External ide hdd active when not connected to PC

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dstarfire

dstarfire

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Apr 19, 2011
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18,510
I've got an ide hard drive connected to my PC through one of those pata/sata to USB adaptors. Normally, the USB cable is disconnected when I'm not using it. However, the power cable is usually plugged in since I'm using a molex line from my PC's power supply, and that's a bit harder to reach without climbing under my desk (the power adaptor that came with the usb adaptor died a while back).

The drive still makes noise and produces a good amount of heat even when the usb cable is disconnected. The only time it's truly quiet is when I unplug the power from it. So, what the heck is the controller doing all on it's own?

If it matters, this is a Seagate 400 GB drive (so it's a few years old).
 
Solution
Intel Celeron
which one?

For ramp-ups and rapid slow downs, It's because the hdd is not given any instructions on where to point it's heads. So it will just scan over and over through the entire platter/s and going at all possible speeds it can go.

For clicks, Pretty much the same but instead of scanning gradually it slams the head to the end and to the start.

For both, well... Sounds like a failing hard drive or pretty much the same reason.
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dstarfire

dstarfire

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Apr 19, 2011
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18,510


I understand that, and I can even understand why the disks will continue to spin without a data connection (no command to spin down or change to a lower power state).

I know what a drive sounds like in a ready state (after access has completed, but the drive hasn't yet switched to a lower power state), and this is more than that sound

The noise I'm referring to is normally only heard when a hard drive is actively being accessed (I think it's the stepper motors moving the heads to various positions).
 
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Intel Celeron

Intel Celeron

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Mar 15, 2014
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5,160
which one?

For ramp-ups and rapid slow downs, It's because the hdd is not given any instructions on where to point it's heads. So it will just scan over and over through the entire platter/s and going at all possible speeds it can go.

For clicks, Pretty much the same but instead of scanning gradually it slams the head to the end and to the start.

For both, well... Sounds like a failing hard drive or pretty much the same reason.
 
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Solution
dstarfire

dstarfire

Distinguished
Apr 19, 2011
23
0
18,510


Thanks. That makes a lot of sense. In other words, because nobody's telling the drive what to do it's just running around in circles. It does seem to stay quieter when I leave the USB cable connected.



 
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