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spinning down HDDs

Forum Windows XP : Windows XP General Discussion - spinning down HDDs

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beetlebz   05-28-2004 at 12:12:23 PM

hey guys..

im currently running XP pro with a 40 gig WD cav SE as my primary and 30gig WD cav (old one) as a slave. the slave drive is just file storage for sharing. i run everything off my primary hdd. the problem is, the old slave drive is a noisy bugger. but if i tell windows to turn the drive off when not in use, then they both turn off and im stuck with rediculus spin up times for my primary harddrive.

is there a way, or better yet a 3rd party utility to only spin down the slave hdd when not in use?

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mjjohn   05-31-2004 at 04:38:12 PM
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You could put a toggle switch in to cut the power to that drive. Buy a Molex adapter and splice into it instead of your case wiring. I would purchase a DPDT toggle so that both the 12v and 5v can be turned off. You may also want to go into XP disk management and change the drive letter for that drive to maybe 'Z'. that way XP won't want to re-assign drive letters depending if the drive is on or off. I am guessing here but you will probably have to always have the drive turned on when you boot so that your MoBo and XP knows its there. After XP is up and running then it can be shut off.

For it is not what is seen, but what is not seen. :eek:

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blah   05-31-2004 at 06:56:38 PM
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Get an external case and put yer storage drive into it, turn on only when needed.

..this is very useful and helpful place for information...

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beetlebz   05-31-2004 at 07:43:26 PM
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the external case isnt a bad idea, but a DPDT switch would be a cheaper one to try first. it wont hurt the HDD randomly turning it on and off as needed?

it would be nice because then i could just flip the HDD off before i go in to play a game or somthing.

wouldnt i have the same problem of XP reassigning drive letters with an external drive as well when i shut it off?

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