Can I stop this hardware annoyance?

Factual Questions
1

So I’ve got a seperate hard drive from which I run Linux. It has a very distinctive whine when it’s active, nothing alarming, just the sound it makes. When I’m running Linux it is always on, as it should be.

Now, when I run Windows, this drive doesn’t even show up in My Computer, and there is no reason for anything to be accessing it, and a few minutes after I start up it usually powers down.

The problem is that every 30 minutes or so it will power up again, causing my computer to pause and if I’m watching a movie for example, it will cough, which is very annoying. After 15 or 20 minutes, it will power down again.

Is there anything I can do to stop this?

2

I saw a hard drive control panel for the 5.5 slot that can be used to turn power individualy on and off for some hard drives. You don’t want to do so while the computer is on. It saves you from having to open the case everytime. It’s been three years since I’ve loomked at stuff like that, so you’ll have to find it yourself if interested. You also have the external case path to try.

3

The nice thing about cutting power to drive is that it produces less heat and they don’t fail as quickly.

4

Solution - Go to Device Manager and disable the Drive.

5

Or get a mobile tray for the drive, then it is physicaly disconnected and safe from lightning, etc.