Any software utility to turn off hard-drive while running Win XP?

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flylite

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Apr 1, 2004
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I have five hard drives in my PC, and I usually leave the computer running 24/7.
At night, it is used to download bit torrent files onto the same drive as the OS.
The rest of the box is operating very quietly now with SpeedFan monitoring the temps of the CPU/NB and HD's. Consequently, during the night, SpeedFan sets the fan speeds really low. They are super quiet, but the five 7200 RPM HD's generate a faint high-pitch sound. I would like to turn off the 4 non-essential drives. Does anyone know of a utility or program that can selectively turn off specific drives? Windows XP has the Power Savings option, but it shuts off all the drives. An alternative would be a software utility to slow down the drives from 7200 to 5400 rpm, perhaps?

Thanks for any suggestions
 
Try the power management features where it spins down the HDD after a certain period of inactivity.
 
Start> Control panel> Power options> Turn off hard disks after ? You set the time, can be 20 minues to never.
 
Will not work, that setting shuts down the system if the HardDrives are idle, but since one is not idle, it will not shut any of them donw.


Are you sure its the HDs making the noise? Some fans when slowed down will make noises.
 
Thats true :) I forgot that slightly important fact .....
 
Thanks for the suggestions thus far.

Supposedly, after Window's shuts down all the HD's, you can start up individual drives independently by accessing it through explorer. I have not tried this myself though.
Anyhow, I just figured that since windows has the means to accomplish this feat, then some capable programmers out there might have made a little utility that let's the user turn off/on the HD's at will.

BTW, unfortunately, it is the HD's that are producing the noise. When I set up my system for continuous use, I isolated all the sounds emanating from the box by connecting only specific devices. They are the source of that low irritating whiney sound.

Thanks again--I hope someone comes up with something cool.
 
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