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.
If they don’t find ya handsome, they should find you handy.
Perfect answer, no need for me to scroll further.
If it moves and it’s not supposed to: duct tape. If it doesn’t move and is supposed to: wd40
I’d recommend an strip of paper or plastic, ideally with adhesive on one side. Ideally a dark color, like black.
Who are you, who are so wise in the ways of science?
There’s nothing which duct tape can’t fix.
Right, in my field it’s gaffer tape but the same principle applies.
We call it Jesus tape.
Black electrical tape :D
Came here to say “a sticker”. How is this difficult? Lol
Or a black marker, a couple of times.
The only real reason I keep electrical tape around is to cover up LEDs.
QuickDraw McGraw here!
Probably no one’s thought of this yet, but i’m going to say black electrical tape. If you put it over your eyes it takes care of all your devices at once.
Black electrical tape, work better than any software
The age old solution of TAPE.
Did anyone suggest using black electrical tape yet?
ITT
comments stating to open up the drive and disconnect the LED: 2
comments stating to try and change the firmware: 1
comments stating to use tape or nail polish: jfc so many commentsI blame federation delays.
They were hours apart, though.
Have a friend stand in front of it
Arch users dont have friends
A friend, with a benefit.
Yeah, a light blocking friend.
My favourite answer
Black pen. Black sharpie. Black electrical tape. Black duct tape. Black roofing felt. Black tar. Black hole.
Also avoid handling black holes without appropriate protection.
Need a time dilation device to use
Would electro magnetic radiation erase it before spaghettification?
I have a sheet of dark coloured stickers specifically for this task.
I’ve some black circle stickers that cover screws. Would be ideal for small LEDs too
Any of the available in aur?
Only available through YUM
Why does that sound like the radioactive dragon thingie for that netflix show about league of legends?
Tape, electrical black.
This is the way
This is the way.
This, is the way.
why not a tape, black, for electrical things
Painters tape and a sharpie. Layered.
-Autist with severe light sensitivity
For an actual answer, it looks like WD has something called
wdckitthat is available on request.I see a corresponding AUR entry that looks like it’s grabbing some zip from a personal Russian CDN. Super sketchy looking tbh.
But it’s possible this tool has whatever functionality the windows WD Utility uses to toggle the light in the drive’s firmware.
IMO, it’s not worth it. I’d just go the electrical tape route and maybe ask WD Customer Support if there’s a way, and if not, ask that they support Linux better in the future.
Wow this is the exact perfect example of why someone should install from AUR as less as possible, manually checking the pkgbuild and not just “yay yolo”
In this case the archive seems to be clean and be what wd would send if contacted, (even Windows versions are in the zip)
Btw WTF WD. Why making a tool and its documentation only available on request?? It is nothing special, more or less do the same stuff that the GUI can do (show details, send erase command, send ATA password command).
It doesn’t seem to be able to disable the activity LED
gaff tape
This is the only correct answer.
