External harddrive still on when PC is on standby

[cazetoG]

Hello there.

As the title says - when I close the lid on my lenovo y50 my external harddrive is still on - I only store large files and games on there. When I don't use the drive sometime, it goes into idle mode which is fine, but however, when I close the lid on my PC the drive is active. - I have seen on the power options under "Turn off harddisk after:" and both battery and power is set to 20 minutes.
There is no system files or anything related to windows on the drive.

Is there anyway I can make the external harddrive go into standby as my computer does?

External HDD: WD elements 2TB USB 3.0
Windows 8.1

Cheers

 

[Jon-Doe]

most likely in control panel>power options
If the hard drive is sharing in the network it might not go to sleep

 

[Saberus]

Look for an option that turns off the USB when the laptop sleeps. It might be leaving the ports on for charging only, and the drive's busy because it's trying to re-establish a data connection.

 

[SuperSoph_WD]

Hey there, cazetoG!

Sorry to hear that your WD Elements is causing you such issues. Can you tell me if it's a desktop or a portable external WD Elements drive?
(If it's a portable drive, I'd recommend you NOT to keep it constantly connected to your computer because it can affect the health of the drive)
As already suggested, I'd check the power options of your laptop. Another thing you should try is turning off hibernation for your computer as well. Here's a link from MS that explains how to do this: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/920730?wa=wsignin1.0

I'd also recommend you to check with the manual of your external drive and check the power options for the HDD there. I'm not sure which model you've got but here (Under the Support tab), you can find the manuals for the WD Elements HDDs.
WD Elements Desktop drive - http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=D78Jru
WD Elements Portable drive - http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=GszMf1

Hope this was helpful. Keep me posted if you have any questions!
SuperSoph_WD

 

[cazetoG]

Hey there, cazetoG!

Sorry to hear that your WD Elements is causing you such issues. Can you tell me if it's a desktop or a portable external WD Elements drive?
(If it's a portable drive, I'd recommend you NOT to keep it constantly connected to your computer because it can affect the health of the drive)
As already suggested, I'd check the power options of your laptop. Another thing you should try is turning off hibernation for your computer as well. Here's a link from MS that explains how to do this: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/920730?wa=wsignin1.0

I'd also recommend you to check with the manual of your external drive and check the power options for the HDD there. I'm not sure which model you've got but here (Under the Support tab), you can find the manuals for the WD Elements HDDs.
WD Elements Desktop drive - http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=D78Jru
WD Elements Portable drive - http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=GszMf1

Hope this was helpful. Keep me posted if you have any questions!
SuperSoph_WD

Thanks for the reply.
Yes it is a portable. I don't see how turning off hibernate will help, since I don't use it. The PC I have has 2 USB 3.0 and 1 USB 2.0. The USB 2.0 can be triggered in the BIOS to always on, and it's set to off, since I don't need it. And I have my HDD set to a 3.0 port.

I believe I have checked the power management all over, I can't find anything that would help me in this situation.
Maybe one of you guys have a portable HDD aswell and could hook me up with a little guide?
Please tell me how turning off hibernate would help me.

Thank you so much for all you for your replys.

Smile. and have a great day.

Cheers

 

[SuperSoph_WD]

Hi again, cazetoG!

Since it's a portable WD Elements, as I already mentioned, it's highly recommended not to have it constantly connected to your laptop. I would re-direct you to this KB article that explains how leaving it on all the time is bad for the hard drive itself: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=R01M5f
As for your hibernation questions, you should check these FAQ from Microsoft that might shed some light on the matter: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/sleep-and-hibernation-frequently-asked-questions

Cheers!
SuperSoph_WD

 

[cazetoG]

Hi again, cazetoG!

Since it's a portable WD Elements, as I already mentioned, it's highly recommended not to have it constantly connected to your laptop. I would re-direct you to this KB article that explains how leaving it on all the time is bad for the hard drive itself: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=R01M5f
As for your hibernation questions, you should check these FAQ from Microsoft that might shed some light on the matter: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/sleep-and-hibernation-frequently-asked-questions

Cheers!
SuperSoph_WD

Well, it's super nice for you to answer my questions - but I already know it's bad for the drive to be on all the time, that's why i'm trying to figure out how to make it turn off when I close the lid on my PC! But nobody seems to know the answer.