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
    2015-06-03T09:33:46+00:00

    I have a old Hp Compaq nc6400 with windows 8.1 and my usb drives are sleeping every 10 minutes, so I had to use keepalivehd. The wasn't this problem with windows 7.

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  2. Anonymous
    2015-06-03T09:28:49+00:00

    I use KeepAliveHD which sends a message to the usb drives every 5 minutes. Why is it that using windows 7 the 2 external hardisk which I have worked perfectly without sleeping. This got to be a software problem with Windows 8.1

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  3. Anonymous
    2015-06-03T09:23:36+00:00

    I agree with you. Ive given up and I dont think windows 10 is going to give any miracles. If windows 10 can't fix this I might go back to Windows 7 where every think seem to work smoothly.

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  4. Anonymous
    2015-06-03T00:30:40+00:00

    Hello M. Gittins,

    I am all too familiar with your issues. One offering I have. Do you have any other third party software that may control your power options? The only other suggestion is if you are using a passive USB port, you may want to try a USB port with more amp output. I have an HP Envy 17-3077nr with two external monitors, (three monitors in total), 16GB ram, a 2 TB USB external HD, a 1 TB external HD, wired external keyboard, wireless mouse. My computer sits atop a Cooler Master U3 with six fans (my computer runs hot...but thanks to the U3 with 6 fans, runs very cool)...my machine is a room heater and my devices suck the life out of my computer...however, all work well. I use the passive Sabrient USB hubs (with on-off switches on each USB port...works great). As far as the external HDs turning off...I have a fix that works. I put my music on the external HD. When I fire up my computer, I run one CD in the background (with sound muted) in replay mode. My HD NEVER turns off...a simple band aid fix.

    Hope this helps...Michael

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