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.
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
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.
A piece of black electrical tape
The age old solution of TAPE.
I'd recommend an strip of tape or plastic, ideally with adhesive on one side. Ideally a dark color, like black.
Blu tack, cheap, reusable, nondestructive, and blocks light better than tape. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blu_Tack
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.
Electrical tape. Black.
A piece of black electrical tape.
Hack the firmware. Kidding just use tape.
Open it up and desolder the led?
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)
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.
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... 😆
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.
Huh!, just Disconnect the drive from power source and it will OFF.
Matte black nail polish....works there and on annoying Bluetooth lights
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