N00B question

[GeorgeKellow]

My os is on a samsung 850 evo SSD so I don't use my harddrive until I download something (I save most of my shit onto my harddrive)

 

Is there anyway to turn it off? until I need it at least

[Charcoal_]

Unplug...

[Howlingwolf101]

you can disconnect it. that's the only way to really "shut it off" but if you save most of your stuff to it, it will be a pain to keep doing that. best option is to just leave it be.

[GeorgeKellow]

Just now, Charcoal_ said:

Unplug...

I didn't wan to keep opening up my case to plug it in when I want to download 

[VTF5252]

Just now, GeorgeKellow said:

My os is on a samsung 850 evo SSD so I don't use my harddrive until I download something (I save most of my shit onto my harddrive)

 

Is there anyway to turn it off? until I need it at least

There is no need to turn it off. its power consumption is negligible.

[GeorgeKellow]

Just now, NTF5252 said:

There is no need to turn it off. its power consumption is negligible.

Its the sound of it spinning when I don't need it too?

[Atmos]

a very good number of consumer motherboards don't support hot-swap hard drives, so unplugging it is pretty much out of the question, since being able to use it again would require a restart of your computer.

 

A thread very similar to this one came up not too long ago, but for the life of me I can't recall what the solution was, or if a legitimate one was ever even reached. If you're that concerned about the noise it makes, then just drop it on some rubber washers when mounting it to further reduce vibration noise. If it's not reading/writing then it shouldn't really even make any tangible noise unless your ears are pressed up against your side-panel.

[Matt100HP]

5 minutes ago, GeorgeKellow said:

Its the sound of it spinning when I don't need it too?

I'm pretty sure there's a setting in Windows power management to set HDDs to go to sleep when they're not being used. I'm typing this on a laptop which has a 120GB SSD and a 750GB HDD, the HDD definitely isn't spinning right now as it's not being used. 

 

Found it: Control Panel > Hardware and Sound > Power Options > Change Plan Settings > Change Advanced Power Settings > Hard Disk > Turn Off Hard Disk After

 

Hope that helps  . 

[KemoKa]

You can go into Windows Power Management and set the HDD to spin down when it's not being used.

[aeroencychris]

Unplugging is your best bet to "turn it off" but I don't think you can power them down software-wise unless what @Matt100HP works (I've never tried it).

Otherwise if you just don't want to see it you could always unmount it and remount it with a script to make it easier.

http://superuser.com/questions/704870/mount-and-dismount-hard-drive-through-a-script-software

[blu4]

Step 1- Run (the thing to launch programs and so on)

Step 2- Cute a hole in th... Errr..

Step 3- Type this in: diskmgmt.msc

Step 4- Find your hard drive

Step 5- Right click and take offline

 

ez lyfe.

 

[Moonzy]

6 minutes ago, GeorgeKellow said:

Its the sound of it spinning when I don't need it too?

build a system and throw this hard disk in, put it in another room and access it as a NAS

[KaasKop]

power options > change plan settings > change advanced power settings > hard disk > turn off hard disk after > bingo!