I am on Arch Linux and I want to disable this activity indicator light on a WD hard drive. I know there is a software on Windows for doing that, but since I am on Linux, how could I do it? This light is annoying when I am in a dark room.
Why don’t you solve the problem at the root? Take it apart and rip it out.
If the setting is saved by the drive you could set it on a windows machine and then switch it back to linux.
I’m not sure if wine for running whatever the window utility youre thinking of is would work for controlling an external device like that
I don’t think WINE would work, because it likely relies on a custom driver.
If you don’t have a Windows installation, booting into a WinPE LiveCD (like Sergei Strelec’s WinPE: https://m.majorgeeks.com/files/details/sergei_strelecs_winpe.html) and installing it in the live environment should work. Running it in a VM should work too, if you pass the USB drive through to the VM.
You could always Dremel it out. First try black electrical tape.
A piece of black, electrical tape
Did anyone suggest using black electrical tape yet?
Black electrical tape :D
QuickDraw McGraw here!
I am surprised everyone think the same thing as me
No, not quite everyone…
l was about to mention trying to open the case.
Seems like if you own a soldering iron, everything looks like a tinkering project… 😆
I do have a soldering iron, but god forbid i won’t open up a hard disk lol(even if this is less risky to open this one)
l have to add that I’m ancient and most extemal hard disks I have lying around still have actual 2.5" or even 3.5" devices with standard connectors in there.
Have opened at least two of those to exchange drives.
So my perspective is slightly twisted… ;-)I have this exact hard drive, it only cost about $30. If I cared about the light, I would be at least willing to attempt to mechanically disable it. Judging by OP asking, I’m assuming they are too.
Tape.
A tape?
Black nail polish. Two coats.
Now that it’s spring, your toes can be out in style instead of inside of your Arch BTW socks
Black electrical tape
