Extern HDD Spin Down issues

[LCF-AT]

Hi guys,

I have a new small question today about using extern HDDs drives in a Enclosure connected by USB port.I have a new Enclosure and put a WD Blue disk into and did setup all so far to make it ready to use.All seems to work fine with the disk (read/write good high values).The only thing I have seen is that the HDD seems to spin down after 10 minutes and the blue LED light on my Enclosure does shine for 4 seconds and turns off for 4 seocnds (loop) = Disk was spin down.Now I wanted to try to turn that spin down OFF but I don't find any setting for that in Windows 10 which could do that.In the Power management I have already set the HDD time to 0 (= do not turn off) and I also did now disable the USB Power thing (not sure what that really does etc).

Somehow the disk just keeps spinning down after 10 minutes also with that settings above.On the Western Digital site I found a info that all external WDs have that feature...

https://support-en.wd.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/16047

....but I'am using a internal HDD in Enclosure.Anyway, so somehow I would like to turn that spin down OFF to prevent fails/errors etc.Is there a way how I can do that or any tools I can disable it etc?Otherwise I found a info that you just need to write anything onto that disk in that time (one txt file all 10 minutes or something).

So what do you think?Should I keep the spin down like it is (all 10 minutes in no use) or turn it OFF (like I have with my internal Disk)?Whats better?Lets say you would prefer turning off the spin down (normaly I think that too) and I can not find any tool to do that....what should I do then?Is it also possible to access the HDD without to write on it (just in case to bypass spin down time)?I think I just need to code a small app with a timer to use CreateFile / read some etc and thats it or?Maybe you can tell me something how I should do that etc.Thank you.

greetz

[krotty]

Hi, 

If I right understand your question first check your HDD life timer with this tool 

https://www.hdsentinel.com/download.php

[whoknows]

@LCF-ATif you searched all on OS settings then probably is the CASE (enclosure) firmware doing that...  

to be honest the same happening here., but is not bother me..  

Edited September 24, 2021 by whoknows

[LCF-AT]

Hi guys,

what do you mean with life timer?The conditions of my HDDs are good so far.

Question: I see a lot of infos about my HDDs in the hdsentinel (tiral) tool about features etc.Are there no info about the Spin down time of the HDD?Just asking because there are a lot of infos but found nothing about that Spin D/U there.

Yes, maybe the enclosure I'am using now (controller) does manage it.Not sure about that but looks so.I think the controller does just accept the original HDD Spin Down time and goes into sleep mode after 10 minutes (in my case WD Blue) OR maybe the controller itself does just use the Spin down time after 10 minutes by itself etc.I don't know.If I remember right then my older enclosure case/device did not do any Spin Down with my WD Blue HDD and the LED light was always ON.Hhmm.

So I just care about the life time of my HDDs and I heard much about Spin UP errors / failures after Spin Down and that its better to keep the HDDs running.

I found a tool called "KeepAliveHD" where I can set HDDs to read / write on them after a specific time.

https://github.com/stsrki/keepalivehd

I did tried it out already just using the READ mode (not write) and it seems to WORK. Just entered to read all 8 minutes and the blue LED light on my enclosure keeps ON without to ON/OFF all 4 seconds after a Spin Down.I can use this little tool now to keep the HDD running.

greetz