Opening a file on my external SSD wakes up my external HDDs? Windows 11

Understanding External Drive Wake-Up Behavior in Windows 11: Preventing Unwanted Spinning of External HDDs

Many users rely on external storage devices to expand their computer’s capacity, often connecting multiple drives via USB hubs or splitters. However, some encounter a common issue: when accessing a file on an external SSD, their external HDDs unexpectedly spin up, even if no direct interaction with those drives is taking place. This phenomenon can lead to increased wear and tear, unnecessary noise, and higher power consumption.

Scenario Overview

Imagine a setup where:

• You have four external HDDs connected to your Windows 11 PC through a USB splitter from a single port.
• Additionally, an external SSD is connected via a separate USB port.
• When you access a file on the SSD, one or more of the HDDs suddenly wake up and spin. Interestingly, this can also happen randomly during regular Windows use, even without direct file access to the HDDs.

Common Causes of External Drive Wake-Up

This behavior is often linked to how Windows manages connected storage devices and related system processes. Common contributing factors include:

• Drive Indexing: Windows indexing services may trigger HDD activity to update or maintain file indexes.
• Drive Auto-Detection: Windows periodically polls connected devices to detect their status.
• Background Processes: Certain system or third-party applications may access drives automatically for updates, syncing, or media scanning.
• Power Management Settings: Windows settings designed to optimize power usage can inadvertently cause disks to wake up.

Strategies to Prevent Unwanted HDD Spin-Up

To minimize unnecessary spinning of your external HDDs, consider implementing the following measures:

1. Adjust Power Management Settings

2. Open the Power & Sleep settings in Windows.

3. Navigate to Additional Power Settings.
4. Select your active power plan and click Change Plan Settings.
5. Click Change Advanced Power Settings.
6. Expand USB Settings > USB selective suspend setting.

7. Disable or set to Disabled to prevent Windows from suspending or waking up USB devices automatically.

8. Disable Drive Indexing

9. Right-click each external HDD in File Explorer and select Properties.

10. Uncheck Allow files on this drive to have contents indexed in addition to file properties.

11. Apply changes to prevent Windows indexing from accessing the drive unnecessarily.

12. Configure Drive Policies

13. Use Device Manager:

    • Press Win