Turn off Hard Disks?

[willsko87]

I was just wondering (I doubt it though) if there is any software or way which allows you to shut off a HDD while in Windows. Obviously it would be a slave drive and would turn itself back on when needed.
I was just wondering this because I dont use my second drive much and I may as well turn it off. Can this be done because when you put your computer into Standby you can choose for it to turn off the Hard Disks. I would especially do this when leaving on for downloads.
Please tell me if I am asking a stupid question and please no one say unplug it!
Thanks people

 

[m3trj]

Well I think you probably can but I wouldn't advise it because every time your hard drive spins up it puts strain on the motor. I've heard that the motor can wear out much quicker if you do this.

 

[willsko87]

yeah good call....i wouldnt want to do any damage. i suppose if i only used it when downloading overnight it wouldnt hurt. thanks mate. any ideas how to do it btw?

 

[willsko87]

any ideas people?

 

[m3trj]

Well all I know is that you can do something if you go to your screen saver settings. You can tell your computer to spin down the hard drives after the computer has not been used for a while. However, both will be affected I think. But if this is possible in Windows then I'm pretty sure that there is some third party software that can just do one.

 

[gaara]

Start > Settings > Control Panel > Power options

You should see a drop down box labeled "Turn of hard disks", where you may then select how long you would like the computer to idle before the drives are shut off.

 

[neversleeps]

ya but he only wants to shut off one drive and still use his pc i think so setting them to both spin down after so much wouldnt do much good. is it possible to disable it in device manager. i only have one drive so i dont even have the option to disable my hdd but i can most of my other hardware. if u have 2 drives it mite let u disable the non windows one, maybe.....

 

[willsko87]

thanks neversleeps....yes i still want to use the computer and it wouldnt go into standby and turn off the harddisk if i was downloading anywayz.
Can anybody confirm neversleeps suggestion?

 

[willsko87]

anyone?

 

[ShoobieRat]

Not really. If it's a laptop that has two drives, chances are one's removable through a hot-swap, so just dissengage it.

If this is a desktop, what's the reason?