[Windows 11] HDDs won't go into power saving/sleep mode

[+Nik Louch Subscriber²]

Hi all.  Just built a new NAS based around a Windows 11 install.  Yes, I know, Win11 is not a NAS environment, I get it - and I may change this up in the future, but here and now - it is what it is

All is working well, all drives identified quite happily, all drivers installed and up to date, nothing showing as unidentified in Device Manager.  I'm pretty happy with it.  Except one small issue...  The drives (Western Digital, 10tb, 3.5", SATA) are just constantly staying spun-up.  On my last NAS (using much the same hardware) they would spin down when not in use - and then when needed spin up again.  This build, no bueno...

I have checked the power settings and the active config says to power them down after 5 mins of non-usage, but it's just not doing so.  And everything I have googled says "Check the active power config" - which as I say, I have.

Any help would be appreciated.  Thanks

[Circaflex]

Could it be indexing in the background considering its a new build?

[+Nik Louch Subscriber²]

On 14/10/2025 at 00:29, Circaflex said:

Could it be indexing in the background considering its a new build?

Yeah I’ve tried to consider what’s using the drives - but here’s the killer - they are currently empty - I’ve yet to load the data onto them from my older NAS

[+Nik Louch Subscriber²]

Having gone through the BIOS looking for related power settings, double checked the Windows power settings (!) and looking anywhere else I can think of...

I'm gonna have to rebuild the whole damned server.  Bugger!

[+InsaneNutter MVC]

If you search in the start menu for "resource monitor" and load that, then click the disk tab, do you see anything trying to access those drives and keeping them awake?

How are the drives connected? If its HBA flashed to IT mode, these can be bad for power efficiency, not always letting the drives spin down regardless of settings.

[+Nik Louch Subscriber²]

That's a damned good shout, I'll take a look at Resource Monitor.

They are connected to a PCI-Express SATA board... 

[goretsky Supervisor]

Hello,

Have you checked with Western Digital Corp. to see if they offer a utility you can run to manually set the drive's behavior, such as how long to wait before idling the drive?

Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky
 

[+Nik Louch Subscriber²]

On 21/10/2025 at 01:37, goretsky said:

Have you checked with Western Digital Corp. to see if they offer a utility you can run to manually set the drive's behavior, such as how long to wait before idling the drive?

I have not - and while yeah that's valid, I never needed to do this on my older server.  Will do so though

[+Sledge Subscriber²]

Are you looking at the power options via control panel or the win 11 settings?

Have got a very similar build and have 2x WD connected which mostly stay powered off. Have got them set to 20 minutes, can't see anything in Win11 setting around this.  

Have also got the exact same power setting on a media pc with WDx3 (14, 16 & 18tb). These also actively stay powered down unless Plex is accessing them.

[+Nik Louch Subscriber²]

Yes, I have checked both

[+Sledge Subscriber²]

Other stuff to check:

System Protection off on each drive. 

Set 'No paging file' for each drive.

[aphanic]

Just in case, because I've seen Windows hide power settings through its UIs over the years, check with PowerSettingsExplorer (or through the Registry) the configuration for the power management of AHCI links, perhaps you want it to be HIPM+DIPM if it's not already, and the disks' APM enabled with standby.

Windows 10 here, but most power related settings aren't visible on my laptop:

I wonder why the disks aren't powering down, I used to have external ones that would remain spinning all the time because of the SATA bridge the enclosures were using, but I don't recall which one it was. Did you use the same PCIe SATA board in your last NAS?

[WaltC]

You might want to look at Your Advanced Power settings to see if you have USB Selective Suspend turned on (I have it disabled), and PCI Express/link state power management enabled (I always disable it.) It's possible that these settings may affect the drive(s) behavior. I have seen in the past that enabling these has slowed down the responsiveness of the devices connected to (or hanging off of) these buses when addressed through the OS GUI, hence my habit of always running them disabled. However, this may have a bearing on reaching your goal, so I thought to suggest it...;)