A very simple script that can be used to hot-swap an SATA device running in AHCI mode on Linux.

hotswap.sh

#!/bin/bash
#
# Usage:
#
#   hotswap.sh [dev]
#
# Where [dev] is the name of the device such as "sda".  Do not use
# partitions (like "sda1").
#
# Example:
#
#   hotswap.sh sdb
#
# Source: http://askubuntu.com/questions/28600/ahci-hotswap-in-lucid-server
#

device=/dev/$1
cwd=`pwd`

if [ -b "$device" ]
then
  a=`printf '%d\n' \'a`
  d=`echo ${1:\`expr ${#1}-1\`}`
  d=`printf '%d\n' \'$d`
  d=`expr $d - $a`
  c=`dmesg | grep scsi$d | grep ahci`
  if [[ "$c" != "" ]]; then
    echo "Make sure that you have unmounted all partitions on this disk!"
    read -p "Press [Enter] if all partitions are unmounted"
    cd -P /sys/block/$1/device
    echo 1 > delete
    cd ../../scsi_host/host*
    read -p "Swap drives and press [Enter] to scan for new drive"
    echo '- - -' > scan
    cd $cwd
  fi
else
  echo "Invalid device."
fi