Cut power to hard drives while system is running

Larry365

Larry365

Larry365

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Joined
10 Aug 2010
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240
Location
Lincoln
Hi

I was wondering whether there would be any issue with running hard drives on a separate power supply and cutting the power to them when they are not in use but without shutting down the system?

Basically I need to create a vehicle based computer/storage system. The idea is that the main system will run on SSDs while the vehicle is in motion, and then at the end of the day, I can transfer the data collected onto HDD's. Uptime for the main system must be maintained. I have looked into NAS solutions but they are simply too expensive... I'd need an 8 bay rack mount NAS.

I know in theory, with the drives being SATA, it shouldn't be an issue.. and if the drives are absolutely not in use.. I can't see a problem here, but of course I'm not 100% confident, otherwise I wouldn't be here.

Thanks for you help.
 
As long as there isn't data written to them then there shouldn't really be an issue but can you not just set the HDDs power options to turn off after inactivity?
You probably need to change the caching options within device manager for them.
 
If you use Unix/Linux it's trivial to unmount a HDD so you can safely unplug it (just use the command unmount).

Apparently mountvol is a similar Windows command. E.g. "mountvol C: /p" looks like it would unmount C:.

You can do it with a GUI but it's a pain.
 
Any reason why external drives can't be used?

USB3, Esata or Thunderbolt are fast enough for most people.

What amount of data, what size of HDD?

Are you copying the data to another system after?
 
Cheers for the replies

archerz said:
but can you not just set the HDDs power options to turn off after inactivity?
Click to expand...

I don't think I cant trust windows to turn them off, and keep them off. The idea is by turning them off, I won't damage the HDD's whilst in transit. The vehicle will be crossing all sorts of terrain.

joeyjojo said:
If you use Unix/Linux it's trivial to unmount a HDD so you can safely unplug it (just use the command unmount).
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, the software we are using requires windows. No viable work around for that one.

Sasahara said:
Any reason why external drives can't be used?
What amount of data, what size of HDD?

Are you copying the data to another system after?
Click to expand...

Looking for about 12TB mirrored. So 24TB total. Don't want to use huge discs as I'm not a big believer in having so much data in one place so probably going for 8x 3TB Reds.

I think the solution here is to build a separate system for the HDD's. Effectively make my own NAS. I've found a couple of 8+ bay hotswappable rack mounts which might do the trick. Unless anyone can think of a better solution?

Just to clarify, the vehicle will be on the road for several weeks and will not have a chance to offload the data to a "desktop". So that's a mobile computer, collecting data on SSD primary system. Primary system offloads onto HDD array infrequently.

Thanks
 
I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that any impact that would ruin a modern hard drive whilst in a moving vehicle will probably ruin said vehicle and it's occupants as well
 
Hmm, perhaps you're right. But it will be sustained vibration, and a fair amount of off-roading too though I am inclined to agree with you.
 
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