How do I get my external HD to shut up?

lucaluca
Posted:
in Genius Bar edited January 2014
I have an external 4.26 GB SCSI hard drive in a SCSI case that I use for my music and OS 9 (meaning I rarely use it). The hard drive will spin down if it's not in use for a while, but there's a fan on the case that is always on. It's really annoying, because I want to be able to always leave the drive on. Otherwise, if I want to access anything on the drive, I have to restart. That wasn't a problem with OS 9, when I always shut the computer down, but now that I just have it sleep, it's really annoying. I have to turn off the drive at night to sleep. I kinda want to just have the case open with the fan always off, because that would probably keep it cool enough. Would it be safe to just snip the wires connecting the power to the fan?



EDIT: The fan is in the back, behind the drive and next to all the cords and SCSI plugs and stuff. It's not in line with the drive.



[ 07-12-2002: Message edited by: Luca Rescigno ]</p>

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 4
    pevepeve Posts: 518member
    [quote]Originally posted by Luca Rescigno:

    <strong>(...)there's a fan on the case that is always on. It's really annoying, because I want to be able to always leave the drive on.</strong><hr></blockquote>



    i guess to do so you have to have a thermal senor that tells the disk if its getting used/hot.

    iow, tells the disk to start/stop fan.



    [quote](...)I kinda want to just have the case open with the fan always off, because that would probably keep it cool enough. Would it be safe to just snip the wires connecting the power to the fan?<hr></blockquote>



    i heard that you shouldn't do this with computers (leave case open) because the air-flow only works with the case closed.



    maybe you want to put a switch on the fan.

    disk asleep - switch fan off

    disk alive - switch fan on



    or maybe you want a firewire disk (check if the fan can "power down")
  • Reply 2 of 4
    pastapasta Posts: 112member
    [quote]Originally posted by Luca Rescigno:

    <strong>I have an external 4.26 GB SCSI hard drive in a SCSI case that I use for my music and OS 9 (meaning I rarely use it). The hard drive will spin down if it's not in use for a while, but there's a fan on the case that is always on. It's really annoying, because I want to be able to always leave the drive on. Otherwise, if I want to access anything on the drive, I have to restart. That wasn't a problem with OS 9, when I always shut the computer down, but now that I just have it sleep, it's really annoying. I have to turn off the drive at night to sleep. I kinda want to just have the case open with the fan always off, because that would probably keep it cool enough. Would it be safe to just snip the wires connecting the power to the fan?



    EDIT: The fan is in the back, behind the drive and next to all the cords and SCSI plugs and stuff. It's not in line with the drive.



    [ 07-12-2002: Message edited by: Luca Rescigno ]</strong><hr></blockquote>





    Go to Radio Shack and buy a switch. Snip the wire on the fan and connect to the switch.
  • Reply 3 of 4
    mrbilldatamrbilldata Posts: 489member
    I leave my systems up 24-7 and frequently turn on/off and even replace the Harddrives. "SCSI Probe" or "Mt Everything" can be used to remount the drive when needed. I have not upgraded so I do not know if these work with OS X. I am running 9.1 currently.



    I always leave my Pioneer 6 Disc on(I think it keeps SCSI lines stable). If I turn it off too, the Mac sometimes hangs. If you do not have any other SCSI devices on the Chain, this may not work for you.



    [ 07-12-2002: Message edited by: MrBillData ]</p>
  • Reply 4 of 4
    lucaluca Posts: 3,833member
    The fan is now acting up. I've opened the case before, but now for some reason it didn't turn on right away. After I hit the case a few times, the fan turned on, but it was noisier than before, and the speed varied depending on if pressure was put on the case or other factors. So I turned it off and I'll use it only when really necessary, until I get a newer computer that won't require an external HD.
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