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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.
I'd recommend an strip of paper or plastic, ideally with adhesive on one side. Ideally a dark color, like black.
gaff tape
why not a tape, black, for electrical things
The age old solution of TAPE.
Black electrical tape, work better than any software
Matte black nail polish....works there and on annoying Bluetooth lights
Perfect answer, no need for me to scroll further.
If they don't find ya handsome, they should find you handy.
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.
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
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.
Open it up and desolder the led?
Tape, electrical black.
This is the way
This is the way.
This, is the way.
Painters tape and a sharpie. Layered.
-Autist with severe light sensitivity
Unfortunately, my flavor of AuDHD isn't compatible with Arch lol
You have gold hydride-dideuteride? Lucky!
lol if only
Brown electrical tape, if you don't have black electrical tape.
Have a friend stand in front of it
A friend, with a benefit.
My favourite answer
Arch users dont have friends
Just empty the ~~blinker~~ led fluid.
Black electrical tape :D
The only real reason I keep electrical tape around is to cover up LEDs.
Black pen. Black sharpie. Black electrical tape. Black duct tape. Black roofing felt. Black tar. Black hole.
Have you tried plugging and unplugging it? It should solve your problem
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.
Have you tried plucking your eyes out?
Based on the other comments here I'd suggest black electrical tape over the eyes first
A piece of black, electrical tape
Blu tack, cheap, reusable, nondestructive, and blocks light better than tape. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blu_Tack
A big-ass hammer.
A true man of culture, I see 🫡
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