Disks Spin Up Randomly -win10-

Hey

I have a problem with windows 10 waking up my storage disks after they are spinned down. I have my settings to spin the disks down after 5mins. Anyway, even if my computer is idle, windows might spin those disks back on.

Those disks are mainly for storing stuff, but I also have some large installations there (eg. blockchains which I don't need unless I start the software). For other stuff (gaming, browsing, office, movies...) I use SSD disks and those are ofc always on.

I have tried killing all apps other than windows own processes and nothing seems to help. I have used activity indicator to monitor if those disks spin up, and it is totally random. This is happening:

20.14.49.536 Create: D:\MSI81f52.tmp
20.14.49.538 Delete: D:\MSI81f52.tmp
20.26.43.245 Create: D:\MSI32895.tmp
20.26.43.247 Delete: D:\MSI32895.tmp

So it spins up just to create a tmp file and to delete it.

I could set the disks to never spin down ofc, but I need those disks basically once a week or even less. And in those cases I need only one of those. So I would think that it is best to spin them down and let them sit than be left to spin all the time without need for possibly weeks.

Setup:
Win10
Core i7-9700K
Gigabyte Aorus Pro Wifi Z390
32GB GSkill memory
MSI 1070ti
970 EVO SSD M.2
870 EVO SSD
870 PRO SSD
2x Seagate Barracuda 4TB (the storage disks)

 

First, it is highly unlikely this is "random". These things just seem random because we (humans) don't see a pattern or cause.

This may be perfectly normal. It is important to understand that Windows does a lot of stuff when you and the computer are idle. For example, by default defragging is scheduled to happen, if needed, once a week on hard drives (Windows will NOT defrag your SSDs). So Windows will periodically check your hard drives and, if defragging is needed, it will start the defragging process. If that defragging process is interrupted by you doing something or by the computer going to sleep or powered up, defragging will resume at a later date.

The point is, simply checking to see if defragging is needed will cause the drives to spin up.

Indexing is another task that works in the background when you are idle.

Scanning for malware is another.

Many installed programs regularly check to see if updates are available but to do that, they have to see what version is currently installed.

My advice is to (1) make sure Windows and all your security apps are current. (2) Scan for malware just to be sure your system is clean. Then (3), walk away. Give it a day to catch up and see what happens.