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Thread ID: 81731	2007-08-05 09:27:00	Shutting off external USB hard drive automatically	somebody (208)	Press F1

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
576813	2007-08-05 09:27:00	I have an external hard drive which I'd like to leave running, and would like it to go into "sleep" mode when it's not in use. Windows has a power setting which will automatically turn off internal hard disks after a specified time of inactivity. Does anyone know how to do this specificially for just one (external) drive? I've searched through all the options in Disk Management, Device Manager, and the hardware settings for the drive. All I can find is that the drive does support 5 different sleep states (S0-S5), but nothing on how to make it happen. I'm running Windows Vista Ultimate. The hard drive is an IDE drive in an external USB2.0 enclosure.	somebody (208)
576814	2007-08-06 10:03:00	bump	somebody (208)
576815	2007-08-07 00:07:00	Hi, I've been working on this problem for a long time. As far as I can gather the only ones which support this under Windows XP are brand name external drives like Seagate and Maxstor which come with a special utility (sounds like Vista is no better). Generic cases and drives don't generally support this, though I have read speculation that Macs can do this...	BIFF (1)
576816	2007-08-07 01:50:00	I think Windows has an option to shut down USB devices after some period of inaction. I hear rumours that this causes problems if its enabled, because it doesn't discriminate between devices. It's all or nothing, and this can be "helpful" when it shuts down the mouse or keyboard.	Graham L (2)
576817	2007-08-07 02:08:00	Thanks Graham. I've also been fighting an uphill battle with my laptop deciding to shut off my mouse when I resume from standby every now and then, so that may be related to it...	somebody (208)
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