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
    2013-10-29T21:50:36+00:00

    Hi, the same happens to me.

    I have 2 SeaGate Expansion 2TB hard drive, seems that only one goes to sleep; it never happened with windows 8.

    Of course I setted everything not to sleep, not to suspend, ecc.

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  2. Anonymous
    2013-10-29T20:48:28+00:00

    Same problem with western digital drives. They are configured with the WD tool to never going to sleep mode but since upgrading to Windows 8.1 my drives go to sleep about 5mn after inactivity.

    How this can be fix ?

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  3. Anonymous
    2013-10-29T18:36:09+00:00

    I created a USB trace file regarding the SanDisk Cruzer Micro flash drive listed above. The trace file may help in diagnosing the problem for me and others. I was unable to attach the file due to its size.

    Anannya Podder: Would you be interested in the trace file? Where can I upload it?

    Thanks.

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  4. Anonymous
    2013-10-29T18:34:55+00:00

    Can you try changing the power option for hard disk from 10 minutes to "Never" and see if that fixes your issue. To get there, search for "0Power Options" by using charms search, click on "Change plan settings", then go to "Change advanced power settings".

    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.

    If this address you problem, please post make, model, VID/PID information of the storage device and the USB controller that the device is plugged into by using the device manager.

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