Windows 7 Turn off hard drive

[zepe]

Is there a way to turn off a hard drive so it only runs when I want it to. I have a herd drive in my machine that I use for temporary backups and I don't use it very often so I'd like to have it turned off until I need it.

Thanx,
zepe

 

[patcooke]

If you only use it occasionally you might as well buy a usb caddy for it and use it as an external drive, plugging it in only when needed.

 

[Mitchell_A]

You can change the Windows power options to automatically spin-down hard drives in your computer after a certain period of inactivity. Otherwise, I don't know of any method to do this.

I've moved this thread to Windows 7 Hardware.

 

[zepe]

Thanks Mitchell, that should work for me, I just don't want it to be running so much the time.

 

[Mitchell_A]

In Windows 7 it should be set to 20 minutes by default. To change this, open Power Options>>Change Plan Settings>>Change Advanced Power Settings>>Hard Disk>>Turn off Hard Disk after. Set your desired value in minutes.