Any way to have windows XP shut down just one hard drive?

[imported_littlej]

HI,

I know you can go into the power settings and have xp shut down all drives atfer xx mintues. Any way to just shut down one drive. thanks

jason

 

[imported_Phil]

Not that I know of, but it's a better idea to keep the drives running all the time anyway - spinning up and down is one of the more stressful things you can do to a hard disk

 

[bsobel]

Originally posted by: Phil
Not that I know of, but it's a better idea to keep the drives running all the time anyway - spinning up and down is one of the more stressful things you can do to a hard disk

^ Urban legend

 

[imported_Phil]

Originally posted by: bsobel

Originally posted by: Phil
Not that I know of, but it's a better idea to keep the drives running all the time anyway - spinning up and down is one of the more stressful things you can do to a hard disk

^ Urban legend

You can't tell me that spinning a disk up and down is better for it than leaving it running.

 

[dawks]

Originally posted by: Phil

Originally posted by: bsobel

Originally posted by: Phil
Not that I know of, but it's a better idea to keep the drives running all the time anyway - spinning up and down is one of the more stressful things you can do to a hard disk

^ Urban legend

You can't tell me that spinning a disk up and down is better for it than leaving it running.

If you could actually get it to shutdown and stay off for several hours at a time.. unlike the way Windows shuts it down.. I've never had a disc stay off for more then 10 minutes with the Windows Power Saver feature..

I only use my computer 3-4 hours per day, its on 24/7, and my 120gig drive is only used when im at the computer, it would be nice to kill it when im AFK.

 

[CQuinn]

Originally posted by: dawks

If you could actually get it to shutdown and stay off for several hours at a time.. unlike the way Windows shuts it down.. I've never had a disc stay off for more then 10 minutes with the Windows Power Saver feature..

I only use my computer 3-4 hours per day, its on 24/7, and my 120gig drive is only used when im at the computer, it would be nice to kill it when im AFK.

Then you need to turn off whatever program is running in the background that keeps accessing the drive.

I can easily tell when my drives have gone to sleep, because I hear them spin back up when I access them after
a couple of hours.

 

[corkyg]

I have not yet found an IDE drive that can be powered on/off - they are not hot pluggable. If they were, you would simply put them in mobile racks and turn them on and off with the rack key.

I have done that a lot, but they have to be powered on BEFORE booting the computer.

If you want them to be hot pluggable, then put them in external Firewire or USB 2 cases. That works as you describe your objective.

 

[bsobel]

You can't tell me that spinning a disk up and down is better for it than leaving it running.

Sure is, much less thermal stress and physical bearing wear.
Bill

 

[imported_littlej]

it's just a data back up drive, old and kinda noisy. might only get accessed a couple of times a week. so, i wouldn't be dpinning up and down a lot.

I don't actually want to turn it off, just off it spin down, it's much quieter that way.

 

[Budman]

Originally posted by: littlej
it's just a data back up drive, old and kinda noisy. might only get accessed a couple of times a week. so, i wouldn't be dpinning up and down a lot.

I don't actually want to turn it off, just off it spin down, it's much quieter that way.

It might be a good ideal to just put it in a USB enclosure and start it up only when you need it.

 

[imported_Phil]

Originally posted by: bsobel

You can't tell me that spinning a disk up and down is better for it than leaving it running.

Sure is, much less thermal stress and physical bearing wear.
Bill

There's still going to be more stress on the motor when spinning up and down. If it's off for several hours, then yeah, it's best to let it power down. However, allowing Windows to spin it up and down multiple times per hour when it wants data from it will, IMHO, decrease the lifespan of the drive.

 

[CQuinn]

Originally posted by: Phil

There's still going to be more stress on the motor when spinning up and down. If it's off for several hours, then yeah, it's best to let it power down. However, allowing Windows to spin it up and down multiple times per hour when it wants data from it will, IMHO, decrease the lifespan of the drive.

Checking on my system, the default settings for a Home/Office PC are 1 hour for the monitor and 2 hours for the hard drives.
That's the time that the OS will wait after a device has gone idle to put it on standby. The only way it would be spinning up
as often as you imply is if someone deliberately set the drives to go to low-power mode after only 5 to 10 minutes; and
they have some program running in the background that is accessing the drive every 11th minute.

 

[daniel1113]

I am still waiting for a program that will enable/disable my external firewire drive at certain times. I only use it for nightly backups, but am sick of Windows spinning the damn thing up every time I open My Computer.

 

[CQuinn]

Have you tried TweakUI? It has a dialog to turn off AutoPlay on selected drives.
That might help with the OS trying to access drives in turn when My Computer
is launched.

 

[daniel1113]

Yep. Doesn't help much.

 

[Jeff7]

Originally posted by: Phil

Originally posted by: bsobel

Originally posted by: Phil
Not that I know of, but it's a better idea to keep the drives running all the time anyway - spinning up and down is one of the more stressful things you can do to a hard disk

^ Urban legend

You can't tell me that spinning a disk up and down is better for it than leaving it running.

There's probably a point where leaving it running for a certain amount of time is less stressful. Thing is, that's probably a tough point to test or define, and it'd likely vary with each model and brand of hard drive.

 

[corkyg]

Originally posted by: daniel1113
I am still waiting for a program that will enable/disable my external firewire drive at certain times. I only use it for nightly backups, but am sick of Windows spinning the damn thing up every time I open My Computer.

I don't trust anything automatic. External Firewire drives are simple - I have 5 of them. Just pull the plug whenever you want it off - either the data or power plug will do. They are hot pluggable, so turning it back on is just as easy.

 

[daniel1113]

Originally posted by: corkyg

Originally posted by: daniel1113
I am still waiting for a program that will enable/disable my external firewire drive at certain times. I only use it for nightly backups, but am sick of Windows spinning the damn thing up every time I open My Computer.

I don't trust anything automatic. External Firewire drives are simple - I have 5 of them. Just pull the plug whenever you want it off - either the data or power plug will do. They are hot pluggable, so turning it back on is just as easy.

There is an on/off switch as well, but that's not what I want.

 

[TGS]

Originally posted by: bsobel

You can't tell me that spinning a disk up and down is better for it than leaving it running.

Sure is, much less thermal stress and physical bearing wear.
Bill

Or you could actually find out how Hard Drive MTBF is rated. To include operating time, and Stop-Start cycles.

Urban legends on the internet are fun, until you actually research the topic and find out.