Prevent sleeping HDD from waking up?

Shade850 said:

Ok. But the command seems to be dependent of HDDScan.exe, so what is revoSleep actually doing for me except executing the batch files?
I guess I can use task scheduler and create a task that is run on startup, that puts the drives to sleep by running the batch files created with HDDScan for Windows?

From the page I linked in my 1st reply:
Here is the proceeding of revoSleep

• Locks all partitions on the specified hard disk drive.
• Dismounts all partitions on the specified hard disk drive.
• Sends the specified hard disk to sleep.
• Puts all volumes on the specified hard disk drive in offline state.
• Deactivates the driver for the specified hard disk.
• The locked hard disk drives won't wake up.
• You can unlock/lock different hard disk drives.

Like you already said it yourself, the problem is in the "Sends the specified hard disk to sleep" part. So that's why I have put the custom command in there. My only gripe is that I still haven't been able to find a way to get it to work for external USB HDDs so, for that, I ended up buying an externally powered USB 3.0 hub that has a separate mechanical pushbutton switch next to each one of its ports (RSHTECH/Rosonway 16 ports, 100 watts @ 12V DC, aluminum body). I started using revoSleep about 12 years ago, on Windows 7. Some of my oldest external HDD enclosures have eSATA (external SATA), it works fine with revoSleep, but these days I no longer use the eSATA connection type. I am all too familiar with how annoying it can be when Windows keeps inadvertently waking up HDDs for no apparent reason.

steve108 said:

Why use two or three apps to do what Crystal Disk Info can do? I use the portable version of CDI.

Who said anything about using two or three apps? HWiNFO can be used to monitor a lot more stuff than CDI can, but neither one of both these two different apps can be used to keep Windows from inadvertently waking up HDDs─which is what this topic is about.

steve108 said:

So you tested and confirmed CDI can't do it? Yes?

It can be used to keep HDDs awake while it continuously monitors them, similar to what HWiNFO can also be used for. But, if it could also be used to keep Windows from randomly waking them up, then definitely, I would know about that. If the goal is to keep monitoring the S.M.A.R.T. data continuously at all times, then there's no need to disable the APM idle timer by using HDDScan -> Tools | Command -> build the command line to apply the APM settings and then put it in Task Scheduler like I mentioned previously (or, alternatively, CDI -> Function | Advanced Feature | AAM/APM Control | click on the button to adjust/disable the APM -> always repeat these steps after every wakeup of the computer because CDI -> Function | Advanced Feature | Auto AAM/APM Adaption will only apply the APM settings at startup and after a new disk detection, not after the computer wakes up from sleep nor the moment when I want the settings to be applied, but anyway...). That's just because the S.M.A.R.T. command that retrieves the S.M.A.R.T. data will reset the APM idle timer each time─if the timer is enabled.

As interesting as that may be, though, it still isn't what this topic is about. Windows misbehaves, as a sleeping HDD should not be woken up by it without the user's consent. Not when there simply is no valid excuse for this, it shouldn't. Unfortunately, M$ does not seem to care about the user's priorities, as this problem has been in existence for way more than a decade and there's also no secret to the fact that it has been that, and for that many years. Sadly, it is what you get when a large company receives no real competition from other companies in a typical number of ways. So, we get to play McGuyver or else we get to listen to the humming sound of HDDs doing─aside from humming frivolously and consuming power of course─bupkis.

hdmi said:

From the page I linked in my 1st reply:
Here is the proceeding of revoSleep

• Locks all partitions on the specified hard disk drive.
• Dismounts all partitions on the specified hard disk drive.
• Sends the specified hard disk to sleep.
• Puts all volumes on the specified hard disk drive in offline state.
• Deactivates the driver for the specified hard disk.
• The locked hard disk drives won't wake up.
• You can unlock/lock different hard disk drives.

Like you already said it yourself, the problem is in the "Sends the specified hard disk to sleep" part. So that's why I have put the custom command in there. My only gripe is that I still haven't been able to find a way to get it to work for external USB HDDs so, for that, I ended up buying an externally powered USB 3.0 hub that has a separate mechanical pushbutton switch next to each one of its ports (RSHTECH/Rosonway 16 ports, 100 watts @ 12V DC, aluminum body). I started using revoSleep about 12 years ago, on Windows 7. Some of my oldest external HDD enclosures have eSATA (external SATA), it works fine with revoSleep, but these days I no longer use the eSATA connection type. I am all too familiar with how annoying it can be when Windows keeps inadvertently waking up HDDs for no apparent reason.

Yeah, but what has building custom commands in HDDScan to do with revoSleep? Both applications can successfully put my internal HDDs to sleep. However, they also both fail with preventing them from spinning up, so back to square one.

They are however still unaccessible in Windows (yet spinning for some reason) until I exit revoSleep.

Shade850 said:

Yeah, but what has building custom commands in HDDScan to do with revoSleep? Both applications can successfully put my internal HDDs to sleep. However, they also both fail with preventing them from spinning up, so back to square one.
They are however still unaccessible in Windows (yet spinning for some reason) until I exit revoSleep.

The HDDScan command to put a HDD to sleep is what can be used within revoSleep to work around the problem that you described in your post:

Shade850 said:

That was the setting I used. It kinda worked until reboot, then I couldn't get the HDD to sleep again (yes, revoSleep was started)

This has also been explained on the same page I linked in my 1st reply:

• Every time a hard disk is sent to sleep or woken up, the batch file 'beforeSleep.bat' or 'afterSleep.bat' is executed. (Please check the given batch files in revoSleep program directory for more information).

• You can also specify command line parameters to send individual hard disks to sleep or to wake them up (just run 'revoSleep -h' in the CLI for more information).

So, if revoSleep couldn't get a HDD to sleep again, then editing the beforeSleep.bat file should help you fix that problem. But now you say it fails with preventing them from spinning up, so I am a bit confused.

hdmi said:

So, if revoSleep couldn't get a HDD to sleep again, then editing the beforeSleep.bat file should help you fix that problem. But now you say it fails with preventing them from spinning up, so I am a bit confused.

The main problem is stated in my original post. There's several ways put the drives to "sleep", but they always spin up after a while.

Even when I manually put them in "offline" mode in Disk Mgmt, making the volumes pretty much inaccessible from windows OS and applications, they still spin up.

Maybe this is not related to windows at all (would explain why nothing is logged). Could it be something related to HDD firmware, periodic SMART check? Perhaps something in my motherboard BIOS/CMOS that check my SATA bus for new devices?

Shade850 said:

The main problem is stated in my original post. There's several ways put the drives to "sleep", but they always spin up after a while.

Yes of course but... the only "fix" (aside from physically disconnecting the HDD, that is) that I am aware of is revoSleep, which, as has been confirmed by some people, doesn't always work on Windows 10.
Anyone managed to keep the HDD spin down for 6hrs in Win10? | revoSleep - Support

Works when manually putting the drive offline | revoSleep - Support

Even when I manually put them in "offline" mode in Disk Mgmt, making the volumes pretty much inaccessible from windows OS and applications, they still spin up.

So, your problem with revoSleep is the same or similar as what has been described by the user named sumsel in the 2nd link I posted above?

Maybe this is not related to windows at all (would explain why nothing is logged). Could it be something related to HDD firmware, periodic SMART check? Perhaps something in my motherboard BIOS/CMOS that check my SATA bus for new devices?

I have personally witnessed the problem [of HDDs waking up randomly on Windows] with my own eyes (and ears...) on Windows 7, 8, 8.1, 10 and 11. Clean install or not, doesn't make a difference. Choosing a different PC with different hardware also doesn't make a difference. But the problem doesn't seem to occur on Linux, so it is clear as a bell that Microsoft is the only culprit.

Another thing that you can try (to get revoSleep to work correctly on your computer with Windows 10) is explained in the FAQ:

• try to disable/terminate as much services and processes as possible (step by step)

FAQ - Read this first when you have a problem with revoSleep | revoSleep - Support

Here is a video I found. It goes into this specific part of the problem also, but immediately I should add that I don't really want to disable this whole list of stuff...