Turn Off Hard Disk(s)

[vampire666]

Hi to everyone!
Do you know if there is a program for Windows that can turn off hard disks (obviously not the primary) and maybe prevent disk writes from spinning them back up?
It would be very helpful to switch off unnecessary hard disk to save electricity power, not to mention the advantage of less noise and heat generated.
Thanks.

 

[pat]

Hi to everyone!
Do you know if there is a program for Windows that can turn off hard disks (obviously not the primary) and maybe prevent disk writes from spinning them back up?
It would be very helpful to switch off unnecessary hard disk to save electricity power, not to mention the advantage of less noise and heat generated.
Thanks.

repetitive start and stop is really bad for hdd...once started and idling, the hdd dont use much current

 

[parlee]

in my experience harddrives arnt loud or hot, unless writing huge files to them... otherwise there more than tolerable for my ears... but like he said, powering up and down constantly is bad for it... but once its up and idling u wont be able to hear it over the fans that are running...

 

[chunkymonster]

Hi to everyone!
Do you know if there is a program for Windows that can turn off hard disks (obviously not the primary) and maybe prevent disk writes from spinning them back up?
It would be very helpful to switch off unnecessary hard disk to save electricity power, not to mention the advantage of less noise and heat generated.
Thanks.

If your running XP, you can use Power Options to to power down the disks. It's in the Control Panel, Power Options, on the Power Schemes tab.

 

[vampire666]

Thanks for your replies.
So you recommend to leave all my HD on even if the PC is 24h on?
I thought that it would be a good idea to turn the unnecessary hd off when I go to sleep.

P.S. Strangely windows has the strange habit to turn on the HD (after it was correctly switched off) without reason...this Hd is not primary, and it has only games, videos and Mp3s, so there should be no reason to spin the hd up.