Noisy Drive

[robkat]

I am running Big Sur on late 2014 iMac. There is a consistent grinding noise.
Loaded an external ssd to run Big Sur so internal disk should not be working.
How can I stop the drive from being active without erasing internal drive>

 

[TwoH]

You can unmount it in disk utility

 

[Fishrrman]

There's a free utility called "Semulov" that will mount/dismount drives (from the menu bar):

GitHub - kainjow/Semulov: Access mounted and unmounted volumes from the menubar

Access mounted and unmounted volumes from the menubar - kainjow/Semulov

github.com

It works well, I suggest you try it.