How to Detect If Your Drive Spins
- 1). Place the hard drive on a flat surface free from any vibration sources. Make sure it is close enough to your power supply so that you can plug in the power and data cables.
- 2). Plug the power connector into the power socket on the back of the hard drive.
- 3). Plug the data connector into the data socket on the back of the hard drive. This step may not be necessary --some hard drive and motherboard combos will power on a drive, regardless of a data connection. It's better to be safe and plug in both cables to make sure the hard drive receives power.
- 4). Turn on the power source. If you are using your PC power supply, just turn on your computer.
- 5). Feel the surface of the hard drive. If the drive is spinning, it will vibrate at a very high rate. The vibration is very subtle and impossible to make out with the naked eye, but it is easy to sense by touch. A spinning hard drive also makes a decent amount of noise, but in a loud room it is probably easier to use you sense of touch.
