is there any software or program that will turn off the hard disk right after giving command? i have non-system hard disk and i would like it to remain off when not in use. i know there is an option to turn off hard disk in power options of control panel but i have to wait 3 min before the hard disk turns off and this doesn't always work for me. Is there any way to shut down the hard disk immediately after giving command?

turning a HD on and off that many times will probably be more detrimental to it in the long run. similar to the argument as to whether or not to turn your PC on and off every day or just leave it running.

When a HDD is on, but not reading or wrting then it all its doing is the "disks" are spining. Therefore only the motor is working. A normal HDD failes the PCB's or read/write heads gets old or damaged, not the motor. Its just best to leave it running.

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Go to Control Panel -> Energy options -> Turn off HDD's after XX minutes.

There's really no point on doing it except on laptops, to save some battery. HDD's were ment to be always spinning.

I am looking for the software to do this too, because I have 5 hds in case, and HDs makes a lot of hot and nose.

The best way is to put each of these discs in an external box, and turn them on only when needed.

You are right about turning on and off the PC - it puts a lot of strain on the power supply. Also the same would hold true for old hard drives from a very long time ago. Unless you have a very old HDD I wouldn't worry, now new drives have no problem taking many on/off cycles daily, in fact it can even last longer..... If you are leaving your computer for a very long time and don't plan to use it, turning your drives off will save you energy and it is safe for your drives...... If you are leaving your PC to go have dinner and come back an hour later, you might as well keep it on. I don't see any danger to a hard drive if it goes through a couple of on/off cycles - (I'd say around 10 cycles daily). Now I am referring to an otherwise HEALTHY HDD. If your HDD has motor problems, mechanical problems or on the way to failing soon, that may be another story.

I agree with you there. There shouldn't be any worry about turning the hard drive on/off. I have a hard drive that worked for 5 years, another for 3 years so far, and they go to the on/off cycle at least 5 times a day (they're still working). I also have a computer that I turn on/off at 2 or 3 times a day that's 5 years old, and it's still working though a replaced it a few months ago.

If you're worry about too much stress on the computer, I think you should at least turn off the computer when you go to sleep. No reason to waste energy.

Hi
Ok...
I have WDC and it got loud after a year.
I use it just for sorage and I don't want to plug and unplug the disk every time I need to access it.

So... is there some software that does the same thing as XP's power scheme?

I would like to stress out and make very clear that my post above was meant ONLY for otherwise HEALTHY HDDs. A healthy HDD will have no problem with on/off cycles, even as much as 10 daily (I would not go over that) now I would recommend specifically to purposely do 10 cycles daily, just covering my arse so to speak

On a HDD nearing its time or that has known problems that's another story.

What do you mean by "LOUDER" ? Only after a year ? That's not good - I think you should back up that drive. Is the sound constant always there or comes and goes ?

Try SpeedswitchXP version 1.4, from http://www.diefer.de/speedswitchxp/index.html , it might be able to do what you want. Good luck, and let us know.

take this prog

I've been looking for a program like this forever. The HDD power management built into Windows has always been useless for me. Besides rarely turning off, I've had the problem off them turning off and spinning back up just a few minutes later.

I have my computer in my bedroom and have it on 24/7. It's much quieter with only one drive running rather than three. It would be nice to turn on or off a rarely used drive.

I'm also looking for such a program. Ideally all it needs to do is send the ATA command SLEEP and the disk shuts down and stays off until it is accessed again.

To pin down my needs, here are some points that should rule out most ambiguities:

• The disk I want to shut down is an old one with a terrribly high pitched motor noise, so it must be spinned down. There's no sense in "just keep it running, it's healthier for the drive." because that's not healthy for me! I dispise using loud computer hardware.
• Using Windows' Energy options is totally out of question. I only want one drive to be shut down immediately after startup and not all other drives constantly spinning on and off because they are mounted and are accessible all the time.
• I only need the drive occasionally, and I dismout the partition on it, so it won't spin up by accident (because some system's service or the windows explorer's scanning all partitions).
• command line tool is a must, because I don't want to install a program package that is otherwise useless to me and because I need to call the program from within a script or create a registry command line entry for startup. Extensive features are OK as long as has command line options. An example of a very good harddisk tool is hdparm. Unfortunately it's only available for Linux systems.
• hardware solutions are out of question, too. Why buy a on/off switch or an external case when it can be done via software for free? That's stupid.

Hi all, so is there a conclusion? Does such a program exist?

maybee this tool will help you:
revosleep (http://revosleep.realspooky.de). revoSleep lets your hard disk sleep in few seconds. You can lock different hard disks, so you can be sure they won't wake up.

An idling hard drive does not make heat. Most are cool to the touch unless they are reading or writing. Leave it running.

Thanks. I'll check that out.

set your drive asleep in the power saving mode. Other advice, get an external HDD when you can plug and unplug then turn it off via the power switch on the external enclosure