shutting off secondary hard disk

[Arrowx7]

Hello, I have two hard drives.
The first one is 7200RPm that I use as my primary (master) and the second is the secondary 5200RPM slave.
I only use the second one for storage of large files that I don't normally use. The problem is that the second disk is very loud, and I was wondering if there is a way to shut it off and turn it on when I need it, from windows XP pro? I don't want to have to open up the case and pull out or connect the power every time I use the disk.

Thank you.

 

[IllogicallyLogical]

I would get an external HDD enclosure (they are pretty cheap) and throw that HDD in there. This way you would be able to turn it on and off via a power switch whenever you want. I don't think there is a way in Windows where you can just turn off a particular hard drive.

Joey
A+, MCP

 

[linney]

Try powercfg /? from a Command Prompt and see what is on offer.

How to use Powercfg.exe in Windows Server 2003

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=324347

GPO / logon solution for power saving modes?
thread779-1303000

 

[BadBigBen]

I could also suggest, accessing the HDD ACOUSTIC MANAGEMENT via the Utilities that the drive manufacturer offers on their websites... in effect slowing the drive down to where it is barely (or not) audible...

Ben

"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."

 

[cpjust]

Do you have your Power Management options in the Control Panel set to Turn Off HDD after a certain amount of time?

 

[Arrowx7]

I don't want to turn off all the hard disks, just my secondary one that I don't use that much.

I tried AMSET (acousting management for Maxtor), but it works on both Maxtor drives
powercfg managers power on BOTH drives as well.

Is there a way to selectively shut off just that one drive?

Thanks guys.

 

[vacunita]

I would worry if the hard drive is loud. Hard drives should not make more than a soft purring noise when you press your ear to them. Loud hard drives are a warning sign of a problem with them. Maybe you should back up your data before anything else. You wouldn't want the storage drive to fail with all your data on it now would you?

----------------------------------
Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.

 

[smah]

I'm with cpjust. If the 'master' hard drive is being used, it won't turn off, only the non-used slave will. I can hear the difference when my slave drive turns off through windows power management.

 

[Arrowx7]

hey it worked,
I put "turn off hard disks" in the power management utility to 3 minutes and it shuts off the ones you don't use. When you need to use any of them, they get started back up.

Thanks guys, that's exactly what I needed. Initially I thought that would shut off both hard disks.