Hard disks are one of the most power-intensive components of a computer. By turning off the drive, you can save up to 10% of battery power.
A hard disk is one of the important components of a computer. Hard disks store important data, such as the operating system, programs, and personal files. To save power and extend battery life, Windows 11 allows you to automatically shut down the hard disk after a certain period of inactivity.
Changing or shutting down a drive after idle time can help you save energy, extend drive life, and reduce system temperature. However, this feature can also have some drawbacks, such as increasing boot time, reducing data access speed, and causing compatibility issues with some applications.
Therefore, you may want to adjust these settings according to your needs and preferences. In this article, Bardimin will explain how to change or turn off a hard disk after idle time in Windows 11 easily and quickly.
Why do you need to set the idle time of the hard disk?
First of all, let’s understand why you might want to set the hard disk idle time in Windows 11. When a computer is not used for some time, Windows tends to shut down the hard disk to save energy.
However, the default settings may not suit your preferences. In some cases, users want to keep the drive active to avoid delays when the drive needs to be active again.
There are several reasons to automatically shut down a drive after a certain period of inactivity. The first reason is to save power. Hard disks are one of the most power-intensive components of a computer. By turning off the drive, you can save up to 10% of battery power.
The second reason is to extend battery life. Frequently used drives can provoke an increase in temperature. This can cause damage to hard disk components and shorten their service life. By shutting down the drive, you can help keep drive temperatures low and extend its lifespan.
Steps to Change or Shut Down Hard Disk After Idle Time in Windows 11
To change or turn off the hard disk after idle time in Windows 11, you can follow these steps:
- Press the keys (Win + R) simultaneously on your keyboard to open the “Run” window.
- In the “Run” window, type “powercfg.cpl” and press Enter to open the “Power Options” window.
- Click the “Change plan settings” link next to the active power plan on your system.
- Scroll down until you find the “Change advanced power settings” section, then click on the “Change advanced power settings” link.
- In the “Power Options” window, under the “Turn off hard disk after” tree, you will see two options: “On battery” and “Plugged in”. The “On battery” option will appear if your device is on battery, while the “Plugged in” option appears when your device is connected to a power source.
- To change the idle time before the drive shuts down, click on the box next to the option you want, then enter the value in minutes. The minimum value is 1 minute, while the maximum value is 9999 minutes. If you want to turn off this feature, enter the value “Never”.
- Once you are done changing the settings, click on the “Apply” button, then click the OK button.
- Close all open windows and restart your device for the changes to take effect.