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Is it possible to remove a hard drive disk without removing the cable(s) (in my case, through UEFI) and without the operating system "trying" to display in "My PC" or something? If so, how can I do this?

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  • Can you define 'remove'? Not showing up after booting the OS (and which OS? Windows? OSX? Linux? BSD? ,,,) Not showing up before boot (e.g. disabled in motherboard firmware). Not showing up at all (disabling whole controller), Showing up but power down (e.g. hdparm it to spin down), ....
    – Hennes
    Commented Jun 27, 2016 at 13:26
  • Only recommend to power off and remove, maybe conflict a system to reject.
    – KingRider
    Commented Jun 27, 2016 at 14:08

3 Answers 3

Reset to default
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Most BIOS/UEFI menus have something buried in there to disable/enable individual hard drives or SATA controllers. The OS cannot see this hardware when it's hidden in this way.

What this option is called (and whether it exists) varies by manufacturer and BIOS/UEFI vendor, so it's probably best just to carefully look at all the menu options and look for a Disable or similar type option. This option would be separate from a Boot option.

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  • So it is possible for cheaper motherboards to actually not support this option within UEFI at all then? I tried searching for it but I seem to not be able to find such option.
    – Barrosy
    Commented Jun 27, 2016 at 12:52
  • Yep, Cheaper or more "consumer-focused" hardware (esp cheap OEM motherboards) often has stripped down BIOS/UEFI options.
    – LawrenceC
    Commented Jun 27, 2016 at 13:40
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As LawrenceC mentioned, BIOS usually has a disable button for HDDs. On the other hand, if you are looking to hide specific Disk Drives, you can do so through the following.

  1. Windows KeyR → regedit → Hit OK.
  2. Make a backup through File → Export.
  3. Goto HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE → Software → Microsoft → Windows → CurrentVersion → Explorer.
  4. Right click on Explorer and select New → DWORD Value (32-bit).
  5. Give the name as NoDrives and double click on it to change the properties.

  6. In Value data, choose the one based on the drive you want to hide. Choose the corresponding value for the drive and enter that value in Value data.

    A: 1, B: 2, C: 4, D: 8, E: 16, F: 32, G: 64, H: 128, I: 256, J: 512, K: 1024, L: 2048, M: 4096, N: 8192, O: 16384, P: 32768, Q: 65536, R: 131072, S: 262144, T: 524288, U: 1048576, V: 2097152, W: 4194304, X: 8388608, Y: 16777216, Z: 33554432, All: 67108863

  7. Choose Decimal for Base section.

  8. Hit OK. Restart computer.

If you want to show the drive again, change the value of NoDrives to 0.

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  • I was not trying to hide the HDD, rather remove it entirely from being detected by the system. Thanks for showing this useful stuff though I might play around with it.
    – Barrosy
    Commented Dec 8, 2019 at 14:55
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I know you specifically mentioned doing this through UEFI, but it's worth at least mentioning that this can also be done by taking the disk offline in Windows or removing the letter from the partition, since the OP mentioned having it not display in My PC.

Both are done by running the Computer Management program, and selecting Disk Management. To remove a drive letter right click on the partition you want removed and choose "Change Drive Letter and Paths...". To place a disk offline right click the disk name on the left side (such as Disk0, Disk1, etc.) and then select "Offline". Both options will prevent the drives from showing up in My PC without requiring you to physically disconnect the drive.

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