External HD not going into sleep mode

[memetootoo]

Hi everyone, I have a seagate goflex external hd. I recently noticed that this HD is not going into to sleep mode, when I shut down my computer I can hear it spinning. I'm not sure if this is a coincidence, but I recently knocked my external HD over (I had it standing up on my desk).

1) How can I check to see if the HD is still usable, or if I'll have to get a new one.
2) How can I get the HD to go into sleep mode, I hate having to unplug the power source.

Help would be great!

Thanks!

[Twoddle]

Try this. Go in device manager and find the device to which the hard drive is connected eg. which USB port it is. Then right click and go into properties, click the Power Management tab and tick the box accordingly thus:


Could also try changing 'Turn off hard disks' in Power Options in the control panel from 'Never' to something else thus:


---------- Post added 2012-08-19 at 01:20 PM ----------

Failing that there are some settings in the motherboard BIOS to do with power management called ACPI or APM or somesuch. I've tried fiddling about with these options myself but I'm not sure exactly how they work, seems like trial and error.