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Drive options to remove the HDD startup lag on access

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  • SSD
  • Storage
  • Hard Drives
Last response: in Storage
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November 16, 2013 11:48:51 AM

Hi all,
I've got an issue I'm stuck on, I'm looking for input from those in the know :) 

Currently my entire system in SSD based. I'm a photographer and I have a LOT of files to move about.

My problem is storage. Currently my fast access files are all SSD, so the PITA drive spinning up on access that happens with standard HDD's which seems to freeze the system for a moment doesn't happen. But, I want more storage and don't want my system to hang whilst a large 2tb drive wakes up.

Do the new hybrid drives avoid this? i.e. the Seagate 2TB SSHD?

Generally because I'm usually copying files from one place to the next I don't need the drive to be zippy, just not laggy. So whilst I've looked at Sammy's 840 1tb SSD they still aren't big enough really.

Thanks in advance!

More about : drive options remove hdd startup lag access

a c 121 G Storage
November 18, 2013 10:02:35 PM

No the new hybrids don't avoid this. on the hybrids the SSD part is more of a Big Fast Cashe NOT an actual space to store items. But I know what you mean on the HDD hanging when you got SSD's. I don't see that very often but it does happen. Maybe use them in a USB or eSATA and then turn it on after it boots up?
a c 971 G Storage
November 19, 2013 12:33:08 AM

Some drives observe the windows power setting which allows you to select to never power down the harddrive while other drives, like green drives, ignore the setting. You can find the setting in the power options>change setting>advanced settings menu.
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a b G Storage
November 19, 2013 3:51:54 AM

ya, +1 to the above. i have a pair of 1.5T seagates and the Win7 power setting does exactly what it says - if i set it to 5 (minutes), then i can tell that the drives need to spin up if i'm idle for a while, but if i set it to 100 (minutes) or more then i can tell that they're just spinning and waiting for me to ask for a file.. and i don't think there's a max time - you can likely set it to at least 10,000 minutes (which is basically one week non-stop).

however, no matter what, the non-SSD drive HAS to spin up at SOME point in time. and really, is 1sec of your time really that critical? heck, even if you were to RAID the whole thing, i think you'd still need to wait for things to spin up to speed.

but if 3sec of waiting are worth a fortune, then just buy several TB of space in SSD.

or futz around with the power setting on a non-WDGreen drive.
a c 121 G Storage
November 19, 2013 7:37:11 AM

ha though you were talking about lag on actually boot up not when accessing it XD yea I'd agree with popatim. Go to the power settings -> Click Change Plan Settings -> Change Advanced Power Settings -> Hard Disk -> And change the "Turn Off Hard Disk After" to 0 and hit Apply and you will see it change to "Never" then just ok out of everything.
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