How do I stop my Hard disk drive from spinning down? Aspire A515-51G

Asty

So if I, say, wanted make my harddrive sleep after 15 minutes of idle time, then I'm guessing I type this command right?:
hdparm.exe -S 180
the thing is, where do I type this command? In command prompt? And do I need to specify the entire file directory instead of just "hdparm.exe"?

JackE

Yes. From the elevated command prompt. Or if it insists on being run in compatibility mode, then add the switch to the general properties box, hdparm.exe -S 180 . Since this is pretty old software, I suggest experimenting with shorter intervals so you can get some confidence that the spindown time delay is close. Jack E/NJ

Asty

I tried typing "hdparm.exe -S 180" and the cmd propmt said that hdparm is not recognized.

All I'm doing is running cmd prompt from the search bar as admin and typing it in.

How do I make it recognize this function?

JackE

You have to find out which folder on  C : \   that the HDPARM.exe file got stored in.  Use FileExplorer search function to find out where it's located. Probably in the Program Files or Program Files (x86) sub folder. Search for HDPARM.exe. Once you find it, make a shortcut and put it on your desktop so you can find it more easily the next time.   Jack E/NJ

Asty

Hi! Sorry for responding so late. 

The program is working really well and the problem seems to be fixed. Thank you very much for all your help!

One final question - To run the program and get the result I want, I run the "Enable HDD APM (for max performance)" application and then I run the commands from the command prompt to set my spin down time, every time I shut down or put my computer to sleep. 

But what if I don't run the "Enable HDD APM (for max performance)" application but just execute the commands for setting spin down time from command prompt. Will that work?

JackE

Congrats on your success. Thanks for reporting back.

What do you mean by "Enable HDD APM (for max performance)" application? If you mean in the Windows power plan's advance settings, they're notoriously unreliable for not predictably sticking after rebooting or awaking. Sometimes they stick. Sometimes not. Won't hurt anything to try it and see.

Jack E/NJ 

per99

JackE said:

Refer to this link for HDPARM.exe options/switches http://axh.mbnet.fi/hdparm-win32.html. The standby timeout spindown switch -S .  values 1 to 240 are 5 sec multiples to spindown and 241 to 251 are half-hour multiples to spindown. Jack E/NJ PS: No -S switch or -S 0 means never spins down.

Hi, JackE! This thread is more than one year old, but I hope people will still notice a new comment. Let me first say: I have got a second hand Acer Nitro 5 AN515-51 (not an Aspire). But I thought the procedure described here would work anyway. And maybe it does - I'm not sure. Anyway I cannot see that detailed "window" - the screenshot from your last comment (I'll see if I can attach a screenshot of "my" options).

Anyway: my problem is that I don't want my HDD to stop spinning after only 5-10 seconds. I''m using the computer for music production, and the plan was to store all the audio on the HDD and the rest on the SSD (since the SSD is rather small (128 GB)). The installation of HDPARM was successful, and I'm admin ... Now that it seems I cannot attach a screenshot, I will try to type the text in the grey window:

"The selected APMvalue (250):
-Reduces parking of drive head.
-slows down increase of load/unload cycle count in smart
-minimizes harddisk clicking sounds.
This is the recommended settings."

What I really would have liked to acheive is the harddrive beeing active for exactly as long as the settings says: 15 minutes in battery mode, else 30 minutes. But from what I can tell from the sound from the laptop, it still stops turning after 5-10 seconds. I haven't tried yet, though, if the performance has increased when i use my DAW (Reaper). Becuse it will take several hours, and than I will still not be able to really tell to what extent the performance ability has improved.

per99

This is what it looks like, and I cannot really see that it is possible to manually change any values at all!

JackE

You might want to try earlier hdparm versions since they may offer more options.

per99

JackE said:

You might want to try earlier hdparm versions since they may offer more options.

Sorry, JackE, I didn't realize the thread has a page number 2 until twenty minutes ago. Then I understood I have to use the command prompt. Well I did, but I'm a real amateur when it comes to the cmd. Anyway, I tried to type (from the right directory): hdparm.exe -S 241

and then I pressed enter. And this is what i saw (the screenshot). Did I use the right method? I still cannot see the value 241. Should i restart the computer? There is something about "security-freeze" at the bottom. Enter the BIOS and change settings?

Thanks, anyway, for answering so rapidly a Friday night evening!  

JackE

At the command prompt, enter 'hdparm -S 0' . This should ensure the HDD never spins down. If you enter 'hdparm -S 241' it should spin down after about a half hour. If you enter 'hdparm -S 180' it should spin down in about 15mins.

The rule of thumb command is 'hdparm -S x' where x has values 1 to 240 in 5 sec multiples to spindown. And or values 241 thru 251 are half-hour multiples.

per99

*

And if I would like to try with "... for legacy PCs (32bit)" instead of the 'for windows 10 64bit' – should I first uninstall the 64-version? Is it possible to uninstall the usual way? P.S. When I think about it: you stated earlier hat NO value after -S means the harddrive will never stop spinning. Well - there is no value, according to the screenshot. Could it be that my computer is so quiet, that I cannot here the disc spinning? (What I heard, eariler, was the sound of the accelerating disc (when my music project had frozen for 2-4 seconds).)

per99

You answered while I was writing my previous message. There is just one thing I don't understand: Am I not supposed to be able to read the value 241 on the screen the "next time" i run the cmd? JackE said:

If you enter 'hdparm -S 241' it should spin down after about a half hour.

per99

And also: are those settings supposed to override the settings in Windows 10? (Where I had made the settings 15 minutes in battery mode and 30 minutes else (the settings that were ignored by the computer).)

No more messages from me this evening, I guess. You have already helped me a lot! 

JackE

You must enter 'hdparm -S' . If you enter 'hdparm' without the -S switch, then you get the help screen that you posted earlier.

You don't need legacy mode BIOS to run 32-bit Windows in UEFI mode. You will also hobble the 64-bit capability of the PC hardware doing so. Why would you want to do this? Any 32-bit Win10 program will run just fine on a 64-Win10 machine.

If you have 32-bit software that will only run on earlier Windows versions like WinXP or Win98SE, it's much better to run a virtual 32-bit WinXP by using VMWare's  WorkStationPlayer freeware.

JackE

Please understand that this forum is not a 'chat' line in which you might expect instant replies. There are response & notification delays just like with email. If you want to get into more details on your specific issues and better/quicker community responses from other users, I suggest that you start your own new thread by clicking on the green ask a question button.

per99

JackE said:

You must enter 'hdparm -S' . If you enter 'hdparm' without the -S switch, then you get the help screen that you posted earlier.

'hdparm -S' is invalid. But 'hdparm.exe -S' seems not to be invalid. I just wonder how I can be sure the change to 241 has been implemented? (I get that help screen when I write hdparm.exe etcetera, but I also get some other information that I can't really "interpret" (sorry for not speaking English perfectly).)

per99

I guess I should type a space-sign before 241?

per99

Does this look exactly like it should?

per99

It doesn't really matter that this 64 bit version of hdparm is in the program (x86) folder - does it?