stop the drive from operating

[zoran]

Two drives in my mid 2010 iMac.
One SSD (primary) and one HDD (secondary). The HDD is having failure issues and i believe its responsible for slowing down my iMac. Is it possible, without physically removing the drive, to stop it from operating, or unmount it some how?

 

[Fishrrman]

Are you ok with ERASING the HDD?

If so, that's what I'd do.
Use disk utility to erase it, just leave it "empty". Nothing on it at all.

Even though the drive may be "empty", it will still spin up at boot. So...
I'd try using the free menu bar app called "Semulov" to dismount it after the iMac is booted up.

I don't know if this will help.
Just suggesting it, might be worth a try.

 

[chown33]

If dismounting the drive after boot isn't good enough, there's probably a way to tell the 'diskutil' tool in Terminal to erase the disk and leave it entirely as free space. I'd need to look up the details of the exact command to enter, so post a reply here if dismount after boot isn't sufficient. Or someone else can find it in the man page for diskutil.

 

[zoran]

I’m afraid to erase the drive for now.
I did see an unmount option in disk utility.

What’s the best app to try to fix a drive that shows problems.

 

[Fishrrman]

It would help if you told us what kind of "problems" you're having with it...

 

[zoran]

When I click on a folder that is located in the malicious drive, the system slows down as it searches to complete the task.
Apart from this, the system does appear a little more sluggish 2-3 times so far.
So all these delays I ascribe them to the faulty drive... of course i could be wrong. 😐

 

[Fishrrman]

A ten-year-old drive could be seriously fragmented.
There used to be two very useful utility apps for OS X:
- iDefrag
- iPartition

Both were published by a company called Coriolis Systems that has now discontinued them, because changes in the Mac OS and the move from platter-based drives to SSDs has diminished the need for the above apps.

However, some folks may still have a need for them.
Coriolis has graciously made available all previous versions of their software.

You can freely download them from here:

Coriolis Systems

 

[zoran]

Is a fragment drive keen on bringing up a warning like this?

 

[EmmEff]

Nope, that drive is failing

 

[zoran]

Nope, that drive is failing

I feel the same!

 

[EmmEff]

Erase it like others have suggested and unmount it at boot.

 

[zoran]

and unmount it at boot.

How do i do that and why unmount it then?

 

[Fishrrman]

Please go back and reread what I wrote in reply 2 above.

The error msg you posted in 8 above seems to be indicating directory corruption or damage.
Sometimes erasing the drive (which creates a new directory) can cure this (at least for a while).
There could be other problems with the drive that might not be fixable.

If you erase the drive, there will be no files on it.
The directory will be "empty".
The OS will "know" the drive is empty, and may no longer attempt to "access it".

If you use Semulov to dismount it (after booting), it may "stay dismounted" and not spin or otherwise be noticeable.
I don't know that, YOU have to try it and see if it works for you.

 

[zoran]

I truly wonder, for pc's, a few years ago there used to be software that would do firm scans on drives, repair them or show what was wrong with them. Aren't there such apps for the Mac? Apps that would make a deep scan and give some reviews on faults and issues that a drive might encounter.