# My External Hard Drive Runs a Auto 'Sleep' Mode



## theforumplace (Sep 19, 2007)

Right, I have a Seagate 250GB external hard drive that runs through a USB port on my Windows XP laptop.

The Hard drive Runs a auto 'Sleep' Mode after about 10 - 15 mins of not being accessed manually through the OS Folders. It then has to 'Wake-up' again which is affecting the way programs, music etc are run off of it.

Ive contacted Seagate and they say there isn't a way to disable this function, but there has to be something that can keep it 'awake' all the time.  

So i thought I'd ask you guys, Hope you can help me.

Thanks :up:


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## 07clarkm (Jul 24, 2007)

theforumplace said:


> Right, I have a Seagate 250GB external hard drive that runs through a USB port on my Windows XP laptop.
> 
> The Hard drive Runs a auto 'Sleep' Mode after about 10 - 15 mins of not being accessed manually through the OS Folders. It then has to 'Wake-up' again which is affecting the way programs, music etc are run off of it.
> 
> ...


Are you using a external one only?

Go to *Control Panel*

*Performance and Maintenance *
*
Power Options*

On the *Power Scheme* tab, make sure all the drop down boxes are set to *Never*... including *Turn off hard disks*.

Don't mention it, 

Mikey.


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## theforumplace (Sep 19, 2007)

Unfortunatly that hasnt worked, and im using my internal one on my laptop, just useing the external to store music, programs and photos, just as extra storage really.

Any other ideas? Thanks so far though


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## 07clarkm (Jul 24, 2007)

Hmm how odd.

Is there not a setting on your hard drive?


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## theforumplace (Sep 19, 2007)

Not thats visable, There are th econfig Files but they are 'Hidden' from normal view.

There must be a code somewhere that tells it to 'Sleep' after so long in the code surely?

Ideas?  

Really stumped me this one


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## worf51 (Jun 23, 2007)

i have a 300 gig external seagate drive also & yes mine does the same thing,to me it`s not a bother it just takes a second to kick back in,i thought it was some sort of "stanby" funtion that is similiar to a television etc...i think it is a good that it rests ,as it will prolong its life...


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## gentlemanloser (Jul 19, 2008)

yeah, but the problem is that "a few seconds" can completely kill a datastream, and for some applications that is fatal.

for example, I have a bunch of those 300GB seagates (5 to be exact) connected into a macintosh editing system. when i am outputting a videostream to DV, there can't be even a fraction of a second hold-up, that stream has to run in realtime or else the video is corrupted. so if i am outputting a video file, and one of the elemement is on another drive and occurs 15+ min into the video, when it comes time for the comptuer to play this part, it has to wait several seconds for the drive to spin up before it can access it and that ruins the stream and the last 15+ (and it has happened to me where it was a few *hours* in, not 15 min) is wasted because you have to start the stream all over again.

if you are using one drive, it is slightly annoying (as the original poster said, it can cause delays in music or video that they are playing) but if you have several hard drives and content distributed, it can get really frustrating even outside of the serious errors and work loss it can cause.

also, the spin up process, that the drives now do many times per a day coming out of sleep mode rather than once or twice a day for a fully "awake" hard drive, is far more damaging and likely to burn out your hard drive than leaving it up and spinning for awhile.

i too am looking for a way (on a mac. pain in the *** oversimplified machine it is, but it's great for film work) to stop this annoying sleep mode. perhaps there is a seagate setup utility or a firmware update?


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## deubanks (Nov 5, 2000)

I have a 500gig Maxtor ., wold by Seagate. It came with a CD that installs a program called Maxtor Manager. It has settings to select several different amount of time for it to sleep or I can select never.

Does Seagate have manager software?


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## worf51 (Jun 23, 2007)

hi deubanks,i just checked my installation disk that came with my seagate 300gig external hard drive & no it doesn`t have "manager software",as i said i get used to it nodding off,but your option would be a lot better !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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