What module to use to control an external hdd: ON/OFF

[Boiler]

phongluu,

Sorry to be a naysayer but I'd be worried about with using a switch (relay) to power down a hard drive. 

Hard drives are fairly complex electro mechanical devices.  They want to be shut down gracefully in a nice orderly sequence (data bufferers flushed, heads parked, disk spun down).

I don't have a lot of experience with the newer external drives.  Perhaps they are more forgiving.  With older (internal drives) a "quick" power removal would at a minimum risk data loss.  Worst case would be a head crash (scrap).

Many USB connected devices allow them to be placed into a low power mode through the USB connection itself.  Check your video receiver to see if it supports a sleep mode for connected devices.  If it does not, it may still be better to power down the receiver to put the hard drive into a sleep configuration.

[phongluu]

Boiler, thanks. Don't worry. That part is taken care

I am just too lazy to walk few steps to turn it ON, so I install this module to have power go thru, and the external hdd while bootup will follow its own procedure. I wont use the module to cut off the power instantly but there's a procedure in place that handle by my Harmony remote thru IR453.

Thanks thou.
P.L