Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!samsung!munnari.oz.au!bruce!alanf
From: alanf@bruce.cs.monash.OZ.AU (Alan Grant Finlay)
Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.programmer
Subject: Re: Shutting down a harddrive through software.
Message-ID: <2620@bruce.cs.monash.OZ.AU>
Date: 8 Jul 90 15:38:31 GMT
References: <9660@brazos.Rice.edu>
Organization: Monash Uni. Computer Science, Australia
Lines: 20

In article <9660@brazos.Rice.edu>, adnan@rice.edu (Sarmad Adnan) writes:
> 
> I would like to know if it is possible to shutdown ones Hard-drive
> 
> My application program(in MSC) runs on an on-board computer on a mobile robot.
> I would like to be able to shutdown the harddrive using some kind of a 
> function call or somthing before the robot starts moving.
> 
> Is it advisable to simply use a relay to cut the power to the drive down.

You probably don't need to shut down the drive, just park the heads.  I am not
sure how you would go about getting a park function - normally parking
utilities are supplied as .com type commands.  Another possibility is to use
a drive which automatically parks after a period of no activity.  I have a
40 Mbyte Miniscribe model 3650 which does this after about 30 seconds of
no activity (though I have disabled this function).  Even if you use a power
cut relay you still need to park the heads first.  I must admit I don't know
if it is safe to rotate the axis of a spinning drive even if the heads are
parked.  That shouldn't worry you if you mount the drive with the axis
aligned vertically.