Anyone know why by external HDD goes to sleep after about 15 minutes of not being accessed?

[Legolas8181]

I have a 3TB Toshiba drive that I store all my TV on and, I timed it, after 15 minutes it goes to sleep. To use it I need to access the files then it starts to tick and after a few moments I am able to use it again. Is there a way i can turn this off?

 

[Boogieman_WD]

Hey there, Legolas8181.

This is most likely because of your power settings. Open up Power Options from control panel -> change plan settings -> change advanced power settings -> scroll down to USB settings and click there -> then USB selective suspend settings and set it to disabled
Try it to see if this fixes the issue.

Hope that helps. Let me know how it goes.
Boogieman_WD

 

[Legolas8181]

Hey there, Legolas8181.

This is most likely because of your power settings. Open up Power Options from control panel -> change plan settings -> change advanced power settings -> scroll down to USB settings and click there -> then USB selective suspend settings and set it to disabled
Try it to see if this fixes the issue.

Hope that helps. Let me know how it goes.
Boogieman_WD

I checked and that is already set to disabled

 

[Boogieman_WD]

Hmm, you could also try changing the "Turn off Hard Disk after" option and set it to 0. Other than that, try opening Device Manager -> right click on the root hubs, select properties and under the "power management" uncheck the "allow the computer to turn off this device to save power", to see if that does the trick.

You could also check with the HDD manufacturer's customer support, if this is a feature of the drive's firmware.

 

[Legolas8181]

Hmm, you could also try changing the "Turn off Hard Disk after" option and set it to 0. Other than that, try opening Device Manager -> right click on the root hubs, select properties and under the "power management" uncheck the "allow the computer to turn off this device to save power", to see if that does the trick.

You could also check with the HDD manufacturer's customer support, if this is a feature of the drive's firmware.

All the options in that screenshot were unticked for me

 

[Boogieman_WD]

Have you tried if this happens with other external drives? If it doesn't, then it's probably because of the drive's firmware. You could also try the same drive with a different computer to see if the same thing happens so that you can isolate the problem. If it doesn't happen, then it is probably because of your system and we should keep digging for a solution, but if it does - it's probably because of the external HDD.

 

[jsmithepa]

Sounds like your HD's firmware. If you can find a Acoustic Manager app from Toshiba, or a generic one may work.

Failing that, write a little script that queries the HD every 14.5m, google for "hd keep alive."

 

[Legolas8181]

Have you tried if this happens with other external drives? If it doesn't, then it's probably because of the drive's firmware. You could also try the same drive with a different computer to see if the same thing happens so that you can isolate the problem. If it doesn't happen, then it is probably because of your system and we should keep digging for a solution, but if it does - it's probably because of the external HDD.

My first external drive was by WD or Seagate and it was only a 500GB one that didn't sleep and I since then have had 3 others all by Toshiba and they all go to sleep

 

[Boogieman_WD]

Well, if this is the case, than I think it's safe to say that it is a firmware feature of this drive. You could follow @jsmithepa's advice to see if this helps or contact the manufacturer's customer support and ask about a solution. No matter what you decide, I'd recommend that you backup your important data, just to be on the safe side, before you try anything.