drives in BIOS.
In boot order I can only choose between USB Device, Integrated SATA and Network Controller.

Originally posted by Omega:

The SATA data cable is hot-swapable. Do NOT hotplug the SATA power cable, doing so might kill the drive.

So I plug in the power cable to SSD and unplug SATA cable.
Then I turn on PC and boot Ubuntu.
Then while PC is running I only plug in SATA cable.
Is that right?
And will Ubuntu recognize SSD when I plug it in, so I can format it?

Yup exactly.

[Eldin]

Originally posted by Omega:

Originally posted by Eldin:

That was the first thing I wanted to try. But there's no option to set boot order of drives in BIOS.
In boot order I can only choose between USB Device, Integrated SATA and Network Controller.




So I plug in the power cable to SSD and unplug SATA cable.
Then I turn on PC and boot Ubuntu.
Then while PC is running I only plug in SATA cable.
Is that right?
And will Ubuntu recognize SSD when I plug it in, so I can format it?

Yup exactly.

Thank you. I did that and it worked.

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Been hotplugging sata drives for years, power and data, never had a problem or killed a drive. Just plug in the power and wait a few secs, then the data. As long as motherboard supports it it's same as hotplugging usb.

Overall, no reason you can't change your bios boot order.

[Eldin]

Originally posted by Bad 💀 Motha:

Overall, no reason you can't change your bios boot order.

Have you seen the picture?
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1739673713
How would you change it?

[Carlsberg]

As the menu bar in the picture says, use enter to hold and drag the hdd to top of the list?

[Jamebonds1]

It need to be set up as hot swap for SATA in BIOS first. You can unplug and plug power cord while it is turned on too. Power supply will throttling the current to power cord as need. There are hard drive/SSD dock that does hot swap. I think the dock is your best bet.

Before you doing anything with computer, I need maker, model and specs please.