Windows Vista power options for 2nd hard disk

Running Vista home premium on my new HP desktop PC, everything works at the moment... I took my old Hard Disk from my XP machine and installed it as the second HD in this Vista machine. The second HD appears to power itself down when not needed and then revs up when needed. I access it for photos, videos, music files, etc. All programs are now on the primary HD.

In my power options, I have set the computer to NEVER go to sleep nor standby. I normally keep it on 24 hours. Only the monitor goes off after 1 hour. But this second HD powers itself down.

Two questions: First, how do I control the power options for the second HD? And two, do I want to leave it alone, or keep it powered up continuously? TIA- Greg.

 

What seems to be the holdup Greg? Is it lagging when you try to access it?

Is it quite old? Usually I find I can't hear HDDs spinning up over other noises. Do you have any CDs or DVDs in the optical drive/s, because you can hear those spinning up? Look at it's specifications, if it is a 5400 RPM model with a low cache, it may not be very quick anyway.

Setting "Power Options" I expect only works for the main system HDD (and the whole system in general). Vista is pretty power saving "aware ", which I personally like, because I might blow one less hole in the ozone layer or help a dolphin on it's way

Look in Device Manager -> Hard Disk Drives, right-click on the drive and select Properties. See if you can find the power options you want there.

If you want it running when you want to access it, a suggestion I would make is to put into an external HDD enclosure, they are either on or off. You can connect it (turn it on) when you think you need to use it.

I'd prefer to wait a second or two while it spins up, rather than having it running 24/7.

Matt

 

Matt-- There is no optical disk in the DVD drive. It is defiinitely the second HD spinning up to speed. It is a 7200 RPM disk, not very old. I have looked where you suggest and I just cannot find power options for the disk. I think I will leave it alone and wait the few seconds when I first access it. thanks.

 

You get a nod and a wink from me