# What is the best way to prevent a laptop's HDD from spinning down?



## HiTech_32 (Apr 28, 2018)

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Maq___ 28 April 2018 12:56:49

Hi to all,

my Lenovo Y-700-15ISK laptop's 1 TB Western Digital BLUE HDD, is causing micro-stuttering while gaming,because it spins down while inactive (or something like that)!

Many users who own this laptop model had complained about this! 

So I would please you to tell me what is the best way to fix this issue,in order to play the games without the micro-stuttering issue!

Thanks to all in advance!
Best regards!


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## jboydgolfer (Apr 28, 2018)

Usually there's an option in a bios that disables spin down , not sure if your able to get in it


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## HiTech_32 (Apr 28, 2018)

I've tried ChrystalDiskInfo and KeepAliveHD, but they didn't resolve the issue!


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## Durvelle27 (Apr 28, 2018)

BIOs or leave something small running in the background the uses the HDD


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## HiTech_32 (Apr 28, 2018)

Durvelle27 said:


> BIOs or leave something small running in the background the uses the HDD



I have no such option in the BIOS, and I tried today a little app called KeepAliveHD,but it doesn't help!


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## jboydgolfer (Apr 28, 2018)

HiTech_32 said:


> I have no such option in the BIOS, and I tried today a little app called KeepAliveHD,but it doesn't help!



Just install something like real temp or GPUZ that you can  enable to launch on start up ,and then leave it running.

Isn't there an option in windows power schemes to prevent hard drive spin down?
There is, just set it to never spin down.


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## HiTech_32 (Apr 28, 2018)

jboydgolfer said:


> Just install something like real temp or GPUZ that you can  enable to launch on start up ,and then leave it running.
> 
> Isn't there an option in windows power schemes to prevent hard drive spin down?
> There is, just set it to never spin down.



Thank you so much!


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## newtekie1 (Apr 28, 2018)

Just FYI, some hard drives will spin down and park the heads themselves when idle.  This is especially true with laptop hard drives, and I believe the WD Blue/Green drives are known for this.  If this is what is happening with you, nothing you can do will stop it.


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## Jetster (Apr 28, 2018)

Power options, never sleep but if its a green drive there is nothing you can do
Put a SSD in it


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## jboydgolfer (Apr 28, 2018)

newtekie1 said:


> Just FYI, some hard drives will spin down and park the heads themselves when idle.  This is especially true with laptop hard drives, and I believe the WD Blue/Green drives are known for this.  If this is what is happening with you, nothing you can do will stop it.



 I thought that might be the case too ,but he's saying that it's happening during gaming, which is confusing.


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## MrGenius (Apr 29, 2018)

If you have Intel RST(Rapid Storage Technology) installed, you need to also make sure you have Link Power Management disabled.


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## newtekie1 (Apr 29, 2018)

jboydgolfer said:


> I thought that might be the case too ,but he's saying that it's happening during gaming, which is confusing.



Well, I can see it happening.  The game loads everything it needs, then the HDD goes idle because everything the game needs loaded, the HDD spins down and parks the heads.  Then the game needs something, a new texture or something, and the game stutters while it waits for the HDD to spin back up and load the texture.

Some of these WD Blue/Green drives can be super aggressive about spinning down and parking the heads, like doing it after 10 or less seconds.  I think the latest WD Blue drives are 8 seconds.  No setting in the BIOS or Windows will affect this.

There is a utility that is supposed to be able to adjust that park time, but AFAIK it doesn't work with new WD drives, it now only tells you what the idle time is set to on the drive, but WD removed the ability to change the idle time from the newer drives.


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## John Naylor (Apr 29, 2018)

Tried Control Panel / Power Options ?  (Win 7)


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## R-T-B (Apr 29, 2018)

Use a utility like hdd sentinel if you want to disable headparking.





Be aware it is commercial software.


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## eidairaman1 (Apr 29, 2018)

If its a hgst/hitachi drive there is feature tool, im unaware if Seagate or western digital have such tools.


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## lexluthermiester (Apr 29, 2018)

HiTech_32 said:


> I have no such option in the BIOS, and I tried today a little app called KeepAliveHD,but it doesn't help!


Windows power options. There is an option to set when the HDD sleeps. You can set it between 1 & 999 minutes or 0 = Never.








eidairaman1 said:


> im unaware if Seagate or western digital have such tools.


They do, but I think the Windows setting would be more helpful for them in this situation.


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