Is there a way to selectively shut down hard drives?

[iamtrout]

I have four hard drives, all in a stack. One of them is making an intermittent clicking noise (once every ten seconds) and I want to isolate, back up, and replace. Is there a way to selectively shut down hard drives while the system is on?

I want to shut down one, listen for noise, shut down another, listen for noise, etc.

Should I just go and physically unplug the power cables one by one?

 

[FlyingPenguin]

Not that I'm aware of via software.

Let me just say that you can disconnect the power from a drive while it's running (as long as nothing is running from that drive at that time) - I've done it myself in special circumstances - BUT it's NOT recommended. You can spike the drive, controller or the PSU damaging either. Unlikely but possible. It's never a good idea to hot plug anything inside a computer while it's running.

Have you run the manufacturer's diagnostic on your drives? Run the advanced diagnostic on each one and see if it picks up the bad drive.

 

[bazcor]

you could try the old engineers trick of placing a screwdriver against the ear whilst pushing the screwdriver against each drive in turn, the noisy drive could then be isolated.

 

[spiritwalker2223]

Why don't you just unplug it while the computers off???

 

[deathwalker]

or...open case..disconnect power connector to all but the primary master...boot..listen for noise...then restart and add them back in one at a time rebooting between.

 

[Chode Messiah]

exactly, dont be lazy just open the friggin case

 

[corkyg]

Originally posted by: Chode Messiah
exactly, dont be lazy just open the friggin case

Amen! 🙂 That is a standard diagnostic procedure. The screwdriver/stethoscope trick can also work - but a real stethoscope is an elegant solution as well.

 

[bigboxes]

Originally posted by: deathwalker
or...open case..disconnect power connector to all but the primary master...boot..listen for noise...then restart and add them back in one at a time rebooting between.

Yup. Disconnect power to all but the os drive. If no noise, shutdown. Add one hdd at a time and repeat procedure. Some things are just better when done right. It will take more time, but in the end you shouldn't damage your HDDs just to save a little time. 🙂

 

[V00D00]

I asked this same question a while back... I hope someone has an answer.

Can't you just leave them all plugged in and try it one by one. Unplug one, turn on, listen. Unplug next one... etc etc...

 

[corkyg]

Same result - different approach.