Prevent external drive sleeping?

[Terry Pinnell]

I'm seeking some way to prevent my external 3 TB WD 'Elements' drive
(E:) from 'sleeping'.

At present, after a period of non-use, when I open a file (JPG, TXT,
etc), usually by d-clicking it in its XP Explorer folder on my
internal C: drive, it sometimes takes at least 20 seconds to open.
Towards the end of that period I see the WD's LED flash a few times,
so it's clearly because the operation had to wake it up.

Digressing for a minute, I don't understand that anyway. If I open a
file on C: I don't really see why E: enters the equation. But I've
seen it suggested by those whose grasp of OS technicalities is far
greater than mine as down to caching. I backup nightly from data on C:
to E:. So I'm guessing that when I open my first file on C: in the
morning, XP still somehow associates that file with E: (maybe because
it was one of those incrementally backed up) and duly wakes it up - at
glacial speed.

Therefore ideally I'd like to keep it awake. I'll pay the extra
electricity costs.

There seems no relevant setting in Properties

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4019461/WD-Puzzle-3.jpg

so I'm wondering if there's a tool or registry hack that might do the
job please?

Failing that I'll try writing a macro (or batch file if I can remember
how) that simply opens and closes an arbitrary file on E: at half hour
intervals.

--
Terry, East Grinstead, UK

[Paul]

As near as I can determine, aggressive sleep is a drive
firmware issue. When the manufacturer knows the drive is
going into an air-tight enclosure, aggressive sleep
is used to reduce temperature elevation in operation.

*******

There is WDIDLE3, for drives that support it.

https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?threads/hacking-wd-greens-and-reds-with-wdidle3-exe.18171/

There is also an APM byte, which Hitachi Feature Tool (FTool)
can access. Presumably in both cases, this is information
that gets stored in the drive state info on "Track -1".

Change advanced power management (APM) level

Value Description

0x00 Disable APM (default)
0x40-0x7F unload with low RPM idle
[Bit 6 and not Bit 7]
0x80-0xBF unload with normal RPM idle
[Bit 7 and not Bit 6]
0xC0-0xFF [You cannot assert Bit 6 and Bit 7
at the same time, thus there are no
codes in this range.]

But that byte, has no timer associated with it,
and it's not clear when an APM state change takes
place (commanded by OS ? maybe).

*******

As for File Explorer, who knows what it's thinking :-)

I can tell you though, that Win10 pokes my floppy
drive a bit more than any previous OS. Maybe it's
trying to get me to pull the floppy drive out
of my tower ? :-)

*******

Since I assemble my own (purchased, empty) enclosure
with a desktop drive, I can't say I have any materials
on hand to test how to fix this stuff. None of my
stuff goes to sleep. The only drive in the house
that goes to sleep, is my laptop drive, and it takes
a while before it sleeps. Suggesting maybe the OS
sleeps it, rather than the hard drive firmware.

Paul

[gfre...@aol.com]

I think that is the right answer. These things tend to have a very
short life if they are on all the time. When I use them on my Dish
DVR, they seem to crap out pretty fast. I think the Dish box is
banging them a lot so they never sleep. I ended up putting a fan in
the enclosure and they hold up a lot better.

[B00ze]

On 2016-05-24 09:41, Paul <nos...@needed.com> wrote:

> There is WDIDLE3, for drives that support it.
> https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?threads/hacking-wd-greens-and-reds-with-wdidle3-exe.18171/

Nice of you to share, it's gone from WD's website - Thanks :-)

--
! _\|/_ Sylvain / B00...@hotmail.com
! (o o) Member:David-Suzuki-Fdn/EFF/Red+Cross/SPCA/Planetary-Society
oO-( )-Oo After Tuesday the calendar says: "WTF"

[Paul]

B00ze wrote:
> On 2016-05-24 09:41, Paul <nos...@needed.com> wrote:
>
>> There is WDIDLE3, for drives that support it.
>> https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?threads/hacking-wd-greens-and-reds-with-wdidle3-exe.18171/
>>
>
> Nice of you to share, it's gone from WD's website - Thanks :-)
>

Occasionally, you get really lucky, and the web page content
lends itself to archiving. Then the Easter Egg awaits you
on archive.org .

https://web.archive.org/web/20140208013556/http://support.wdc.com/product/download.asp?groupid=619&sid=201&lang=en

wd5741.exe (x86 and x64) 212KB Download_button
wd5741x32 295KB Download_button
wd5741x64 341KB Download_button

The Download button seems to be working.

I have no reason to download stuff like that, as I'm
unlikely to own such hard drives (reds and greens).

HTH,
Paul

[Micky]

[Default] On Tue, 24 May 2016 09:41:22 -0400, in

microsoft.public.windowsxp.general Paul <nos...@needed.com> wrote:

>Terry Pinnell wrote:
>> I'm seeking some way to prevent my external 3 TB WD 'Elements' drive
>> (E:) from 'sleeping'.

I looked this up on line and the WD site didn't say anthing about
sleeping. Shouldn't it say one way or the other?

Has that been true for a long time?**

For the record, I would like the opposite of what the OP wants. I'd
like it to sleep when the computer sleeps. Shouldn't the advertising
mention that if it's true?


**For example, I have a WD external drive, maybe 4 years old, that was
known iirc as The Book, model WD5000N 1U, and it would be good from my
pov if it slept when the computer slept. ..... Well, I just plugged
it in for the first time in about a year, and the blue light on it
lights up, and I can feel it spinning, but the computer doesn't
recognize it. :-(

I thought I was safe leaving it on the basement floor because the
drive is sealed, but I didn't think that there might be some
electronics outside of the drive. Could that be the problem?

Okay, so I'll have to buy another one. When I was shopping for one
for a friend a couple years ago, most of them didn't say anything
about sleeping and for the one that did say, after I ordered it, I
found a webpage that said the feature wouldn't work with his
particular version of MacOS. J&R was took it back and returned my
money just as they said they would.

[Paul]

Micky wrote:

>
> I thought I was safe leaving it on the basement floor because the
> drive is sealed, but I didn't think that there might be some
> electronics outside of the drive. Could that be the problem?
>

The drive is not sealed.

There is a breather hole on the hard drive lid. It
has a hepafilter disc (white fluffy material)
on the underside of the lid, which filters
air as it moves in and out.

I don't store computers anywhere but on the main
floor. Not in the garage, not in a shed outdoors.
I would avoid purposeful high-humidity locations.
For example, I've had paint cans rust through when
put in contact with the cement floor. I elevate
all of them now. They sit on my wooden paint can
bench.

Some new hard drives, are shipping with a silica
gel packet (desiccant) inside the antistatic bag,
next to the drive. This is to reduce ambient moisture
until the product gets to the customer and the sealed
bag is cut open.

*******

If you want to experiment with "sealed", buy
an HE6 drive. Which is filled with helium
gas, and there is no breather hole on those.
I think Seagate just announced their helium
unit. What I find most puzzling about the
HE6 specs, is the specs were set to "mimic"
conventional hard drives. The HE6 should have
been promoted to work at 40,000 feet or something
(because the atmosphere inside it is sealed),
yet it still has a conventional 10,000 foot
operating ceiling. regular hard drives have
a 10,000 foot operating ceiling, because
the air gets thinner inside the HDA at
that altitude, and there isn't enough
lift for the "flying heads".

Paul

[B00ze]

I'm getting it just in case. I would never buy a Green, but I was
interested in the Red Pro at some point, that was before: 1. Backblaze
released new figures where Seagate is doing ok, and 2. I saw how much
cheaper Seagate Desktop Enterprise drives were compared to WD ones. I
might just go for a Seagate...

Best Regards,

--
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! (o o) Member:David-Suzuki-Fdn/EFF/Red+Cross/SPCA/Planetary-Society

oO-( )-Oo Q-TIP: Advice from The Continuum - (For your ears only)

[Rasta Robert]

That's what a few available 'keep external harddisk spinning' programs
also do.
My Disk Is Spinning:
http://rockitdjsoftware.com/mdis.htm
KeepAliveHD:
https://keepalivehd.codeplex.com/
Drive Keep Alive:
https://www.warrenheld.com/drive-keep-alive/

[Terry Pinnell]

Many thanks. Duly studied all three, tried two and now running
KeepAliveHD. Saved me some work!

[Paul]

Found this in the KeepAliveHD code. The operating principle...

this.label2.Text = "KeepAliveHD is a simple program which writes
a small text file every few minutes " +
"to your external hard disk drive(s) to
keep them from going into auto-sleep mode" +
".";

So that's the designer comment.

I would examine the SMART statistics, to see how
successful the approach is. There should be a parameter
there for start-stops, so you can see whether the
time constant selected, actually works. Never underestimate
how stupid the drive firmware is.

Paul

[Ant]

This reminds me of optical drives that used to spin down. So annoying.
Haha.
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[Terry Pinnell]

Thanks Paul. With my relatively low technical expertise in mind, could
you remind me (if I ever knew) how to "examine the SMART statistics"
please?

[Paul]

Background here.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S.M.A.R.T

This free version of a popular program, has a Health tab,
with a Start/Stop count.

http://www.hdtune.com/files/hdtune_255.exe

This is my boot drive, right now.

http://s33.postimg.org/ee9ti1m67/startstop.gif

Paul

[Micky]

[Default] On Thu, 26 May 2016 15:22:23 -0400, in

microsoft.public.windowsxp.general Paul <nos...@needed.com> wrote:

>Micky wrote:
>
>>
>> I thought I was safe leaving it on the basement floor because the
>> drive is sealed, but I didn't think that there might be some
>> electronics outside of the drive. Could that be the problem?
>>
>
>The drive is not sealed.

I guess I've learned m lesson. I don't think anything was on it that
I didn't have other copies of.

>There is a breather hole on the hard drive lid. It
>has a hepafilter disc (white fluffy material)
>on the underside of the lid, which filters
>air as it moves in and out.
>
>I don't store computers anywhere but on the main
>floor. Not in the garage, not in a shed outdoors.
>I would avoid purposeful high-humidity locations.
>For example, I've had paint cans rust through when
>put in contact with the cement floor. I elevate
>all of them now. They sit on my wooden paint can
>bench.
>
>Some new hard drives, are shipping with a silica
>gel packet (desiccant) inside the antistatic bag,
>next to the drive. This is to reduce ambient moisture
>until the product gets to the customer and the sealed
>bag is cut open.

Yes, I save those! Though I think the closet department of a
department store sells bigger bags.

[Terry Pinnell]

Thanks, I'll investigate over next day or so.

[Andy]

That's interesting.

It does not happen with Linux.

Andy