Hard Drive - Turn Off Hard Disk After Idle or Never

How to Turn Off Hard Disk After so many Minutes of being Idle or Never​

   Information

This will show you how to have your hard disks to be either turned off after however many minutes you set of being idle, or to never be turned off in Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8.

This setting will only affect internal HDDs and not for SSDs (solid state drives).

When set to turn off hard disks after idle, you will notice a brief delay of a few seconds when you try to access a turned off hard disk as it spins back up and is turned back on automatically as needed. Having your hard disks to be turned off after being idle can help save energy and extend a laptop's battery life.

   Note

Hard disks do not turn off after your computer has been idle

If you have the hard disks set to be turned off after X amount of minutes of being inactive, then this behavior can be caused if any disk activity occurs, whether it is caused by user input or system tasks. Disk activity of any type resets the hard disk idle timer, and this can increase the amount of time it takes for your hard disk to turn off.

Windows is designed to automatically perform maintenance tasks to improve performance and reliability. When your computer is on AC power and is idle, system maintenance tasks may be able to run for a few minutes. These system maintenance tasks include disk-layout optimization to improve performance and preparing automatic system restoration points to increase reliability. Typically, these tasks occur the first time you leave your computer idle after you start it. These tasks ensure that the system maintains its performance and reliability even after long use. Because these tasks involve reading and writing to the hard disk, the hard disk idle time is reset regularly during this maintenance period.

There are other items that can reset the hard disk idle timer. These items can include:

• Paging operations.
• Windows Update checking the system state.
• Event logging.
• Network detection such as DHCP or Autonet.
• Third-party services such as quota software or an antivirus program.
• Scheduled tasks.
• The loading of services or drivers.

When these items either read from or write to the hard disk, the hard disk idle timer is reset.

Here's How:
1. Open the advanced power settings in Windows 7 or Windows 8 for your selected power plan, and do step 2 or 3 below for what you would like to do. (see screenshot below)

2. To Turn Off Hard Disks After Idle
A) Expand Hard disk and Turn off hard disk after, set how many minutes you want the hard disks to be idle for before being turned off, click/tap on OK, and go to step 4. (see screenshot below)
NOTE: The default setting is with 20 minutes.

3. To Never Turn Off Hard Disks
A) Expand Hard disk and Turn off hard disk after, set it to Never ( 0 minutes), click/tap on OK, and go to step 4. (see screenshot below)

4. Close the Edit Plan Settings window. (see screenshot below step 1)
That's it,
Shawn

Related Tutorials

---

• How to Add or Remove "Turn off hard disk after" in Power Options in Windows
• How to Add or Remove "Hard disk burst ignore time" in Power Options
• How to Remove or Show Drives in the Vista and Windows 7 "Send To" Context Menu
• How to Select a Power Plan in Windows 7
• How to Change the Power Plan Settings in Windows 7
• How to Add, Change, or Remove a Drive Letter in Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8
• How to Hide or Show Empty Drives in Windows 7 Computer Folder
• How to Turn On or Off "USB Selective Suspend" for Idle USB Devices
• How to Enable HIPM and DIPM for your SSD and HDD in Windows 7
• How to Set to Turn Off the Display after Specified Time in Windows
• How to Add or Remove "USB 3 Link Power Mangement" in Power Options in Windows 8

 

[ben859420]

Was having trouble finding the "Never" option, finally figured it out; you must select Zero Minutes.

 

[Brink]

Hello Ben, and welcome to Seven Forums.

Thank you for posting back your feedback. I have updated the tutorial to help others avoid having the same trouble.

 

[Trinitrotoluene]

After reinstalling Windows today, I noticed this clicking sound coming from one of my HDDs. The clicking coinciding with a re-installation.... Must have been the power plan. I've now set my HDDs to never go to sleep.
It had me checking out SMART data and everything already, thinking it was a click of death at first. so I googled around for firmware updates, stumbling upon this topic by coincidence. I really can't remember I've also set my HDDs to never go to sleep last time I installed Windows. So thanks for reminding me, Brink!
From a power saving perspective, the default 20 minutes make sense. But it adds extra wear on the drive, if it needs to shutdown and bootup more.

 

[Brink]

You're welcome Trinitrotoluene.

Personally, setting the HDD's to turn off when idle is more useful if you let your computer run for long extended periods of time. If you are off and on the computer and put the computer to sleep inbetween, then setting the HDD's to turn off when idle will probably not be of much use.

 

[Exlans]

Ok What about if i have more than one hard .. and i want only one hard disk to sleep if it become idle and other not .. so how i could do that if the option not giving me any choice ??

 

[Brink]

Hello Exlans,

I'm sorry, but this is a all or none type setting. It would be nice to be able to select to apply this to only specified HDD's though.

 

[nonpasaran]

Hi Shawn,

You said "This setting will only affect internal HDD's and not SSD's "

I confused
SSD's uses another power settings independent from Windows or what? Can you explain please?

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Hi Shawn,

You said "This setting will only affect internal HDD's and not SSD's "

I confused
SSD's uses another power settings independent from Windows or what? Can you explain please?

I assume it has to do with the fact that SSDs have no moving parts and therefore can't "spin down" to save power. They are either in use or not in use---on or off.

 

[Brink]

Yep, that would be why.

 

[nonpasaran]

Thanks guys

 

[Brink]

Glad we could help.

 

[bluescorpion]

Brink i have a weird problem about this option...in the past all works good but now nothing work for me.even if i set the option to 5 minutes...i dont know why and is there no program i use that affect the disks i want to shutdown...i dont understand....

 

[Brink]

Hello bluescorpion, and welcome to Seven Forums.

It's most likely that something is using the HDD preventing it from being idle. You might double check the items at the MS KB link below to see if any of them may apply for why your HDDs are not being turned off when idle for the specified time.

Hard disks do not turn off after your computer has been idle

Hope this helps for now,
Shawn

 

[bluescorpion]

i am pretty sure no one of those items is runing.i have 5 hdds on pc.and even one is close :/
ty for your answer anyway

 

[Brink]

You might try booting into Safe Mode to see if they turn off after the set idle period. If they do, then something is preventing it from being idle when you are booted in normal mode.

 

[bluescorpion]

You might try booting into Safe Mode to see if they turn off after the set idle period. If they do, then something is preventing it from being idle when you are booted in normal mode.

i try it with safe mode and all works good.
now i dont find what affect from shutdown without safe mode...

 

[Brink]

Yep, now it's that needle in the haystack for the cause. You might give the tutorial below a try to see if it may be able to help narrow it down some, and hopefully find the cause while testing in the STEP TWO section to see if it turns off.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorial...ation-conflicts-performing-clean-startup.html

 

[bluescorpion]

Yep, now it's that needle in the haystack for the cause. You might give the tutorial below a try to see if it may be able to help narrow it down some, and hopefully find the cause while testing in the STEP TWO section to see if it turns off.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorial...ation-conflicts-performing-clean-startup.html

finally solved !!!!
thank you very much

 

[Brink]

You're most welcome. What turned out to be the cause?