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Osama ALASSIRY
Asked: 2009-05-10 11:53:31 +0800 CST

Manage USB hard disk on Ubuntu

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I have some USB drives attached to my Ubuntu machine, I was looking for some commands to:

  1. Power-Off a drive after umounting it.
  2. Power-On and Re-Mount.

Does it make sense to power-off and on a USB hard disk on a daily basis (Power-On, Mount, Backup, Umount, Power-Off)?

hard-drive ubuntu mount usb electrical-power

3 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    umount /dev/sdX1 && eject /dev/sdX

    This spins downs some of my external usb drives. I guess this depends on the controller.
    No need for a spin-up command, just mount the device and it comes back to life.

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  2. I think this is not possible with USB drives because there are no commands provided for this in the communication protocol. It could work with eSATA drives.

    You could use a multiple socket outlet to power the USB drive. There are socket outlets which can be controlled via RS232, USB or Ethernet.

    • 1

  3. I don't believe this is possible unfortuantly. You can however purchase drives that automatically power off once the computer powers off. This is an additional implimentation into the drive chassis however, not part of the USB implimentation.

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