Hard disk not turning off when plugged in despite power options set accordingly

[gerhard.miller]

I am setting "Turn off hard disks" when "plugged in" to "3 minutes" in
power options.

Problem: Hard drive never turns off -- only when system goes into
standby (obviously it turns off then). Further background below.

Any idea what might cause disk activity? Any idea how else to force
the harddrive to spin down and stay off until I access the server?

Thanks for any and all pointers.

-Gerhard


Further Background:
===============
* want for the laptop to act as my music server, i.e. be always
available and on when required, but spin down harddisk to consume less
energy and prevent harddrive from failure for longer time period
(since I only listen to music a few hours every second day or so)
* power option settings: turn off screen and hard disks: after 1
minute / after 3 minutes; standby and hibernate: never)
* music server will be controlled via USB remote (but this is neither
installed nor connected at the time of researching this problem)
* hardware is an IBM Thinkpad 600X
* OS: Windows XP (virgin installation) or Windows XP fully updated
(with all services packs etc.) -- no difference in both scenarios
* turned off indexing
* there's no internet connection, PC is completely offline
* the harddrive LED blinks every 10 seconds or so; tried to figure out
what keeps accessing the harddrive with disk drive monitor, but it's
only system software, there are a few candidates but I couldn't make
much sense of how to turn these off -- thought I first ask around
here, maybe someone else has come across this problem before.

 

[matt hopkins]

the hard drive wont ever turn off while the computers on will it. the
computer is constantly running files that are accessed from the hard drive

 

[Unknown]

It will when the computer is idle.

the hard drive wont ever turn off while the computers on will it. the
computer is constantly running files that are accessed from the hard drive

 

[Unknown]

Look in task manager to see if something is running. Are you indexing? Do
you have virus program scanning?

 

[gerhard.miller]

no anti-virus, no indexing, no pagefile. Only standard windows
processes in task manager, no applications. Went through all of these
processes and looked up what they're doing, all seem to be essential
to the system. As I said, is a fresh XP install, no apps yet
installed, no unusual processes.

Any other ideas?

-Gerhard

 

[Unknown]

What is in task manager?

 

[NoConsequence]

It will when the computer is idle.

Nope, not if the HDD does not support shutting down.

It's not just the computer that controls it, the HDD has to be
compliant as well.

Oh, and your reply belongs down HERE.

 

[Unknown]

Perhaps you are correct, however, I know of no HD that can't be shut down
after a period of non use by power management. Can you give me the name of
one?