Second HDD drastically increases S3 wake time


  1. Posts : 1
    Win7 Pro x64
       #1

    Second HDD drastically increases S3 wake time


    Hi folks. sorry about first post being a question but I can't find anything that I can answer atm...
    I've recently built the system described in my specs and all worked well untill I installed the second HDD. I want the second disk as a file backup disk as I don't need the performance of RAID 0 but want easy, constant access to a backup disk without having to plug in an external. The second disk is recognised by the BIOS and Windows (it can be accessed and I formatted and mapped it and read and write is fine). The problem is that I've noticed that now instead of Win7's awesome 2-3 second wake from S3 sleep that I had with one drive, it now takes about 15-20s. The second HDD is definitely the culprit as I've pulled the power on it and Windows will wake in 3 seconds again. Windows seems to wait for the second disk to spin up before it wakes 'cause I can hear it click and spin at wake. I asked friends with multiple disks and they said that their second disk only spins up when they first access them in explorer. I thought this would be a simple BIOS setting to set mine to do the same but I cannot find anything appropriate. The only thing in Windows' Power Management settings that I can find relating to HDDs is the inactive time to spin down; nothing about spin up at boot/wake. Google has only offered me something called PUIS or PM2 power setting for SATA drives that was made for older PSUs that couldn't handle the power requirements of spinning up two HDDs simultaneously. This sounded like it might work but the setting is apparently made with SATA jumpers (I didn't even know that SATA drives had jumpers) and on inspection of my drives, mine don't.
    Does anybody know of a Windows setting for this or is it a BIOS thing? I've asked Gigabyte but they've not replied in a few days and I don't think they're going to any time soon.
    By the way, I don't think it's relevant but the drives are on the same power lead... I'm clutching at straws with that one I think
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 43
    Win 7
       #2

    I realize, this thread is old, but the info is still useful for many.

    PUIS is used in modern systems too, especially in Enterprise and RAID setups, and is a part of future ATA/ATAPI Command Set - see section 4.20 and others. You can use Hitachi Feature Tool to activate PUIS in various HDD brands (i.e. block non-system disks spinup at wakeup from Standby until you try to write or read files from these disks), if your HDD firmware & hardware supports this feature. It should be supported on most drive models as part fo ATA/ATAPI Standard, but some Samsung green models may have issues with it as reported on the web, as they use alternative similar purpose feature sets. There are also some other open source and HDD maker developed tools capable of activating PUIS. This feature requires BIOS support.

    Windows also use some Registry settings to allow for more time to access (system) drives at wakeup, which is useful for booting from slower and USB external drives. But it doesn't have AFAIK any settings to block non-system HDD spinup at wakeup, this is the feature of HDD firmware. Such Windows feature would be useful however, especially on multidrive systems to save energy and avoid BSODs due to delays in accessing some of HDDs at wakeup because of PSU voltage drop.
    Last edited by zamar21; 29 Jan 2012 at 08:26.
      My Computer


 

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