Windows 8.1 causes external hard drives to auto-sleep?

Anonymous
2013-10-27T07:38:58+00:00

My 2 external hard drives are always active as I have disabled auto sleep. I didn't have this problem way since Windows 7, but after upgrading to Windows 8.1 from Windows 8, my 2 external hard drives will automatically went to sleep around 10 minutes of inactivity. I have tried the power options, device manager options, but to no avail. Any help? Thanks. 

I'm using NoSleepHD as a temporary fix but I hope there's a permanent fix for this.

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Devices and drivers

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Anonymous
2013-11-01T15:32:42+00:00

Thanks for the trace. We will analyze and get back to you. We published a blog on this yesterday to bring awareness and get help from the community to root-cause the issue. We think this is all due to suspending the device when idle which we never used to do in previous OSes. We will find out if this turns out to be something else.

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/usbcoreblog/archive/2013/11/01/help-after-installing-windows-8-1-my-usb-drive-disappears-or-file-transfers-stop-unexpectedly-r-a-post-title.aspx

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  1. Anonymous
    2014-11-24T11:51:07+00:00

    Registry patch worked for me.

    http://blogs.msdn.com/b/usbcoreblog/archive/2013/11/01/help-after-installing-windows-8-1-my-usb-drive-disappears-or-file-transfers-stop-unexpectedly-r-a-post-title.aspx

    I couldn't figure that one out.  Would be nice if they had a patch or file to .exe.

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  2. Anonymous
    2014-11-24T09:49:26+00:00

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  3. Anonymous
    2014-11-23T19:52:54+00:00

    I installed the update 2911106.

    No It doesn't help

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  4. Anonymous
    2014-11-23T15:00:36+00:00

    Follow the instruction on this page to find the VID/PID: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/usbcoreblog/archive/2013/11/01/help-after-installing-windows-8-1-my-usb-drive-disappears-or-file-transfers-stop-unexpectedly-r-a-post-title.aspx

    The VID/PID is on the parent of the USBSTOR device.

    -Eliyas

    By Parent, do you mean the listing directly above the device actual name?  USB Mass Storage Device, then fantom External HDD USB Device.  I've got to stop this thing from powering down every few minutes, I know what's going to happen.  I usually work with my drive for hours at a time.

    If so, I'm not clear about which numbers are what?

    VID 174C&PID_55AA&REV_0100

    That's all that's there.

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