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

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

0 comments
Answer accepted by question author
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

Was this answer helpful?

1 person found this answer helpful.
0 comments

164 additional answers

Sort by: Most helpful
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Anonymous
    2013-10-30T21:37:02+00:00

    Same problem here:

    After the installation of Windows 8.1 RTM on my Surface Pro the following error occurs when using my Kingston DTHX30/256GB DataTraveler HyperX30 USB 3.0 Drive.

    After about 30 seconds not accessing the usb drive it seems to go to the suspend state. But then it will not wake up right. The windows explorer stuck until I remove the usb drive from the usb port or wait a minute.

    I can delay this error if I set the Hard drive turn off time in the energy settings to "never" (was at 15 minutes before) and turn off usb selective suspend. But then the same error occurs after some minutes.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  2. Anonymous
    2013-10-30T19:15:29+00:00

    Please note that Windows 8.1 system suspends idle USB devices more aggressively than it used to do on Windows 8. As a result, you could run into device issues or a combination of device/hub/controller issues.

    As this is causing problems, can MS please either undo this or at a minimum provide a setting that ACTUALLY controls what it says it controls?  Meaning all these suggestions to settings that would plainly appear to keep the device from sleeping have NO EFFECT whatsoever.  On ANYTHING but a laptop or tablet, why would ANYONE want this setting or behavior?

    It's like using the Shift key and all you get are lower case letters because the key was reprogrammed to be less aggressive with making upper case letters.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  3. Anonymous
    2013-10-30T19:04:44+00:00

    I have this issue and have tried all suggestions. My Drive is a LaCie 1Tb USB. The drive worked fine in 8.0. This has to be a driver issue in 8.1. Every time I save a file, the dialog box needs to wait for the USB drive to wake up and reconnect to the USB (with sound effects) even if I'm not saving to the external drive. 

    I have also posted on other threads with no luck finding a solution.

    Please can someone from MS look into this issue.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  4. Anonymous
    2013-10-30T04:54:11+00:00

    Same problem.

    Using an external 1TB A-DATA HD710 USB 3.0 HDD.

    This DID NOT happen on Windows 8. Already tried all the mentiones solutions above without difference. Users are reporting the same issue on other forums.

    As a temporary solution I'm also using that "NoSleepHD" program, but hopefully MS fixes this soon!

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments