HDD spins down automatically?

[AmiKit]

The brand new ATA harddisk (Seagate Barracuda ST3300620A) keeps spinning down automatically after approx. 5 minutes of inactivity. It spins up again when needed, though. I tried to unplug the data cable so the only cable plugged in was the power cable and it spins down anyway.

Have you ever experienced similar behavior with your HDD? Is the drive faulty or is it a "feature" ?

Thanks for any suggestions!

[AmiKit]

@all

Thanks!

@Piru
It seems your ST3320620AS is just the SerialATA version of my ST3300620A.  Interesting. Then I see no reason why my HDD spins down while your doesn't. Have you ever updated the firmware of your HDDs? Firmware of my HDD is 3.AFE. The SeaTools for Windows reports that "Mandatory Power Management" of my HDD is enabled. But I have no idea what does that mean or how to change it. The SeaTools doesn't allow me to do that.

[AmiKit]

The Advanced Power Management is not supported by my HDD either.

@Piru

Are you absolutely sure the drive actually spins down?

Yes, the HDD really spins down. I cannot feel any vibration. If I want to access it again I hear the spin-up sound and it takes about 6 seconds till the HDD is ready to R/W.

If the data cable is not plugged in, the HDD spins down automatically on both computers after approx. 5 minutes. However if both cables (power+data) are plugged in, it does NOT spin-down when connected to PC/XP while it still does on A1...
:-?

Piru, could you please unplug the data cable of your ST3320620AS to see whether it spins down after some time? Thanks.

[AmiKit]

@Zac67

I don't think so because my other HDD (Maxtor) works fine.

[AmiKit]

@Piru, thanks! How long did you wait? It happens after 5 mins here, approx.

@starf81, what is your firmware version?