I have built a computer recently and installed 6 hdds inside. There would be good to have capability to spin down some unused drives. These hdds should be preboot authenticated but if not used in auto fassion or manual, should be possibility to stop them...
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I do not know of any encryption software that has the functionality you are requesting to spin down certain drives just because they have not been mounted by the encryption software. However, the disk is mounted to Windows OS.
The main problem I have experienced in the past with drives that enter power save mode is when you perform a shutdown/reboot, they are unable to spin-up quickly enough to perform the synchronization task issued by the shutting down OS which leads to corruption issues or needing to chkdsk the drive.
Hence, I set my disk drives to never turn off even if on battery power to avoid the issues I experienced in the past.
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Your are right but I'll explain what I notice every day on my desktop.
I have a RAID1 (motherboard raid) - 2 x 1TB plus I have 1 extra disk third one also 1TB for backup some useful folders from my RAID →Third disk. I use FreeFileSync open source software so I backup only some changed files.
The third disk is not mounted and I mount it only when I want to make backup and I dismount it immediately afterwards.
I notice the third disk spins down very often and remains in this state for quite a long time. Sometimes it spins up without known reason but it definitely spins up when I open VeraCrypt window, just when the window pops up. This disk is not mounted.
Probably the power state could be controlled from the driver perspective, maybe VC driver? It would be nice to have full control of such dormant drives. I would like to spin it up only when I want to. Lets say before mounting but not just when the VC window pops up.
Such disabled/powered down drive is safer in case of cryptolocker or any other virus threat. The disk would be force disabled….. and enabled only just before VC mount.
Last edit: None no 2018-11-04
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Another issue I failed to mention is some drives have internal power save mode that is not controlled by the Windows OS. For example, the external Western Digital drives have a internal power save mode that you can now control using a Western Digital software download called Drive Utilities in order to disable the internal power save mode.
To be honest, I do not think the developer is going to spend time trying to implement a disk drive spin down/up feature which may have conflicts with Windows OS settings and/or internal drive's settings.
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Yes but if you know you have a disk encrypted and dismouunted it would be safer to power it down. Now I unplug sata when I remember in order to prevent cryptolocker strike but contacts will wear our.
Now I built PC with 6 hhds, 2 x raid 1 plus 2 disks for offline backup. And it is a server, I can't go and replug cables...
Lets discuss such case with a second semi offline disk.... Maybe I should build a relay module and power down the disk using Arduino over RS232 ? It is a solution but switching power cables always causes hang of another disk.
It would be nice to have such capability deep inside the hard disk driver. It could be spin down or denial of any communication even drive discovery. It should vanish from the device manager. On the lowest level the driver is capable to do it.
Last edit: None no 2018-11-04
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The exact spin-up event you are describing is initiated by Windows as a consequence of VC enumerating available device on the system. It really has nothing to do with VC - any running program can query available devices and wake your disk, no admin privileges required either. It should be possible, however, to automate sending a spin-down command to the disk and then disabling (in the same way device manager does). Windows will then be unable to send any commands to the disk (and unable to wake it up) until it is re-enabled.
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Haven't you heared about some kind of device to put between sata host and a disk in order to disconnect SATA cable in a proper fassion? This is very high speed data line and I can't do it just by putting any differential multiplexer. It must be something special for this speed with proper impedance, capacity and hundred more factors.
Reconnecting disk to the working computer works. After I dismount VC volume I also unplug SATA and also no problem.
Hardware disk encryption nonsense. I asked them, it works in AES ECB mode!!! They don't write it on the website but I asked by email. Chinese company good luck :-)
"Security key" in a plug, probably a serial i2c memory and some kind of microprocessor inside the encryption chip which does something, maybe it writes the key to the disk :-)
It is nonsense product but closer to the simple sata isolator. It requires restart to read the key so you can't turn on/off online.
Last edit: None no 2018-11-05
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I have built a computer recently and installed 6 hdds inside. There would be good to have capability to spin down some unused drives. These hdds should be preboot authenticated but if not used in auto fassion or manual, should be possibility to stop them...
I do not know of any encryption software that has the functionality you are requesting to spin down certain drives just because they have not been mounted by the encryption software. However, the disk is mounted to Windows OS.
The main problem I have experienced in the past with drives that enter power save mode is when you perform a shutdown/reboot, they are unable to spin-up quickly enough to perform the synchronization task issued by the shutting down OS which leads to corruption issues or needing to chkdsk the drive.
Hence, I set my disk drives to never turn off even if on battery power to avoid the issues I experienced in the past.
Your are right but I'll explain what I notice every day on my desktop.
I have a RAID1 (motherboard raid) - 2 x 1TB plus I have 1 extra disk third one also 1TB for backup some useful folders from my RAID →Third disk. I use FreeFileSync open source software so I backup only some changed files.
The third disk is not mounted and I mount it only when I want to make backup and I dismount it immediately afterwards.
I notice the third disk spins down very often and remains in this state for quite a long time. Sometimes it spins up without known reason but it definitely spins up when I open VeraCrypt window, just when the window pops up. This disk is not mounted.
Probably the power state could be controlled from the driver perspective, maybe VC driver? It would be nice to have full control of such dormant drives. I would like to spin it up only when I want to. Lets say before mounting but not just when the VC window pops up.
Such disabled/powered down drive is safer in case of cryptolocker or any other virus threat. The disk would be force disabled….. and enabled only just before VC mount.
Last edit: None no 2018-11-04
Another issue I failed to mention is some drives have internal power save mode that is not controlled by the Windows OS. For example, the external Western Digital drives have a internal power save mode that you can now control using a Western Digital software download called Drive Utilities in order to disable the internal power save mode.
To be honest, I do not think the developer is going to spend time trying to implement a disk drive spin down/up feature which may have conflicts with Windows OS settings and/or internal drive's settings.
Yes but if you know you have a disk encrypted and dismouunted it would be safer to power it down. Now I unplug sata when I remember in order to prevent cryptolocker strike but contacts will wear our.
Now I built PC with 6 hhds, 2 x raid 1 plus 2 disks for offline backup. And it is a server, I can't go and replug cables...
Lets discuss such case with a second semi offline disk.... Maybe I should build a relay module and power down the disk using Arduino over RS232 ? It is a solution but switching power cables always causes hang of another disk.
It would be nice to have such capability deep inside the hard disk driver. It could be spin down or denial of any communication even drive discovery. It should vanish from the device manager. On the lowest level the driver is capable to do it.
Last edit: None no 2018-11-04
The exact spin-up event you are describing is initiated by Windows as a consequence of VC enumerating available device on the system. It really has nothing to do with VC - any running program can query available devices and wake your disk, no admin privileges required either. It should be possible, however, to automate sending a spin-down command to the disk and then disabling (in the same way device manager does). Windows will then be unable to send any commands to the disk (and unable to wake it up) until it is re-enabled.
Haven't you heared about some kind of device to put between sata host and a disk in order to disconnect SATA cable in a proper fassion? This is very high speed data line and I can't do it just by putting any differential multiplexer. It must be something special for this speed with proper impedance, capacity and hundred more factors.
Reconnecting disk to the working computer works. After I dismount VC volume I also unplug SATA and also no problem.
For example this:
https://addonics.com/products/cc2dt.php
Hardware disk encryption nonsense. I asked them, it works in AES ECB mode!!! They don't write it on the website but I asked by email. Chinese company good luck :-)
"Security key" in a plug, probably a serial i2c memory and some kind of microprocessor inside the encryption chip which does something, maybe it writes the key to the disk :-)
It is nonsense product but closer to the simple sata isolator. It requires restart to read the key so you can't turn on/off online.
Last edit: None no 2018-11-05