eSATA and Hot-swappability disappointment

[spacesurfer]

On black friday, i bought a Western Digital 1.5 TB USB/Firewire 400/800/eSATA HDD for $120 USD and got a gift certificate of $10. I didn't have eSATA ports so I bought an eSATA card for $20 - $10 GC = $10. I didn't have an eSATA cable so I bought that for $10.

I got it hooked up and everything working fine. Speed is amazing. However, since the documentation was on the HDD itself as a PDF, I didn't realize that when using eSATA, I'm missing out on two features: hot-swappability and power management.

I thought eSATA was touted for hot-swappability but according to WD documentation, I have to shut down computer before turning off/removing drive. I do have AHCI enabled but the icon for the drive does not appear in the "remove hardware".

Secondly, when using USB or Firewire, documentation says the drive will put itself to sleep when not in use and will power up and down with the computer powering up and down. Not with eSATA - says that's not available for eSATA (although my use for 1 day it does seem to power off when I hibernate or turn off computer. i don't know what's correct.)