Stupid HD Question...

danza · 26 Apr 2007 at 13:25

I've just acquired a WD Caviar ATA 80gb HD, and I'm planning on using it for backup duties for my photograph archive.

However, there is a problem. The HD whines. It's normal for it to as far as I can tell, but it's just so damn annoying! It's louder than anything else in my PC case and is really beginning to grate.

Here's the stupid question:

Is there any way, through software, that I can power the HD down within windows when I'm not using it, to shut it up? I only want it to back up, so I don't need it on all the time. 1 hour a week max really. I know I can unplug it within the case, but I'd rather not if I don't have to.

There.

Any info would be ace

rpstewart · 26 Apr 2007 at 14:24

danza said:
Is there any way, through software, that I can power the HD down within windows when I'm not using it, to shut it up?

Yup, check out the power options in Control Panel. Only problem is they affect all HDDs equally. You should bear in mind that the drive will spin up at boot until the timeout has expired and if you've got the indexing service or system restore on for the drive it may not spin down at all.

If you're only looking for weekly backups then an external caddy might be a better option, that way you can physically power the drive off when it's not in use.

danza · 26 Apr 2007 at 17:26

Cheers for the reply

I want to avoid a caddy if poss really, I've loads of junk on my desk at the best of times

I wonder if it's possible/safe to create a male to female molex cable with a switch over the + volts, so I can connect it to the hdd to switch it off and on at will (by bringing the switch out to the case front). I doubt it, but it's just a thought....

danza · 26 Apr 2007 at 17:35

Looking at it, it seems like a bad idea. I'm not sure though.... :confused:

danza · 26 Apr 2007 at 18:13

Bought a cheap-ass caddy instead of risking blowing my PC up. Sensible option methinks

rpstewart · 26 Apr 2007 at 19:17

danza said:
Bought a cheap-ass caddy instead of risking blowing my PC up. Sensible option methinks

Yeah, the switch option has one major drawback - the drive wouldn't be classed as removeable so:

1) Won't appear in the Safely Remove Hardware list

and more importantly

2) You probably won't have the option to turn off the write caching

The combination of those two means that you wouldn't be able to guarantee that the drive had completed all it's write operations before you pulled the power. Not the best idea for a backup drive.

danza · 26 Apr 2007 at 19:29

rpstewart said:
Yeah, the switch option has one major drawback - the drive wouldn't be classed as removeable so:

1) Won't appear in the Safely Remove Hardware list

and more importantly

2) You probably won't have the option to turn off the write caching

The combination of those two means that you wouldn't be able to guarantee that the drive had completed all it's write operations before you pulled the power. Not the best idea for a backup drive.

That's the same (if somewhat more technical) conclusion that I came to.

My caddy cost me £7 all in, so I'm happy (until I lose it under a mountain of rubbish).