Control USB drives
Posted: Mon Jan 01, 2018 5:49 pm
I have a 5-outlet (powered) USB Hub on a Win10 Pro machine.
I would like to connect 3 USB (SATA) drives, and leave them connected.
Since they are not SSD's, I would like to control when they start spinning and when they stop spinning.
As it is right now, I notice the LED's "ON" and sometimes OFF (flashing). I think Windows is doing some cleanup in background mode.
One drive backs up my computer daily, next backs up the first drive daily, and the last one is a historical backup...twice a week.
As you can see, I don't want them spinning, if they are not actually in use.
So I'd like to write a small program to ask:
- Is drive spinning?
- Is drive in use?
- If the drive is idle
- Is it safe to shut down?
Basically force a start and if idle... force a shutdown of each drive would be nice.
I have looked a little in Powershell, and VBScript, but nothing solid.
Any ideas would be appreciated.
I would like to connect 3 USB (SATA) drives, and leave them connected.
Since they are not SSD's, I would like to control when they start spinning and when they stop spinning.
As it is right now, I notice the LED's "ON" and sometimes OFF (flashing). I think Windows is doing some cleanup in background mode.
One drive backs up my computer daily, next backs up the first drive daily, and the last one is a historical backup...twice a week.
As you can see, I don't want them spinning, if they are not actually in use.
So I'd like to write a small program to ask:
- Is drive spinning?
- Is drive in use?
- If the drive is idle
- Is it safe to shut down?
Basically force a start and if idle... force a shutdown of each drive would be nice.
I have looked a little in Powershell, and VBScript, but nothing solid.
Any ideas would be appreciated.