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
    2013-11-03T01:12:27+00:00

    Nope .. this don't help at all .. I tried it on my Seagate Expansion 3TB drive and it still powered it off after 15 minutes ... the best solution is to use the registry hack **HERE**

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  2. Anonymous
    2013-11-03T00:29:44+00:00

    a. Press Windows key + X and select Device Manager.

    b. In Device Manager, under Disk drives, right-click on the usb drive or device

    c. Go to the Policies tab & switch it from Quick removalto Better performanceas per screen shotHope this helps :)

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  3. Anonymous
    2013-11-02T22:37:16+00:00

    Registry hack worked for me too - oldish LaCie 1TB drive

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  4. Anonymous
    2013-11-02T22:29:44+00:00

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

    That helped me to solve the problem. Thanks a lot.

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