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Storage Switch off power supply to HDDs?

Discussion in 'Hardware' started by Aterius Gmork, 8 Apr 2021.

  1. Aterius Gmork

    Aterius Gmork smell the ashes

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    Probably a dumb idea but here it goes:

    Would it be feasible to switch off the power supply to HDDs inside a computer while said computer is turned off?

    The HDDs inside my rig are the loudest components. They cause the whole shelf the computer is sitting on to vibrate a bit creating a humming sound that is driving me insane. During a normal workday I do not need the HDDs. My idea is to wire the 5V power supply to a switch on the back of the computer so I can only turn them on when I actually need the storage.

    The computer is running Windows 10, I'd only turn the switch while the computer is turned off.

    Just how terrible is this idea?
     
    Aterius Gmork, 8 Apr 2021
    #1
  2. Gareth Halfacree

    Gareth Halfacree WIIGII! Lover of bit-tech Administrator Super Moderator Moderator

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    's not terrible at all. I've a 5.25" hot-swap 3.5" bay in my MicroServer which cuts the power when you turn the key, so you can - if you want - have the drive turned off but still physically connected.

    If your board isn't an absolute bargain-basement model, you can probable enable hot-swap on at least some of its SATA ports, too - so you could turn the drives on and off without having to turn the machine off.

    However, it feels like it'd be easier just to set the drives to spin down after a period of inactivity. Should be an option in the power settings.
     
    Gareth Halfacree, 8 Apr 2021
    #2
    Bloody_Pete, Aterius Gmork and adidan like this.
  3. adidan

    adidan Guesswork is still work

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    ^ This is the easiest solution.

    You can set your own time if you want rather than the Windows options.
     
    adidan, 8 Apr 2021
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  4. Aterius Gmork

    Aterius Gmork smell the ashes

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    Thanks guys. Just wanted to make sure I don't wreck my drives.

    I already set the drives to spin down after 20 minutes. But every so often I missclick and open a drive by accident causing it to spin up and annoy me for 20 minutes.
     
    Aterius Gmork, 8 Apr 2021
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  5. Fingers66

    Fingers66 Kiwi in London

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    You tried putting a large mouse mat under the PC to stop the vibration transferring to the shelf?

    It's what I did with my Synology NAS that sits on a solid wooden desk, made a huge difference.
     
    Fingers66, 8 Apr 2021
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  6. Big Elf

    Big Elf Oh no! Not another f----ing elf!

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    I stopped the vibration in mine by switching to SSDs, not exactly the cheapest option though. Before that I started using an SSD as the boot with 2.5" mechanical drives. Not totally quiet, not especially fast but the resonance was vastly reduced.
     
    Big Elf, 8 Apr 2021
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  7. wyx087

    wyx087 Homeworld 3 is happening!!

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    In Disk Manager, there is an option to take a drive offline.
    I wonder if combined with the idle spin-down timeout, you can effectively turn the drive off from within OS.
     
    wyx087, 8 Apr 2021
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