Power down USB drives

If I attach an external USB hard drive to a computer, will it typically
power down after a period of non-use on its own, or is there a way that
I can cause it to do so? One of my XP computers is designated as a
server on my home network. It would be great to be able to access the
content archived on my USB drives, but I sure don't want to leave them
running all the time.

Previously mcp6453 <mcp6453@gmail.com> wrote:
> If I attach an external USB hard drive to a computer, will it typically
> power down after a period of non-use on its own, or is there a way that
> I can cause it to do so? One of my XP computers is designated as a
> server on my home network. It would be great to be able to access the
> content archived on my USB drives, but I sure don't want to leave them
> running all the time.

You cannot send a command to power them down. AFAIK the way to do it
is to get a disk that can power itself down and set it to do so,
while connected via (S)ATA.

Arno

"mcp6453" <mcp6453@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:47b86e72$0$17342$4c368faf@roadrunner.com...
> If I attach an external USB hard drive to a computer, will it typically
> power down after a period of non-use on its own, or is there a way that I
> can cause it to do so?

I have USB enclosures that spin down the drives after a preset period of
non-activity, but I don't think it's a common feature and these are not
regular enclosures (multi-drive cases that support JBOD spanning).

--
JL