The SATA spec allows for hot plugging, so technically yes ...
My recollection of my understanding (multiple disclaimers) was that SATA
*allowed* for SATA hot-plugging but didn't *mandate* it.
a good summary of the hardware/driver situation wrt hotplugging can be
found here:
https://ata.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/SATA_hardware_features
Short version: most controllers nowadays support hotplug, provided they
are not operated in compatibility ("IDE") mode.
We have quite a number of software RAID setups with SATA disks in
hot-swap backplanes; so far we found that hotplug works quite reliably
on Intel (ICH9R/ICH10R), AMD (SB700/SB800) and Silicon Image (sil3132)
controllers.
andrea
