sleeping WD green drives

dianedebuda

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Getting DPC Watchdog reboot seeming related to sleeping WD Green drives in SanDigital TR4M (JBOD) boxes (eSata MultiPort connections). Win7 seems to be willing to wait for the drives to awaken (which sometimes takes more than a minute), but Win8 seems not to be so patient. If that is the case, won't be able to use Win8 as planned on a new box.

After researching off and on for the last couple of months, getting really confused about these green WD drives. I have 60+ 2TB drives in various flavors (EADS, EARS, EARX, EZRX). Most have developed the symptoms of sleeping and then being hard to wake up. Most are in the TR4M boxes and a (presumed) sleeping drive can disrupt accessing of another drive in the 4-drive (JBOD) unit. All drives have a jumper on 7-8 since they may be used on an XP box too (disable Advanced Format).

Have seen referrence to load cycles & retry values, but not sure where to look & what values would be "bad". Have Crystal & WD DataLifeGuard. Other than the sleep problem, not having problems with the drives and the few that I've checked with the WD diagnostic are reported as ok.

Have seen articles about using WDIdle3 to lengthen park time, but that utility seems to be specific to certain models. Also I don't want to risk my data.

Have seen posts about NoSleepHD, but don't think it will work in my situation since I have 1 or 2 TR4M boxes on at a time (4-8 drives) and then will use HotSwap to "Safely Remove" the drives in 1 box and activate another. NoSleepHD doesn't seem to support that many drives.

Saw How to enable and disable PM2 (power management) on WD SATA drives
How to enable and disable PM2 (power management) on WD SATA drives and wonder if that would help. In the Win Power Options, I have Hard disk Turn off = Never, USB selective suspend = Disabled and PCIe Link State Power Mgmt = Off. The WD drives apparently ignore the Win settings. With this jumper, would I get the "no sleep" that I think I want?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win8
I have the same problem with external WD HD. I would like to know the answer for not sleeping. I have all that stub turned off too.
 

My Computer

System One

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    Windows 10 Pro 64 bit
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    Dell Studio XPS 9100
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    Dell
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    Samsung EVO 850 250 GB SSD
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    550-W
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They could well be bad drives, I had 2 WD in the box that went to sleep. I could actually hear a hiss and then they would power down, I didn`t like that. The other 2 I have in there never sleep, I use a program called Hard Disk Sentinel to have them run at maximum performance, but they are blacks and blues. Not sure, but I believe the purpose of a green is to save energy so maybe that`s why they are going to sleep. But then I thought the way a green saved energy was by spinning at 5400 rpm`s. Either way, I would not get a green.

Then again it could be an external drive issue, as you say. I would consult WD, they have good support.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 7 Pro x64 Windows 10 Pro x64 Build 9926
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    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Gateway GT5404
    CPU
    Intel Core 2 Duo E6700 @ 2.66 GHz
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    Intel D945GCL
    Memory
    4GB PC2 6400 @ 800 MHz CL 6-6-6-18
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    MSI GTX660 TF3 2GB
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    Realtek HD
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    Gateway FPD1975W
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    Samsung 850 EVO 120GB SSD / WD 500GB
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    Corsair HX750
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    Verizon Quantum Gateway 60 / 60
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    MSE / Defender / MBAM
AFAIK, green drives are supposed to power down to save energy, so that part is "normal". But they seem to be powering down earlier now and harder to restart - mostly when in the TR4M boxes. If I pull a drive & use it in a usb 3 dock, not having so much trouble. Waking up takes a bit, but at least it works with Win7; Win8 seems to puke at the delay. It is just so much easier for me to use the TR4M boxes and I don't worry as much about connector wear and tear as with the bay. I have replaced TR4M boxes, but the drive symptoms remain. Those that work, work; those that sleep, sleep.

Green drives were supposed to be "the" drive for video, so that's why I started using them years ago. WD is good at replacing drives, but almost all of mine are out of warranty - and replacing 50 drives wouldn't be cheap. I do plan to talk to WD, but I haven't had much luck there before with this level of tech question. There's tons of posts on the web about this sleep problem, but so many conflicts that a clear solution is not apparent, at least to me. Maybe there is no solution, but I'm hoping some kind soul knows of a magic wand.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win8
Try disabling power manangement on the Root hub in Device Mgr

extHDD PwrMgmt.png


If you select View - by connection you can find the relationship to the drive easier. I disabled it on both USB 3.0 ports that I might use to connect the drive
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win8.1 Pro | Win10TP Pro - boot to VHD
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    HP Pavilion dv6-c610us
    CPU
    AMD VISION A6-3420M Quad-Core (2.4GHz/1.5GHz)
    Motherboard
    HP
    Memory
    6GB DDR3 SDRAM (2 DIMM)
    Graphics Card(s)
    AMD Radeon HD 6520G Discrete-Class Graphics
    Monitor(s) Displays
    HP 2072a (20" LED)
    Screen Resolution
    1600 x 900
    Hard Drives
    Hitachi 640GB (5400 RPM)
    Seagate 2 TB external
    WD 500 GB external
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    Logitech K520 (wireless bundle)
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    Logitech M310 (wireless bundle)
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    IE 11 (default) & Pale Moon
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    HP product specs:

    http://support.hp.com/us-en/product/HP-Pavilion-dv6-6c00-Entertainment-Notebook-PC-series/5191856/model/5218495/document/c03138553/
Don't think that applies here. 1) the drives seem to ignore Windows settings 2) connections are eSata, not USB 3) the usb hub items that did have Power Managerment are already unchecked.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win8
Ah, I should have paid more attention to your original post.

Sorry 'bout that. It's not just the Green eSata drives though - my Seagate USB 3.0 seems to ignore Windows too

Bill
.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win8.1 Pro | Win10TP Pro - boot to VHD
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    HP Pavilion dv6-c610us
    CPU
    AMD VISION A6-3420M Quad-Core (2.4GHz/1.5GHz)
    Motherboard
    HP
    Memory
    6GB DDR3 SDRAM (2 DIMM)
    Graphics Card(s)
    AMD Radeon HD 6520G Discrete-Class Graphics
    Monitor(s) Displays
    HP 2072a (20" LED)
    Screen Resolution
    1600 x 900
    Hard Drives
    Hitachi 640GB (5400 RPM)
    Seagate 2 TB external
    WD 500 GB external
    Keyboard
    Logitech K520 (wireless bundle)
    Mouse
    Logitech M310 (wireless bundle)
    Browser
    IE 11 (default) & Pale Moon
    Other Info
    HP product specs:

    http://support.hp.com/us-en/product/HP-Pavilion-dv6-6c00-Entertainment-Notebook-PC-series/5191856/model/5218495/document/c03138553/
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