How to shut down Auto Spin down on Hard Drives

[BillATI]

How to turn off auto spin-down on Momentus XT Drives and Others!

 

FAQ'S:

Q?: Why would I want to turn off my auto spin down Hard Drive feature?

A!: Obvious reasons would be......Performance gain! As well as faster access time to your hard drive.

Q?: Would this damage my hard drive or lessen the life expectancy?

A!: As with all hard drives......The life expectancy is all dependant on how long you use your hard drive against the amount of stress allotted on rotary drives!

Q?: Can this be reversed?

A!: Yes it can!

 

REQUIREMENTS:

1x Momentus XT or alike in features (Rotary/SSD)

1x Copy of crystal disk. Download here>>>Click Here<<<

1x Patience and some HDD knowledge.

Tutorial:

Step 1: Download and install crystal disk via the link provided.

Step 2: Run Crystal Disk Info on target computer.

Step 3: Once crystal disk has started. Navigate to (Function>Advanced Feature>AAM/APM Control)!

Step 4: Select target HDD to shut down auto spin down. Under APM pull the slider all the way to the right on performance mode. Now click "Disable" and your done!

 Step 5: Now that all this is done it can be reversed just re-enabling the drives APM feature and setting the slider to your desired range.

BILL ~ATI~ 

[G73owner]

I'll have to play with this. Any idea if leaving it enabled, but moving the slider all the way to the right would make it spindown any less quickly?

Thanks.

[BillATI]

It will take longer for it to start the spin down process and quicker for it to recover, if you place the slider all the way to the performance side! You will hear the drive spin up and down! Min power would get you a silent drive but less performance....You choose what to do.

Bill ~ATI~

[G73owner]

I sorta regret getting this hybrid drive. As BTO mentioned in a post I read after I bought it, he's not sure the transfer rate benefits of it yet for the g73. It's quite loud too, and I'm happy when it sleeps (my primary drive is a quiet SSD). I'm not sure how the hybrid 7200 RPM compares to a normal 7200 on noise, but probably the same.

It is a nice laptop when the loudest thing is the HD not the fan!

[BtoTech.com]

some simple tests we ran on hybrid drives show absolutely nothing though i cant say that it is any louder then any other drive. you should not be able to hear your drive unless you are sitting in a totally sound deprived room with no ambient noise or if you are a bat :)

[G73owner]

The drive is starting to but me. I may have to use that alternate program, but I don't like doing that. Right now I'm listening to mp3s off the drive. Every time a new song starts the drive has to re-spin up again and the playlist pauses for 1/2 a second each time.

Eddy, do you like that crystaldisk idea?

I can hear the drive noise, the machine is noticeably more quiet when the drive spins down. Maybe I am a bat :)

[G73owner]

Originally Posted by BtoTech.com

some simple tests we ran on hybrid drives show absolutely nothing though i cant say that it is any louder then any other drive. you should not be able to hear your drive unless you are sitting in a totally sound deprived room with no ambient noise or if you are a bat :)

Do you think it's worth switching out for the standard drive? Not sure if it'd be worth the trouble to return it, and I'm not sure if you could get your money back. Since there is no speed boost per extra cost, and the firmware makes it sleep so much, not sure about it.

[BtoTech.com]

Originally Posted by G73owner

The drive is starting to but me. I may have to use that alternate program, but I don't like doing that. Right now I'm listening to mp3s off the drive. Every time a new song starts the drive has to re-spin up again and the playlist pauses for 1/2 a second each time.

Eddy, do you like that crystaldisk idea?

I can hear the drive noise, the machine is noticeably more quiet when the drive spins down. Maybe I am a bat :)

you probably are a bat. Noise complains are abound even for the quitest laptop. It is something i got used to hearing over the years. there is a thread on our forum from a user who says the g73 fans are too loud and the drives are too loud. i am not a fan of messing with software that forces hardware to function in different ways then it was intended. call me old fashioned. if it aint broke dont fix it

[BtoTech.com]

Originally Posted by G73owner

Do you think it's worth switching out for the standard drive? Not sure if it'd be worth the trouble to return it, and I'm not sure if you could get your money back. Since there is no speed boost per extra cost, and the firmware makes it sleep so much, not sure about it.

not sure what the point of having an ssd drive as 2ndary. you are welcome to return the drive for a credit

[BillATI]

G73Owner:

The crystaldisk software will in no way mess up your drive. The software only allows you to do what nvidia (Ntune "Overclocking/power management"), asus (Turbo Gear "Overclocking/Power Management"), etc,. Just that this software allows to do something similar but with the hard drive. Try the software and then see what you like and dislike about it. Remember it is always reversible. So your not stuck with this option. There are no permanent damage risks involved in doing this.

Bill ~ATI~

[G73owner]

Great, thanks again for the info Bill. I updated the firmware on the drive, that seemed to help a bit too.


http://www.btoforums.com/showthread.php?t=2836