Why my internal HDD-s keep spinning up?

BaltarWithSix · Feb 3, 2023

I have Win 11 installed on my SSD but I also have three HDD-s where I keep my pictures, videos, backups etc.
I have set the HDD-s to spin down after 10min in idle which they do BUT they spin up again in a few minutes. So I hear constant spin-down and spin-up.

WHY?

I have tried to un-mount the HDD-s so they will not show up in the system unless I re-mount them again. The HDD-s are also bitlocker encrypted so there should not be any virus-scanning, indexing or anything like that going on but the HDD-s still keep spinning up!

I have used "HDDScan" to force the spin down but not use - they just keep spinning up in a few minutes again!

I did not had this problem with Windows 7
Same problem with Windows 10...

Please advice!

Ghot · Feb 3, 2023

Hello @BaltarWithSix welcome to Eleven Forum.

Try setting the HDDs to turn off after 120 minutes instead. See if they keep spinning up.

BaltarWithSix · Feb 4, 2023

I will try today but that does not make any sense to me...

BaltarWithSix · Feb 4, 2023

Set to 120 min. The HDD-s do not spin down at all - apparently because some unknown process uses my HDD-s in every 5-10 minutes...

Ghot · Feb 4, 2023

BaltarWithSix said:
Set to 120 min. The HDD-s do not spin down at all - apparently because some unknown process uses my HDD-s in every 5-10 minutes...

What does Task Manager (Performance Tab), show for Disk Activity % ??

BaltarWithSix · Feb 4, 2023

They seem to be spinning up at the same time mostly (this time F did not spin up but few minutes later). Task manager shows spike when they spin up and then 0% for 10 minutes until they spin down again (I set the spindown to 10 min as 120 min did not help at all.)

All HDD-s are bitlocker encrypted so there is should be no viruses to scan, no indexing to be done, defrag or wahatever.

If I could just find out what scheduled task is responsible for spinning up my HDD, please anybody tell me..

Ghot · Feb 4, 2023

BaltarWithSix said:
View attachment 51877
They seem to be spinning up at the same time mostly (this time F did not spin up but few minutes later). Task manager shows spike when they spin up and then 0% for 10 minutes until they spin down again (I set the spindown to 10 min as 120 min did not help at all.)

All HDD-s are bitlocker encrypted so there is should be no viruses to scan, no indexing to be done, defrag or wahatever.

If I could just find out what scheduled task is responsible for spinning up my HDD, please anybody tell me..

Probably the easiest way to find the culprit, is to go on the Processes Tab in Task Manager and click the "Disk" column heading, which will put whatever is using the Disk, the most... at the top.

Then you should be able to see what's happening every... 10 minutes.

Those are some pretty large Disk Activity spikes... it should be fairly obvious on the Processes Tab.

The only way I can generate 100% Disk Activity is by copying a 6GB file, from one drive to another.
Even a Bitdefender virus scan only hits about 60%

BaltarWithSix · Feb 4, 2023

"System" and "Service host: Windows Event Log" were on top when one or all of the HDD-s spin up.
While they spin up, I was just reading this forum and IMDB.com movie news.

Ghot · Feb 4, 2023

BaltarWithSix said:
"System" and "Service host: Windows Event Log" were on top when one or all of the HDD-s spin up.
While they spin up, I was just reading this forum and IMDB.com movie news.

I have those two on or near the top as well, but mine are generating so near 0% it doesn't matter.
They never spike like yours.
I don't know. I can't think of anything obvious.

I assume you scanned for viruses.
I assume you don't have anything "syncing" your drives.
I would probably check to see what's different about the F: drive.

BaltarWithSix · Feb 4, 2023

One side note: If my HDD-s happened to be turned off (not spinning) and I shut down/restart my PC - they all spin up before shut down/restart.
Seems really pointless for windows to spin them up just before shut down...

garlin · Feb 4, 2023

BaltarWithSix said:
One side note: If my HDD-s happened to be turned off (not spinning) and I shut down/restart my PC - they all spin up before shut down/restart.
Seems really pointless for windows to spin them up just before shut down...

Windows is marking the drives as properly shutdown. A powered down drive is not the same as an ejected drive, since it can be spun up and written to without requiring a CHKDSK.

Ghot · Feb 4, 2023

BaltarWithSix said:
One side note: If my HDD-s happened to be turned off (not spinning) and I shut down/restart my PC - they all spin up before shut down/restart.
Seems really pointless for windows to spin them up just before shut down...

Try a clean boot... see if the problem persists.

Perform a Clean Boot in Windows 11 to Troubleshoot Software Conflicts

This tutorial will show you how to perform a clean boot to start Windows 10 or Windows 11 using a minimal set of drivers and startup programs for troubleshooting application conflicts. Troubleshooting Windows can be a complex process due to the many different drivers, settings, and programs...

www.elevenforum.com

Haydon · Feb 4, 2023

BaltarWithSix said:
I have Win 11 installed on my SSD but I also have three HDD-s where I keep my pictures, videos, backups etc.
I have set the HDD-s to spin down after 10min in idle which they do BUT they spin up again in a few minutes. So I hear constant spin-down and spin-up.

WHY?

I have tried to un-mount the HDD-s so they will not show up in the system unless I re-mount them again. The HDD-s are also bitlocker encrypted so there should not be any virus-scanning, indexing or anything like that going on but the HDD-s still keep spinning up!

I have used "HDDScan" to force the spin down but not use - they just keep spinning up in a few minutes again!

I did not had this problem with Windows 7
Same problem with Windows 10...

Please advice!

Do you have BitLocker auto-unlock enabled? If so, toggle it to disabled.

Vice versa, if you have set it to disabled, toggle it to enabled.

See if it makes a difference and if so, what the difference is.

BaltarWithSix · Feb 5, 2023

Clean boot did not made any difference.

I set all HDD-s as Offline. They are not even showing up on My Computer anymore SO it does not matter if it has bitlocker auto-enabled/disabled

WHY they spin up in every 15 minutes or so?

I recently had different motherboard with Win 10 - Same problem with HDDs spinning up.

I needed to replace my motherboard because of physical damage, I also installer Windows 11 while I was at it - I hoped that finally the HDD spin up problem with go away but no...

cereberus · Feb 5, 2023

Check if you have pagefiles set for all drives. I turn them off for all but C drive if other drives are HDDs

cereberus · Feb 5, 2023

BaltarWithSix said:
One side note: If my HDD-s happened to be turned off (not spinning) and I shut down/restart my PC - they all spin up before shut down/restart.
Seems really pointless for windows to spin them up just before shut down...

Turn off hibernation as well as page file

BaltarWithSix · Feb 6, 2023

This forum is no help. I just have to physically remove the sata cables from the drives to make them silent and then connect them again if I want to use the dries.

Win 7 is still the best!

cereberus · Feb 6, 2023

BaltarWithSix said:
This forum is no help. I just have to physically remove the sata cables from the drives to make them silent and then connect them again if I want to use the dries.

Win 7 is still the best!

What a disgraceful attitude.

This forum is acknowledged as one of the best in the world. People try and help, but not all problems are easy to solve. We are not an MS helpdesk, and all people here are volunteers.

I have put you on my ignore list as I have no intention of helping an obvious troll.

glasskuter · Feb 7, 2023

BaltarWithSix said:
This forum is no help.

With an attitude like that you may be ignored by the one member who has the exact solution to your problem.
As @cereberus said, we are all volunteers who spend a lot of time and effort trying our best to help solve problems based on our own experiences and computer knowledge. We don't always know all the answers, but we try really hard to help. Even if you are dissatisfied, there's no reason to be impolite.

mBrane · Sep 7, 2023

OP, this thread has definitely been giving you the run-around! I have a nice zippy new ASUS laptop with dual NVMe SSDs and a couple of mechanical HDs attached via Thunderbolt and USB4 for backups and larger things. I see the same thing and it's a BS Windows OS thing. For example, copying a file from one SSD to another invariably pauses, to allow the (completely-uninvolved) HDs to spin up. It's a thorough - but brute force - way to do things, from the developers'/OS's perspective. Explorer (and likely the underlying disk subsystem) needs to get smarter / more-elegant.

Personally, I'm going to (ham-fistedly and energy-inefficiently) set the HD sleep timer to 15 mins (when laptop is plugged in). Will post back results (if I remember!):

P.S. There are some additional tools listed at the bottom of this article. Good luck!

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