For those of you with spin-down/crashing issues and windows:
1) Crack open your WD Passport! (Pry gently and evenly around all the edges and it should pop right open. It uses little plastic clips that break easily but there's enough that if you break some, it will still close nicely.)
2) Remove the SATA to USB connector from the drive and connect a SATA power and SATA data cable to your PC (If your PC is powered on, do a scan for hardware changes to get it to show in windows)
3) Install HDPARM for windows: http://hdparm-win32.dyndns.org/hdparm/hdpa...win32-setup.exe
4) Launch the HDPARM (CMD) - Programs>HDPARM>HDPARM (CMD)
5) You now need to locate your WD drive, start with 'hdparm -I hda' and check the drive info, then move on to 'hdparm -I hdb' and keep trying until you find it.
Mine was on hdc and the info looked like this at the top:
ATA device, with non-removable media
Model Number: WDC WD1200BEVS-00UST0
Serial Number: WD-WXE807C12345
Firmware Revision: 01.01A01
6) We are now going to set the spin-down timer to the max of 5 hours and 30 minutes. This -should- solve all our spindown related problems! Type 'hdparm -S251 hdX' and replace X with the letter corresponding to your drive.
This is what I got:
hdc:
setting standby to 251 (5 hours + 30 minutes)
6b) If you are not using a WD Passport or if you just want to be doubly sure, also issue the 'hdparm -K 1 hdX' command. This will make your drive keep the spindown setting even after losing power. (It's case sensitive so watch your syntax!) If you get an input/output error, just ignore it, your drive doesn't need it.
7) Unplug your drive, stick it back in the enclosure, and test it!
** If you are getting crashing issues after a minute or so, be sure to delete your USB network adapter and network settings to fix it! **
MORE NOTES (April 15, 2009) -- Please make sure you update to USBLoader 1.4 or later before testing your games, I know I still had random crash problems even after stopping my HDD spindown issues and 1.4 has solved them completely!
Good luck!
1) Crack open your WD Passport! (Pry gently and evenly around all the edges and it should pop right open. It uses little plastic clips that break easily but there's enough that if you break some, it will still close nicely.)
2) Remove the SATA to USB connector from the drive and connect a SATA power and SATA data cable to your PC (If your PC is powered on, do a scan for hardware changes to get it to show in windows)
3) Install HDPARM for windows: http://hdparm-win32.dyndns.org/hdparm/hdpa...win32-setup.exe
4) Launch the HDPARM (CMD) - Programs>HDPARM>HDPARM (CMD)
5) You now need to locate your WD drive, start with 'hdparm -I hda' and check the drive info, then move on to 'hdparm -I hdb' and keep trying until you find it.
Mine was on hdc and the info looked like this at the top:
ATA device, with non-removable media
Model Number: WDC WD1200BEVS-00UST0
Serial Number: WD-WXE807C12345
Firmware Revision: 01.01A01
6) We are now going to set the spin-down timer to the max of 5 hours and 30 minutes. This -should- solve all our spindown related problems! Type 'hdparm -S251 hdX' and replace X with the letter corresponding to your drive.
This is what I got:
hdc:
setting standby to 251 (5 hours + 30 minutes)
6b) If you are not using a WD Passport or if you just want to be doubly sure, also issue the 'hdparm -K 1 hdX' command. This will make your drive keep the spindown setting even after losing power. (It's case sensitive so watch your syntax!) If you get an input/output error, just ignore it, your drive doesn't need it.
7) Unplug your drive, stick it back in the enclosure, and test it!
** If you are getting crashing issues after a minute or so, be sure to delete your USB network adapter and network settings to fix it! **
MORE NOTES (April 15, 2009) -- Please make sure you update to USBLoader 1.4 or later before testing your games, I know I still had random crash problems even after stopping my HDD spindown issues and 1.4 has solved them completely!
Good luck!
