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.
Black electrical tape :D
QuickDraw McGraw here!
Came here to say "a sticker". How is this difficult? Lol
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 comments
Black pen. Black sharpie. Black electrical tape. Black duct tape. Black roofing felt. Black tar. Black hole.
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.
A piece of black, electrical tape
Painters tape and a sharpie. Layered.
-Autist with severe light sensitivity
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, work better than any software
I imagine tape would work. For example a black one specialised for electrics.
You could always Dremel it out. First try black electrical tape.
Have you tried plucking your eyes out?
Based on the other comments here I'd suggest black electrical tape over the eyes first
Brown electrical tape, if you don't have black electrical tape.
The age old solution of TAPE.
Activity lights are useful! Try a layer (or two, or three) of matte-finish transparent tape to turn down the brightness a bit.
If that doesn't work, I recommend a bit of black electrical tape.
I'd recommend an strip of paper or plastic, ideally with adhesive on one side. Ideally a dark color, like black.
Electrical tape. Black.
For an actual answer, it looks like WD has something called wdckit that 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.
Open it up and desolder the led?
Hack the firmware. Kidding just use tape.
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... 😆
Matte black nail polish....works there and on annoying Bluetooth lights
I found a bit of plasticine / modeling clay to be very effective.
Because in the rare case that some circuit relies on the led acting as a resistor (planned obsolescence), you'd break the device with forcefully removing it.
(the green part)
Huh!, just Disconnect the drive from power source and it will OFF.
They sell travel sized rolls of that gorilla tape.
It sticks to just about anything, pretty much forever, and is totally opaque.
Should work like a charm.
Just empty the ~~blinker~~ led fluid.
I would advise against using black electrical tape. It would be better to use black duct tape.
It's okay to be wrong sometimes.
why not a tape, black, for electrical things
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