There do not appear to be any suitable settings to prevent "sleeping" as you indicate. Have you tried scheduling one of your pc's to ping it say every 20 mins? Alternatively but with higher wear implications, you could copy a file to or from it.

Chris B

Thanks for your thoughts Chris,

Sending packets every now and then to keep it "awake" is not a solution im looking for, its hardly efficient, Im hoping to find a more robust way of managing this drives behaviour. I can deal with the fact that the drive should go into sleep mode but having to reboot it to get it back up and working is just silly!

One would think that it would just awake upon a network request.

Could it be a bug within the firmware perhaps. (which updating hasnt made a difference)

Kind Regards,

Chester.

Wasn't much of a plan admittedly, but I am surprised that this is happening at all. WD Sata drives have power management disabled by default, to turn it on a jumper must be fitted across pins 3 and 4. Wouldn't hurt to open it and make sure thay haven't placed these jumpers on the drives. I guess a support call would be the next option.

Chris B

Hi Chris,

You're surprised and I'm dissappointed :) We have two of these and they are experiancing the same issues. Having said that the one seems to be behaving itself and hasnt gone into sleep mode in the last 24 hours or so.

That is something we could look into, have you got any documentation on that jumper idea? It would be nice to have a bit of background before going into something that could potentially void our warranty!

As for the support call, ive been down that road already, and you could guess the outcome of that.

Regards,

Chester.

At least some of the models are intended to opened, but not sure what it does to warranty. Some directions here, but might not apply to your model -
http://wdc.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/wdc.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=1709&p_created=1198272027&p_sid=6Q5yK59j&p_accessibility=0&p_redirect=&p_lva=&p_sp=cF9zcmNoPTEmcF9zb3J0X2J5PSZwX2dyaWRzb3J0PSZwX3Jvd19jbnQ9NzcsNzcmcF9wcm9kcz0mcF9jYXRzPSZwX3B2PSZwX2N2PSZwX3NlYXJjaF90eXBlPWFuc3dlcnMuc2VhcmNoX2ZubCZwX3BhZ2U9MSZwX3NlYXJjaF90ZXh0PXJlcGxhY2UgZHJpdmU*&p_li=&p_topview=1

Chris B

Hi Chris,

Yes thats a different model to the one i have. I have dismantled one before so that should be ok, i was more interesting in the possible jumper settings stuff, but i dont remember seeing any jumpers on the inside of this model. Having said that the drive has been behaving lately so its really difficult to get to the bottom of this whole thing.

In other news, i have finally got a response from WD:

Dear Chester,

Thank you for contacting Western Digital Customer Service and Support.

It's a pleasure to have a correspondence with a knowledgeable customer.
You almost did everything possible.
You can still try to reset it.You maybe already now but these are the instructions.

Answer Title: How to reset the username, password, and network settings of a WD My Book World Edition hard drive.
Answer Link: http://wdc.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/wdc.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=1521&p_created=1172595028

I'll look forward to hear from you soon to help you further

Sincerely,
Marco P.
080718-000371
Western Digital Service and Support


Having read that I dont think they have much in the way of a solution either, as i have already reset the device prior to it going into sleep mode!

I will reply to WD with the above information and take it from there.

Regards,

Chester

Well this seems to be their last resort:

Hi Chester,

Thank you for your reply.

Please see below for your data recovery and drive replacement options.

I apologize for the inconvenience, but Western Digital does not perform data recovery services. However, you may use one of Western Digital's authorized data recovery service companies. In order to retain the warranty on the hard drive, you must use a Western Digitals authorized data recovery service company. Please visit the link below for more information about these companies and our data recovery policy.

Title: How can I repair my drive, recover data on my drive, obtain a circuit board, or find a list of WD data recovery partners?
URL: http://wdc.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/wdc.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=70&p_created=1003446260

If your drive is under warranty, we have two warranty replacement options available to you, Advance RMA and Standard RMA. Both options are available online from our website. In an Advance RMA, we will ship you the replacement drive prior to receiving your defective drive. A credit/debit card is required to insure against the receipt your defective drive. If we do not receive your drive 30 days from the date the replacement drive was shipped, the fair market value of the replacement drive will be charged/debited to your credit/debit card. In a Standard RMA, we will ship you the replacement drive only after we have received your defective product. No credit/debit card is required in a Standard RMA.

The current turnaround time for an Advance RMA is 3 to 5 business days and 5 to 7 business days for a Standard RMA.

You may create your RMA online by visiting the links below. Please remember that an RMA number is required in order to replace your defective drive.

Title: How can I check the warranty of my drive?
URL: http://wdc.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/wdc.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=915&p_created=1047361575

Title: How can I replace a product under warranty?
URL: http://wdc.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/wdc.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=8&p_created=1003424317

Title: Where can I get packaging and shipping information for an RMA?
URL: http://wdc.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/wdc.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=683&p_created=1036445537

Current RMA turnaround: http://support.wdc.com/warranty/rmapost.asp

Please let us know if we can be of further assistance.

**********************************************************************************************************

So ill be enquiring about a refund.

Drive Refunded and ive now replaced it with a 500GB Freecom NAS device which is worlds better than the WD for so many reasons.

You were right! :)

Fair outcome.

Chris B

indeed.