Second hard drive powers on and off

[Guest]

Hello all,

I have a second hard drive installed (SATA - model WD3000JS) in my Windows
Vista system. I use it for all my data (My documents).
It seems that due to some power management settings it shuts down when I
don´t use it for a while. But there is no specific timeframe. When I want to
access a file it takes some seconds to spin up the drive again. And after
opening the file sometimes the drive stays on for a while, but sometimes it
powers down immediately again.
I would prefer the drive not to power down at all, or maybe after a specific
period of non-activity. But now it shuts down more or less randomly.
Is there any way of managing this behaviour in Windows Vista? (I know how to
change the normal Advanced Power settings for sleep mode etc. but it does not
affect this issue.) I have already checked the Western Digital site, but
there are no tools available for powermanagement. Any tips will be very much
appreciated!
FYI: My "first" harddrive with Vista and software on it stays always on,
except when entering sleep mode ofcourse.

Thanks,
Martijn.

 

[Thomas Veik]

Hello all,

I have a second hard drive installed (SATA - model WD3000JS) in my Windows
Vista system. I use it for all my data (My documents).
It seems that due to some power management settings it shuts down when I
don´t use it for a while. But there is no specific timeframe. When I want to
access a file it takes some seconds to spin up the drive again. And after
opening the file sometimes the drive stays on for a while, but sometimes it
powers down immediately again.
I would prefer the drive not to power down at all, or maybe after a specific
period of non-activity. But now it shuts down more or less randomly.
Is there any way of managing this behaviour in Windows Vista? (I know how to
change the normal Advanced Power settings for sleep mode etc. but it does not
affect this issue.) I have already checked the Western Digital site, but
there are no tools available for powermanagement. Any tips will be very much
appreciated!
FYI: My "first" harddrive with Vista and software on it stays always on,
except when entering sleep mode ofcourse.

Thanks,
Martijn.

Sounds like what is happening to me. My second hard drive, a Western
Digital WD500AAKS, spins down after each access. It goes like this.

Access a file, wait for the drive to spin up, the first file reads
normally, then 10 seconds later the drive spins down.

Then access a second file, wait for the drive to spin up, the second
file reads normally, then 10 seconds later the drive spins down.

Then access a third file, wait for the drive to spin up, the third
file reads normally, then 10 seconds later the drive spins down.

This is nuts. I have the hard disk spin down setting set at 60
minutes. Obviously that 60 minute setting is being ignored.

Tom

 

[Guest]

Any of the MVP´s that can help Thomas and myself??
Thanks in advance,
Martijn.

 

[Guest]

I had the same issue. First hard drive is an SATA Seagate, second hard drive
is an older P-ATA Western Digital. Operating System is Vista Ultimate.

2nd hard drive would power on/off after a minute or even after a few
seconds. This occurred when "turn hard drive off after..." in power
management settings was set to 120 minutes. The problem seems to have been
resolved now that I've changed this to "Never".

Cheers

 

[Thomas Veik]

I had the same issue. First hard drive is an SATA Seagate, second hard drive
is an older P-ATA Western Digital. Operating System is Vista Ultimate.

2nd hard drive would power on/off after a minute or even after a few
seconds. This occurred when "turn hard drive off after..." in power
management settings was set to 120 minutes. The problem seems to have been
resolved now that I've changed this to "Never".

Cheers

I changed my setting to "Never" too and now my second hard drive keeps
spinning. But I would rather have the setting be 60 minutes. Does
anyone here have a solution to this problem with the second hard drive
spinning down just seconds after file access even though the "turn
hard drive off after..." setting is set to 60 minutes?

Tom

 

[cropredy]

I had similar problem on Dell Precision 390/Vista Ultimate with 1
primary and 3 SATA secondary drives as soon as I had applied MSFT
Vista maintenance KB941649 (which was suggested by MSFT to fix Vista
stability issues with power management and BSOD "Driver Power State
Failure")

I have set Power Mgt Advanced Hard disk to "Never" per MrCurly's
suggestion and am crossing my fingers.

Eric

 

[KlassyKat]

I removed Windows update KB938979 and the problem has not been completely
resolved but is much better. My hard drives aren't spinning up and down
constantly. You might want to check out this link also:
http://forums.microsoft.com/TechNet/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=1994652&SiteID=17

 

[Thomas Veik]

I removed Windows update KB938979 and the problem has not been completely
resolved but is much better. My hard drives aren't spinning up and down
constantly. You might want to check out this link also:
http://forums.microsoft.com/TechNet/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=1994652&SiteID=17

That's it! That link hit the nail on the head. That's my problem
exactly. I'm reluctant to uninstall the update though, not knowing
what the side effect of that would be.

Tom

 

[KlassyKat]

So far (4 days now) since I removed KB938979 I haven't noticed any problems
with Windows. And once removed, it shows up in the Windows Update
Notifications again so it can be reinstalled easily if it doesn't help or you
need it back in for some reason. Just be sure you don't have Win set to
update automatically without your permission or it will be back in before you
can sneeze!

 

[Dr. Strangelove]

Good info! Same problem for me, with my SCSI drives.

Thanks for the post.

Doc