Shut one HD of 2 off?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Anton
  • Start date Start date
Anton said:
With 2 disks, can I shut one off without pulling a cabel?


Cant see it in BIOS.
Click to expand...

Generally, no. You can't do this the way you seem to be describing, though
it depends on what exactly you mean by "shut off".

Few, if any, power supplies allow selective activation of power connectors,
so anything that is connected to a running power supply WILL be powered.

I know of no drives that have internal switching to disconnect from live
power - and if they did, how would you turn it back on?.

Either there's power on the drive header, or there isn't, and if there is,
the drive is spinning (or it's dead). Some drives are built to allow for
hot-swapping without damage, but that's an entirely different thing.

You can attach the drive to an *external* case, which has a switch. That
is probably the fastest and easiest way to do this.

There are USB2, FireWire, and eSata equipped cases. Note that while
FireWire is supposed to support hot-plugging, in reality, it's an easy way
to destroy the interface chip. Power all FireWire devices down before
connecting them - shut the drive and the PC off, connect the drive, turn
the drive on, turn the PC on.

HTH
-pk
 
Anton said:
With 2 disks, can I shut one off without pulling a cabel?


Cant see it in BIOS.
Click to expand...

Not sure exactly what you mean but you should be able to inactivate the
(non-boot) drive in the BIOS.

Right now it's probably set to autodetect on both drives. You should be
able to change that to "None" or "Not present" for the second drive.
 
Patrick Keenan said:
Generally, no. You can't do this the way you seem to be describing, though
it depends on what exactly you mean by "shut off".

Few, if any, power supplies allow selective activation of power connectors,
so anything that is connected to a running power supply WILL be powered.

I know of no drives that have internal switching to disconnect from live
power - and if they did, how would you turn it back on?.

Either there's power on the drive header, or there isn't, and if there is,
the drive is spinning (or it's dead). Some drives are built to allow for
hot-swapping without damage, but that's an entirely different thing ...
HTH
-pk
Click to expand...

I'm surprised that no one else has yet taken issue with your
comments, but I'm not at all certain that what you suggest is
the case [if by "Either there's power on the drive header, or
there isn't, and if there is, the drive is spinning (or it's dead)"
I correctly understand that you're referring to power at the
4 pin Molex].

To my knowledge, the "Turn off hard-disks:" method listed
under the Power Schemes tab allows a signal to be sent not
to the power supply to cut power to the hard drive, but to the
controller to "spin it down" via interrupting 12 V to the disk
drive motor. This can be clearly demonstrated by observing
that a case fan pigtailed to the 4 wire hard drive power (not
a motherboard) connector will continue to rotate despite the
hard drive being in an "off" state. A VOM can also be trotted
out to verify that each energized (both the 12 vdc & 5 vdc)
conductor and ground wire remain in their assigned states
during this non-rotational mode of operation.

And although I don't advocate its usage (particularly given
that it isn't even supportted by a Windows 98 OS), this
utility would seem to indicate that what the OP wants to do
could be done via software: http://revosleep.realspooky.de/
 
With 2 disks, can I shut one off without pulling a cabel?
Cant see it in BIOS.
Click to expand...

If the drive is correctly connected and the BIOS correctly
configured, this indicates the drive has failed -- leaving your choices:
1. Leave the dead drive in place in the PC. It uses little or no power
and has no function you can use.
2. Remove the drive.

"Shutting it off" is not an option. Your PC has no "open/shut"
function that concerns hard drives: drives are either operable
or not, and correctly connected or not.

Beware multiposting.
 
Patrick Keenan said:
Generally, no. You can't do this the way you seem to be describing,
though it depends on what exactly you mean by "shut off".

Few, if any, power supplies allow selective activation of power
connectors, so anything that is connected to a running power supply WILL
be powered.

I know of no drives that have internal switching to disconnect from live
power - and if they did, how would you turn it back on?.

Either there's power on the drive header, or there isn't, and if there
is, the drive is spinning (or it's dead). Some drives are built to allow
for hot-swapping without damage, but that's an entirely different thing.

You can attach the drive to an *external* case, which has a switch.
That is probably the fastest and easiest way to do this.

There are USB2, FireWire, and eSata equipped cases. Note that while
FireWire is supposed to support hot-plugging, in reality, it's an easy way
to destroy the interface chip. Power all FireWire devices down before
connecting them - shut the drive and the PC off, connect the drive, turn
the drive on, turn the PC on.

HTH
-pk
Click to expand...

Disagree on part of what you said, as I've been doing it this way for 3
years running. The ide hard drive is connected within the firewire
enclosure always, and connected interally with its data and power cables.
The external enclosure is connected to the PC's onboard firewire port via
firewire cable, always. I turn on the PC and allow the OS to fully finish
booting. Then, I turn on the external enclosure. I use the icon in the
system tray to discontinue use of the drive. Physically turning off is the
reverse procedure. I use an under-monitor AC control station to turn on/off
many externals including the firewire enclosure. I added a 2nd firewire
enclosure about a year ago, and operate it the same way.
 
Patrick said:
Generally, no. You can't do this the way you seem to be describing,
though it depends on what exactly you mean by "shut off".

Few, if any, power supplies allow selective activation of power
connectors, so anything that is connected to a running power supply
WILL be powered.
Click to expand...
[rest of useful stuff snipped]

I wonder - it wasn't clear - whether the OP actually wants to be able to
power off the drive in question, or just make it not appear (whether it's
actually spinning or not).
 
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