Hello Robert

> The hard disk standby option is appreciated, but does anyone know how to 
> check to see if the hard disk is spinning or not?

As the one who implemented it, i think that i should respond to your
question. The ATA-protocol does not support a command to check wether
the harddisk is spinning or not. Therefor, it's also not possible to
display the current state of the harddisk.

-- 
Greets, Michael | Gentoo Developer using m0n0wall | http://hansmi.ch/
"In short, _N is Richardian if, and only if, _N is not Richardian."