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I am always listening to music on my PC (always via VLC Player) and every so often - maybe once every 2 songs, sometimes more frequently- the music stops playing (VLC's buffer/progress bar stops moving, as does the playing time) and I hear my hard drive starting up again, which will have went onto some sort of lower power mode by then, without my noticing, and the music restarts where it left off, as if it had buffered.

My question would be summarized thusly:

How can I stop my external hard drive from going into any sort of lower power/dormant /re-buffer state that it seems to be going into?

Some extra detail:

The hard drive is 1TB (not solid state), with NTFS formatting (Cannot reformat, too many items on there, at least over 700GB)

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  • Can you let me know the make and model of the Hard Drive, from the identification label. Sep 21, 2014 at 22:12
  • I can indeed :) "Toshiba HDTB110EK3BA STOR.E Basics 1TB 2.5 inch External Hard Drive"
    – SolaGratia
    Sep 21, 2014 at 22:21
  • Sometimes USB doesn't provide enough power. Can you check with only this drive connected (no hub between, no other USB consumers)?
    – bdecaf
    Mar 22, 2015 at 16:54

3 Answers 3

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I found a solution that worked for me. Try using a powered USB hub device, that is, a hub that comes with AC power plug, not simply USB-powered. Problem solved.

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  • I second this answer, as I've stumbled over this myself. See superuser.com/questions/917448/… for similar issue with the same fix.
    – Jarmund
    May 22, 2015 at 20:58
  • This sounds like it could solve the problem. Right now I will not be purchasing one of these but I'll get back once I do. Thank you. I'll mark your answer as the chosen answer until proven wrong :)
    – SolaGratia
    Aug 1, 2015 at 20:57
3

Go to Device Manager.

  1. Click on the + sign by Universal Serial Bus Controllers, right click on each USB Root Hub and select Properties.

  2. Click on the Power Management tab.

  3. Uncheck the box Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power.

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  • I'm afraid I've tried this to no avail :/
    – SolaGratia
    Aug 1, 2015 at 20:56
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Maybe it's a state where windows power off the usb or the hard drive for some reason. Try to go to device management, properties of the hard drive and/or usb hub and at the energy management tab untick the box: Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power.

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  • I'm afraid that's not the issue (I wish it were that simple) but I've already tried this to no avail :/ Thank you anyhow
    – SolaGratia
    Sep 22, 2014 at 21:21

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