Hey lads, got a problem with an external HDD.Basically, since I go back and forth between my main computer and my desktop I've had the idea of putting all my files on a portable device, i.e. an external HDD which I plug in via USB.Here's the problem: whenever I want to access files from the HDD, it takes two seconds everytime for the thing to spin up. When I save a file also, it takes a whole two seconds. This wouldn't be bad if this delay didn't become cumulative. Not even a minute after I browsed or saved the files I needed, the HDD spools back down again and needs to be "reawoken" once more.How do I make it so my portable HDD operates as a "regular" built in hard drive like that which is actually inside your computer, so always ready to go, in a sense? For the HDD to always spin up and down is bad because it increases wear, I'd like it to remain in a ready state whenever my computer is on, be it my desktop or my laptop.If it helps I'm using Win10.I looked up solutions, tried going into Control panel > Power saving options > Advanced power saving options and set hard disk deactivation timer to Never, didn't work, so I set it to 60 minutes, and the HDD again spooled down anyway. Completely worthless option, it really does nothing, I wonder why it's even there.Should I be using a flash drive or SSD instead for this use case? If it wasn't apparent, I must admit I'm not the most tech savvy person, forgive my retardation there
>>1554325>I looked up solutions, tried going into Control panel > Power saving options > Advanced power saving optionsHere's an actual screenshot of the panel in question
>>1554326For Windows 10 go to...Device Manager - Universal Serial Bus Controllers > USB Mass Storage Device - Properties - Power Management - Uncheck Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power.
>>1554328I tried it but unfortunately the HDD still goes to sleep after a little while.Thank you regardless for the kind suggestion however, anon-senpai, at this point I'm beginning to think flash drives or SSDs are better suited for this "mobile storage" kind of thing, HDDs seem better suited for long term archives instead of this kind of daily use I'm aiming for instead
>>1554333the newer external controllers ignore any os setting and go into standby. only way i could find to prevent that was to move the drive inside to a different controller.
>>1554325>If it wasn't apparentDon't worry, it was.Too much parking causes wear on the head actuator but too much spinning wears the bearings. An idle drive also saves energy. Spin-up is a momentary power surge but total energy is less than keeping the drive spinning during extended periods of no access. It's a trade off. A drive going idle in 60 seconds is likely too far often though.>Should I be using a flash drive or SSD instead for this use case? That might be a good idea because it sounds like you're carrying about the drive as well as repeated cable swapping and the more you do that the more you are likely to bump or drop it and dropping often causes more wear than regular use. A small drive is easier to lose as well.The better idea is share a drive on your network whether as a simple share from an existing computer or as a NAS. You've got a lot of options for a NAS, like a couple of hundred of bucks for a minicomputer that can run without a monitor or keyboard or mouse attached, though you often need those attached during setup.>>1554333>I'm beginning to think flash drives or SSDs are better suited for this "mobile storage" Network storage is probably better suited unless you're going somewhere without a network, have a bad network, or you're a super secret spy.
>>1554325for Linux it's super easy, you just use hdparm
>>1554377>Don't worry, it was.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnGsO5Ul5KMREKTEKT>have a bad networkIt's this one for me. NAS sounds good but I'm a stingy fucker so ultimately I think I'll use an external SSD from now, one of which I already own. They say SSDs are not as reliable as HDDs but I make backups every 3-6 months over multiple storage devices anyway. I'll move the files from my HDD to my SSD in a jiffy, my personal files are no more than 50 GB in total anyway, there are games heavier than that.Thank you and everyone else who posted once again, respect
