wb2002 Posted April 19, 2009 Report Share Posted April 19, 2009 I want to keep system harddrives powered down until I need to access them. I have tried with the power settings in Windows and even tried a program called "sswitchxp152.exe". Harddrives power down however, awakens again after a short time. I have no installed programs that require updating or monitoring of any system features. I believe my drives awaken because of some XP process that requires access to HD. Anyone know what might be the cause of HD spinup to process information?Thanks...wb2002 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andsome Posted April 19, 2009 Report Share Posted April 19, 2009 Are you certain that your A.V. program does not auto update from time to time? :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-pops- Posted April 19, 2009 Report Share Posted April 19, 2009 Do you have the Indexing Service switched on for the drive in question?If yes, turn it off. Come back to us if you want to know how to do this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andsome Posted April 19, 2009 Report Share Posted April 19, 2009 Do you have the Indexing Service switched on for the drive in question?If yes, turn it off. Come back to us if you want to know how to do this.Pops, what are the advantages and disadvantages of doing this, and should you apply it to all files and folders too? :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wb2002 Posted April 19, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 19, 2009 Let me say first, Thanks for responses. I am impressed.The program I referenced in my post was a progrm to do same thing as Windows power option thingy. I have no AV program installed. I don't even have any Anti-virus, spyware or malware programs installed.And, "YES", I do have indexing service disabled.I am basically using this system for my magic Jack service. I am using it also as a small server with a couple of drives on it to backup my other pc's (4). It is a WIND PC machine. I really love this thing - it is quiet and runs XP, Vista, Linux and does it very well. It only uses less than 40watts. It is like a Laptop but it is a true desktop PC.Perhaps it may be the Magic Jack that may be causing it since it has software associated with it and XP sees it as a drive also. I will unplug it and see if it makes a difference.I will continue seeking what may be causing the HD to come alive not too long after power down.If you can think of any more suggestions, I would appreciate it.Again, Thankswb2002 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
getting there Posted April 19, 2009 Report Share Posted April 19, 2009 Virtual software or mistakes during OS installation can leave components that cannot be deleted, moved or easily stopped although not on your installations drive. EG C:Just dribble but to do with locks that have prevented actions on disks at times for me. Sorry I cannot help you further, just a bush mechanic really.Power Down, not sure what you mean except to turn off. Or the thing you can do with laptops but do not really understand and thought it to do with monitor?Just curios but how long is shortly after power down.Like windows screen saver shortly, although dough less this is nothing to do with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CurlyWhirly Posted April 19, 2009 Report Share Posted April 19, 2009 what are the advantages and disadvantages of doing this, and should you apply it to all files and folders too? :Dhttp://lifehacker.com/software/optimizatio...s-xp-031440.phpAs I don't do many searches on my hard drive, I have it disabled in Vista and I used to have it disabled in XP too.I also have it applied to all files and folders. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-pops- Posted April 19, 2009 Report Share Posted April 19, 2009 I always turn it off to prevent drives thrashing away to no purpose. Never seemed to noticeably improve performance when switched on so, off it goes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wb2002 Posted April 20, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 20, 2009 Thanks again for your concern and help. I do have indexing off both drives in system. The monitor goes off after 1 min and the hard drives are scheduled to spind down after 3min. however the hard system hard drive spinds back up after only a min or min and 1/2, and the second drive comes back to life shortly thereafter. I want to avoid this because if that will be the results, I might as well leave the drives at full throttle. regular 3 1/2in drives gets pretty warm and are a huge source of power consumption. I wish I could afford solid state drives but cannot afford now. I have not really had time to check if the magicJack thingy is the cause yet. I will check this out next.If anyone have any other suggestions, I would appreciate if you would post it here.Kind regards,wb2002 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ɹəuəllıʍ ʇɐb Posted April 20, 2009 Report Share Posted April 20, 2009 If I were in your situation I would try to find a disk I/O monitoring program that can tell you who/what is doing the disk I/O that makes it power up again.My suspicion is that it is Windows itself, or a component of it that does the I/O.I would also very carefully examine what processes are started at Windows startup; Autoruns will give you most details under the Logon tab. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-pops- Posted April 20, 2009 Report Share Posted April 20, 2009 The timings of 1 minute for monitor and 3 minutes for drives is very short - hardly time for them to get into a running condition. On-off cycles as short as this, I'm fairly sure, are not good for the physical properties (wear and tear etc.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andsome Posted April 20, 2009 Report Share Posted April 20, 2009 I feel that I have it about right. My monitor switches off after five minutes and the hard drives after fifteen. The main hard drive does switch back on periodically as Nod 32 checks regularly for updates. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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