Question External HDDs are constantly making a noise ?

[CubsWin]

I have 2 Western Digital EasyStore USB drives that I use for backup purposes. Whenever the drives are connected to my PC, they constantly flash and make a noise at fairly regular intervals as if the drive is being read. I am not doing anything to actively read from or write to the drives and I want them to idle silently when I am not using them. My OS is Windows 11 Pro. Is there a setting in Windows somewhere, like some sort of indexing or searching that would cause this? If not, how can I figure out what is causing my drives to behave like this when they are not being used?

Here is a short video link showing the drive activity:

View: https://youtube.com/shorts/462mpW1z1-Y

 

[Aeacus]

Well, you can put external drives to sleep.
Guide: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us...manually/e2aa3bba-5094-41af-9738-a75183f79da1

Another option is disconnecting the USB cable between PC and external drives. And when you need to use the drives, plug the cable back in.

 

[CountMike]

Windows keeps on polling all devices including all storage. As soon as any disk is accessed all disks are polled and if in sleep mode, it wakes them up at which time they do self test and arm makes couple of passes making noise like that.
If you are using them only for backups it would be much safer to have them disconnected until needed,
Your best bet would be something like this
https://www.amazon.com/Sabrent-4-Po...rds=usb+hub+switch&qid=1751007692&sr=8-5&th=1

 

[shaester_123]

Computers don't think like we do . A computer needs constant acknowledgment that a drive is there and able too be used . So , every few minutes, it ask your backup if it is alive . This makes it spin up and give basic data too your computer . It sucks , but it is best too unplug them entirely .

My disk drive backups are not even connected too my computer . They don't need too be . They are ... backups ... not primary.

My advice : fill up the drives entirely with one big write . Put them in a plastic bag that goes in a box surrounded by bubble wrap and taped up . Throw in a moisture absorbant pack for good measure .

THAT is how you treat backups

 

[Phillip Corcoran]

Same here. I only connect my external backup drives when I need to use them.
When I don't need them, they are safely stored away.

 

[Misgar]

Put them in a plastic bag that goes in a box surrounded by bubble wrap and taped up

Make sure the "plastic bag" is an ESD bag, otherwise there's a slight risk of zapping the drive with static and killing the drive. It's highly unlikely you'll damage a hard disk inside an enclosure, but it pays to be careful.
https://www.amazon.com/Static-Resealable-7-87x11-8in-Labels-Electronic/dp/B09KNCSJDD

 

[Bob.B]

I have 2 Western Digital EasyStore USB drives that I use for backup purposes. Whenever the drives are connected to my PC, they constantly flash and make a noise at fairly regular intervals as if the drive is being read. I am not doing anything to actively read from or write to the drives and I want them to idle silently when I am not using them. My OS is Windows 11 Pro. Is there a setting in Windows somewhere, like some sort of indexing or searching that would cause this? If not, how can I figure out what is causing my drives to behave like this when they are not being used?

Here is a short video link showing the drive activity:

View: https://youtube.com/shorts/462mpW1z1-Y

Device manager/usb controllers.
Look at the properties of each entry for power management.

 

[Misgar]

Device manager/usb controllers.
Look at the properties of each entry for power management.

I do the exact opposite of what the OP wants. I dive into USB Selective Suspend and Power Mangement for USB Hubs, then change the defaults to keep USB devices running all the time. Some USB devices don't always recover gracefully when they "wake up".

I learned many years ago that hard disks are often more reliable if you don't start and stop them many thousands of times. I have some ex-server "pulls" (WD Gold Enterprise Class) with more than 6 years running time and only 64 stop/starts. It's obvious they were left running for months on end and only powered down for system maintenance.

Contrast this with a portable USB3 drive that's potentially powered down every few minutes. You could easily rack up 64 start/stop events in one day. Electro/mechanical devices have a tendency to fail at startup when power is first applied. 3.5in hard disk motors can pull 2A from the 12V rail for a few hundred milliseconds as the platters spin up. It's probably the time of maximum stress.

At the end of the proverbial day, what you do with your disk drives is entirely up to you. Just make sure you keep at least 3 copies of important files on different media and don't have them all connected to a single computer simultaneously, If Ransomware strikes, they could all get clobbered.

I want them to idle silently when I am not using them

As @Phillip Corcoran says, a backup drive is safest from calamity when it's unplugged. If you leave a so-called "backup" drive permanently attached to your PC, it's at risk from malware, viruses, ransomware, accidental file deletion, catastrophic PSU failure, even lightning strikes (I've had two strikes which damaged connected equipment). A secure backup is an isolated backup.

I stopped using my large collection of WD Elements and Seagate USB3 Desktop drives 5 years ago. They run far too hot for my liking in their cramped plastic housings with inadequate ventilation slots. More importantly, I think some or most of them are SMR, not CMR, so they're torturously slow when they become fragmented.

This link claims SMR drives are less reliable than CMR drives. Check your USB3 drives and keep your fingers crossed they contain CMR drives.

https://www.downelink.com/smr-vs-cmr-hard-drives-a-complete-comparison-to-inform-your-next-purchase/

"Across matched 4TB drive models they found CMR reliability averaging between 0.5-1% failure rates per year over 5+ years of service. By contrast SMR models displayed rising risk profiles nearing 2% by years 2-3 as mechanical stress added up. Thats 4X more likely to suffer catastrophic data loss outside of warranty coverage windows!"

By their very nature, SMR drives perform more read/write operations when the disks start to fill up and files become fragmented. A CMR drive has a quieter life.

These days I backup to properly cooled CMR hard disk arrays, plus drives in separate PCs and LTO tape. My 11 USB3 drives just sit in a cupboard and only come out once or twice a year, for a quick check.

 

[Bob.B]

I do the exact opposite of what the OP wants. I dive into USB Selective Suspend and Power Mangement for USB Hubs, then change the defaults to keep USB devices running all the time. Some USB devices don't always recover gracefully when they "wake up".

I learned many years ago that hard disks are often more reliable if you don't start and stop them many thousands of times. I have some ex-server "pulls" (WD Gold Enterprise Class) with more than 6 years running time and only 64 stop/starts. It's obvious they were left running for months on end and only powered down for system maintenance.

Contrast this with a portable USB3 drive that's potentially powered down every few minutes. You could easily rack up 64 start/stop events in one day. Electro/mechanical devices have a tendency to fail at startup when power is first applied. 3.5in hard disk motors can pull 2A from the 12V rail for a few hundred milliseconds as the platters spin up. It's probably the time of maximum stress.

At the end of the proverbial day, what you do with your disk drives is entirely up to you. Just make sure you keep at least 3 copies of important files on different media and don't have them all connected to a single computer simultaneously, If Ransomware strikes, they could all get clobbered.




As @Phillip Corcoran says, a backup drive is safest from calamity when it's unplugged. If you leave a so-called "backup" drive permanently attached to your PC, it's at risk from malware, viruses, ransomware, accidental file deletion, catastrophic PSU failure, even lightning strikes (I've had two strikes which damaged connected equipment). A secure backup is an isolated backup.

I stopped using my large collection of WD Elements and Seagate USB3 Desktop drives 5 years ago. They run far too hot for my liking in their cramped plastic housings with inadequate ventilation slots. More importantly, I think some or most of them are SMR, not CMR, so they're torturously slow when they become fragmented.

This link claims SMR drives are less reliable than CMR drives. Check your USB3 drives and keep your fingers crossed they contain CMR drives.

https://www.downelink.com/smr-vs-cmr-hard-drives-a-complete-comparison-to-inform-your-next-purchase/

"Across matched 4TB drive models they found CMR reliability averaging between 0.5-1% failure rates per year over 5+ years of service. By contrast SMR models displayed rising risk profiles nearing 2% by years 2-3 as mechanical stress added up. Thats 4X more likely to suffer catastrophic data loss outside of warranty coverage windows!"

By their very nature, SMR drives perform more read/write operations when the disks start to fill up and files become fragmented. A CMR drive has a quieter life.

These days I backup to properly cooled CMR hard disk arrays, plus drives in separate PCs and LTO tape. My 11 USB3 drives just sit in a cupboard and only come out once or twice a year, for a quick check.

It's ops call connecting their backup disks mine are only connected for the few mins it takes to run the backup.

 

[Misgar]

It's ops call connecting their backup disks

Agreed. Fingers crossed the OP has other backups elsewhere to mitigate against ransomware. Eggs in baskets.

I get nervous when my WD Elements and Seagate 3.5" USB3 desktop drives reach +55°C during long file transfers and cool them with a large desktop fan. Shuck the disks and they run up to 20°C cooler in a desktop chassis.

Powering the USB drives down when idle is an obvious solution, but increases general mechanical wear and tear.

The important thing is to keep numerous (isolated) backups.

 

[CubsWin]

It's ops call connecting their backup disks mine are only connected for the few mins it takes to run the backup.

I don't physically disconnect my backup drives, but I use one of these to manage when they are accessible.

https://www.yepkit.com/product/300110/YKUSH3

I programmatically enable/disable the USB ports via command line scripts. The only problem is I haven't been able to get good event data to disconnect as soon as my backup tasks are done. So I keep them active on a schedule instead. But that means they are sometimes running several hours longer than they need to.