How can I disable a hard drive temporarily?

[Davogo]

I have two internal 750GB HDs - one is partitioned to C (Windows) and the other D (data). The other is E and simply a mirror backup of D which I do once a day.

The problem is that the E drive goes to sleep after XX minutes but some applications or processes (e.g. Empty Recycle Bin) want to wake it up before they work, which means a delay of ~10 seconds as the E drive spins up - very annoying.

How can I temporarily disable the drive until I need it for the once a day backup?

Thanks.

 

[whs]

Just pull the power or sata wire.

 

[Corazon]

I'd rather go with the power wire - internal SATA connectors are too fragile to withstand constant plugging/unplugging.

You might consider putting the E: disk into an external enclosure - if you don't mind being limited to USB2.0 speeds. (or the hassle of adding an eSATA port to your PC)

 

[Davogo]

Crawling under a desk, opening the case and unplugging / plugging back in cables every day would be more annoying than the delay.

I hoped there would be some way to disable the drive from within Windows, but I've not found an answer by Googling.

 

[whs]

LOL, I can feel with you. I do that all the time. A while ago I was trying to find a software solution to that problem but gave up.

The external enclosure proposal that Corazon made is a good idea. I use that on my laptop, but there I have eSata and USB3 ports.

 

[Davogo]

That makes me feel a little better that it is not only me.

I already have an external HD for weekly backup and I don't really feel like pulling the E drive out just to solve this problem. It seems crazy this simple thing cannot be solved!

Vielen dank.

 

[HammerHead]

Device Manager

You can disable the disk in device manager. I am not sure how that would help with your concerns.

 

[Corazon]

Gern geschehen.

While there are ways to make the disk inaccessible in Windows, there's no way around powering/spinning it up every time you (re)boot your machine. That alone would be reason enough for me not to have it permanently attached inside the system.

 

[MikeL]

There does not seem to be a Windows solution to the question. Evidently MS thinks that no one ever puts more than one hdd in a computer or thinks you're so brain dead that you would try to disable the drive your OS is using.

 

[essenbe]

You can but a hot swap drive bay for little money. Find one with a power button on it and it will work like an external esata drive. Just turn it on when you need it.

something like SNT-125B Black 3.5" SATA Hard drive to 5.25" Bay SATA Mobile Rack Removable Hard drive kit

 

[whs]

You can but a hot swap drive bay for little money. Find one with a power button on it and it will work like an external esata drive. Just turn it on when you need it.

something like SNT-125B Black 3.5" SATA Hard drive to 5.25" Bay SATA Mobile Rack Removable Hard drive kit

That is a perfect setup. I have 3 of those on my desk - eSata, USB3 and USB2. Most of the time they are off because they are backup drives for my desktop and laptop. I reuse the HDDs from when I installed the SSDs on the laptops.

But even when they are not on the desktop or have no switch, at Home Depot you can buy a remote controlled switch for little money. In Germany I use one of those that can control 3 seperate switches with one control.

 

[WinBob]

How to temporarily disable a HDD

This works for me, no pulling wires/cables!

Very easy...

Computer Management > Disk Management

Next click on the desired HDD

Right click on it then click on Offline

You can reverse this by doing the above and selecting Online.

 

[mrjimphelps]

Here's what I have in my computer:

https://www.amazon.com/PW4101-Alumi...=1505998812&sr=8-2&keywords=sata+power+switch

It is a four-drive SATA power switch. I have three hard drives in my computer: one for Linux, one for Windows, and one for data. The data drive stays on; the other two go off and on, depending on which OS I want to run. However, I can also turn off the data drive if I want to. I have been absolutely satisfied with this switch.

The only issue you might have with it is that the LEDs are very bright. In my case, the switch stays behind one of the drive bay doors, so I never see the LEDs unless I open the drive bay door.