257Roberts
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After computer idle, have to wait for HDD to spin up. Can I disable this?
I recently added a small Solid State Drive to my computer along with a fresh install of Windows 7. I kept the existing rotating HDD to use as file storage along with an external drive. Problem I am having that is annoying is if the computer is sitting for any length of time without any disk access required, when I try to open a program, the computer sits for 10 seconds or so while I hear one or more of the rotating HDD spin up. Not a big problem, but that was the whole idea behind the SSD. After the drives have spun up, the computer is blazing fast. Are there settings in Windows 7 or maybe in the BIOS that could prevent the hangs? I turn the machine off if I am not going to be using it for an hour or more since the addition of the SSD makes boot up a less than 30 second affair. Thanks for your help.
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Sean Scissors
It sounds like it's just your Power Options in the Control Panel. You have it set to turn off your harddisks after a certain time. I feel that if you turn that off and let them constantly be on you won't have that issue.
@Qlemo...seems he beat me to it. But he is right. I think of SSD as like a big flash drive so if you never turn it off it should still be fine. I don't know if in the power options you would be able to specifically determine turning off a certain harddisk over the other one. You would have to look.
No, you cannot set up harddisk spin down separately for each disk, only for all together. The SSD is not related, but of course it does not make much sense to "spin down" a SSD ...
AFAIK W7 is able to handle SSDs different (regarding deallocating space and power options, to mention some).
AFAIK W7 is able to handle SSDs different (regarding deallocating space and power options, to mention some).
ASKER
Okay I found the HDD settings after clicking on the "Advanced" button in the Power Settings on the plan that I had chosen called "High Performance" Even that one had the HDD shutting down after 20 min. I'll reboot and then see if it makes a difference. Thanks for your help.
What brand hard drive is it?
Actually...it shouldn't matter. The problem is that the drives spindown on their own, regardless of what the operating system tells them to do.
Try this little piece of freeware:
http://hdparm-win32.dyndns.org/hdparm/
It runs under Windows, though it looks a little unix-y.
You would install it, and then, from the proper directory, give the command (from the command prompt):
hdparm /dev/hdb -S0
(So you're setting spindown timeout to zero, which means "never")
(I am assuming that your SSD is drive 0, and your mechanical drive is drive 1. Drive 0 would be /dev/hda, drive 1 would be /dev/hdb, drive 2 would be /dev/hdc, etc.
The drive will probably "forget" the spindown setting you set here when you next cut power to it.
Try this little piece of freeware:
http://hdparm-win32.dyndns.org/hdparm/
It runs under Windows, though it looks a little unix-y.
You would install it, and then, from the proper directory, give the command (from the command prompt):
hdparm /dev/hdb -S0
(So you're setting spindown timeout to zero, which means "never")
(I am assuming that your SSD is drive 0, and your mechanical drive is drive 1. Drive 0 would be /dev/hda, drive 1 would be /dev/hdb, drive 2 would be /dev/hdc, etc.
The drive will probably "forget" the spindown setting you set here when you next cut power to it.
It would hurt to check the Power Management in the BIOS just to be sure, also.
...would not hurt...
Guys,
Windows is overriding any BIOS and harddisk setting, and in particular for spinning down on inactivity. The BIOS settings are (meanwhile) only used for booting the OS.
Windows is overriding any BIOS and harddisk setting, and in particular for spinning down on inactivity. The BIOS settings are (meanwhile) only used for booting the OS.
The system is set to save power and windows 7 is big on green reducing power while not in use
the only thing you can do is tell your computer not to go to sleep or hibernate, the built in technology inside the disk will render it inactive when not in use in an effort to prolong the life of the disk whether it is SSD or IDE.
the only thing you can do is tell your computer not to go to sleep or hibernate, the built in technology inside the disk will render it inactive when not in use in an effort to prolong the life of the disk whether it is SSD or IDE.
ASKER
This worked fine, although I set the HDD spindown time to 120 min.