Ever since I installed Windows Vista on my pc I noticed that there are times that my second HDD (Hard Disk Drive) doesn’t react that well. This only happened when I didn’t use my second HDD for a while. So when I wanted to access a file which was located in my second HDD it took some time before the HDD start re-initialize/spin-up.

At first I though that there was something in the BIOS but I was wrong! It was Windows Vista’s fault! In Windows Vista there are three preset built-in default power plans;

1. High Performance: Which maximizes system performance and responsiveness
2. Power Saver: which saves power by reducing system performance
3. Balanced: which achieve a balance between the two by offering full performance during active use and saves power when computer is idle or inactivity state

Yep.. The cause of my problem! For some reason Microsoft seemed to think that I was using Vista on a laptop and accordingly, set the Power Options to match. So that’s why my HDD was shutdown and cut off from power in order to conserve and save power/electricity. So whenever I wanted to access my HDD it start making loud noises (generated from sudden start moving of HDD’s mechanical part) and it took some time before I could access the HDD.

So if you don’t want your HDD turned off to sleep by Windows Vista, you can disable the power saving feature on hard disks, by following the steps below:

• Press Windows key + R
• Type powercfg.cpl ,1
• In the window which will appear, scroll down and find: Harddisk
• Click on the + sign and you’ll see Turn off hard disk after
  
• Now my recommandation is to simply type Never in the box or type 0 (zero)
• Now click on Apply and OK to exit and you’re done

From now on your HDD isn’t going to be turned off by Windows Vista, so no loud noises and delay’s anymore!