Editing Hot swapping (section)

{{Short description|Concept in computing}}
{{Redirect|Hot swap|battery hot swapping|Battery swapping}}
{{refimprove|date=December 2008}}

[[Image:IBM TotalStorage Exp400.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Hot-swapping a [[hard drive]] in a storage server]]

'''Hot swapping''' is the replacement or addition of components to a [[Computer|computer system]] without stopping, [[shutdown (computing)|shutting down]], or [[Reboot|rebooting]] the system.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Hennessy|first1=John L.|last2=Patterson|first2=David A.|title=Computer Architecture: A Quantitative Approach|series=The Morgan Kaufmann Series in Computer Architecture and Design|year=2002|publisher=Morgan Kaufmann|isbn=9780080502526|page=707}}</ref> '''Hot plugging''' describes only the addition of components to a running computer system.<ref name="Hot swap vs. Hot plug">{{cite web|url=http://searchstorage.techtarget.com/expert/KnowledgebaseAnswer/0,289625,sid5_cid403082,00.html|publisher=[[TechTarget]]|title=Hot Swap and Hot Plug|website=Searchstorage.techtarget.com|access-date=2013-08-18}}</ref> Components which have such functionality are said to be ''hot-swappable'' or ''hot-pluggable''; likewise, components which do not are ''cold-swappable'' or ''cold-pluggable''. Although the broader concept of hot swapping can apply to [[Electrical network|electrical]] or [[Machine|mechanical]] systems, it is usually mentioned in the context of computer systems.

An example of hot swapping is the express ability to pull a [[Universal Serial Bus]] (USB) [[peripheral]] device, such as a [[USB flash drive|thumb drive]], [[computer mouse|mouse]], [[computer keyboard|keyboard]], or [[printer (computing)|printer]] out of a computer's USB slot without powering down the computer first.

Most desktop [[computer hardware]], such as CPUs and memory, are only cold-pluggable. However, it is common for mid to high-end [[Server (computing)|servers]] and [[Mainframe computer|mainframes]] to feature hot-swappable capability for hardware components, such as [[CPU]], [[Random-access memory|memory]], [[PCI Express|PCIe]], [[Serial ATA|SATA]] and [[Serial Attached SCSI|SAS]] drives.

Most smartphones and tablets with tray-loading holders can interchange SIM cards without powering down the system.

Dedicated [[digital camera]]s and [[camcorder]]s usually have readily accessible [[memory card]] and [[Electric battery|battery]] compartments for quick changing with only minimal interruption of operation. Batteries can be cycled through by recharging reserve batteries externally while unused. Many cameras and camcorders feature an internal memory to allow capturing when no memory card is inserted.