I’ve a 10 TB WD Elements. I had unplugged the usb cable, but immediately after i moved the HDD. I heard a wistle. I plugged newly the usb and all datas are readable, Crystal disk define the HDD good with 0 sectors reallocated. Chkdsk fast without the /r option consider the HDD with no problems. All data are readable but i found a strange behavior. Crystal Disk signals that temperature is 51 degree critical. The HDD is running with noise even if not used. The data are immediately readable in every time. In the past i’ve seen that the HDD stops to do noise if not used, and when it began to be used the engines start accelerating to take the data, with a delay, and decelarating once being unused. Chkdsk with option /r fase 4 to check bad sectors remains stuck for hours without any progress displayed on screen with the HDD continous run. I’ve installed recently WD Drives Utilities but it appears a white screen with nothing. Is it normal that HDD runs continously to remain ready and that chkdsk with option /r requires so many time? The HDD can remain 2 3 hours in continous run as i’ve seen without any request of data transfer. I notice that Windows indexing is not set on advanced and that Windows Power Management set is 1 minute to idle for HDD with or without external power.
I wish that a firmware update for mechanical anomalies will be soon available, for a better endurance.
The HDD ceases to run if the USB is unplugged, and it is able to accelarate and decelarate spin.
On Windows 11 the drive often never truly idles because the USB controller keeps polling it for SMART data temperature checks Defender background scans and system volume checks even when you are not opening files. That constant light activity keeps the platters spinning and explains why it no longer parks like it used to.
A 10 TB SMR drive doing chkdsk /r can easily sit for many hours or even a full day with no visible progress because it is doing a sector by sector surface scan and retries silently. That is normal and not a firmware issue. 51°C is warm but still within spec for WD externals though improving airflow is smart. Firmware updates for mechanical behavior are extremely rare on USB externals so I would not expect one.
The WD utility white screen is a known Windows 11 compatibility glitch and not related to drive health.
I opened this topic, yet existing, because i observed a change in behavior as i told. Before i see a delay every time i try to access to datas. But the question remains that, is it normal that for all the time the HDD is connected, the temperature remains at 51 degrees celsius, 123.8 fahrenheit? The HDD keeps a behavior with noise, the immediate access of datas is good, but should i pay attention to this activity unplugging it if it is not used, or this temperature is normal and ever maintenable, and the behavior correct and i can maintain it plugged for days and weeks? This is critical for me, it has been told to me in chat to do a backup, should i do it? Your answer come from professional and direct knowledge of WD projects or this is a common and shared knowledge, this is important for me, there are stored TBs of datas.
If not, i appreciate your answer and other experiences anyway, i’ve read of similar behaviors, that seem different from other HDDs also of WD.
I now tried the hdd, i’ve done all the possible to block the run and the increasing temperature, that as i saw stops around 51 degrees, Celsius/124 Fahrenheit. At this moment i see 47 degrees Celsius/117 Fahrenheit, without use, slowly increasing when the internal SSD is at 31 degrees Celsius/88 Fahrenheit.
- Defined power managament option at 1 minute
- Seen the services on hdd with Process Monitor with filter of path on hdd
- Excluded path from Windows Defender
- Prohibited indexing of hdd and controlled the general indexing options
- Seen the virtual memory path if it is present (automatically it isn’t normally used)
- Changed Usb used, different HUBs, or direct on PC
- Changed the PC used (I plugged it in the past without this behavior)
Any of this actions stops the run of the HDD. The environment temperature is about 17 degrees, Celsius/63 Farhenheit. I’me worried if the temperature can raise at 25 degrees Celsius/77 Fahrenheit, and there it is possible, what may happen to HDD ever connected?
The HDD functions perfectly, data are readable and ever with fast access. The noise is continous. Previously the HDD spin down and up rapidly probably because of the option in Power Management to turn off HDDs in 1 minute, also with PC plugged in.
I consider an accelerometer protection useful to add or a clear stop alarm to define when it can be moved safely, but the accelerometer for this size of datas is an unavoidable option to accept this solution, also if it is cheaper, the size of data define the unit ever more important. Contrary the HDDs in this case remains too fragile, expecially if movable, light, and external. It can be moved also accidentally not only for simple scarce knowledge. The HDD of this size remains the major storage data source, and at the same time the most fragile.
I’ve used HDD Scan, it is able to Spindown on command the HDD. Not in every case it is permitted, but it succeeds in most cases.
The Idle TImer cannot be set permanently.
- changed Advanced Power Management to 60 On, on HHD Scan
- eliminated defrag planned scan for unit on WIndows, which was setted to on
The HDD seems at a certain point to spin down, and now the temperature is little lower, now it is 37 degree Celsius/99 Fahrenheit.
Now i should understand which options has done the effect by the time, but i’ve checked newly “on state” Defrag Plan to unit and the unit even so turned off newly. It was impossible for defrag to complete is task for so many datas because i disabled the driver for most of the time.
I see also that Crystal Disk has to wake the unit to see new datas.
I was told the WD Utilities isn’t for the HDD WD Elements, but it is, from my point of view, unacceptable the use of a third party unkown application to set the HDD, that is a so important source of data. It was suggested from Gemini AI and it seems to be successful on his duty.
Suggestions:
- Give better support to firmware and software for so large unit, all the units, with aggressive settings that preserve the unit integrity or security as for the will of the user, bypassing many options of the system
- Add accelerometer for incidents that may happen, for all HDD units
- Possible use of a little alarm off state (Intermittent light is yet present for the off state)
- Advice that the unit is no longer reliable
I maintained the hdd on for 12 hours and it remained awaken with a temperature of 48 degree Celsius/88 Fahrenheit. I disabled the HDD from Windows directly but it continued to run also disabled and no more present on Windows Explorer until i pressed the button on the case for deactivation.
Settings on HDD Scan third party app changed for APM from 60 to 164., this is the first setting i saw.
The setting of Idle TImer seems to function as the Spindown and Spinup commands, but it will be disabled again soon after exiting from the panel unlike the APM setting.
Errors on Crystal Disk for 05 and C5, reallocated and pending sectors, remain 0.
I’ve seen the light intermittent many times without any operation and so i’ve used newly ProcessMonitor to see if some process has access to HDD.
WDDriveService.exe have periodic access to HDD, at a rate of 30 seconds for access, maintaining it enabled continously the run of HDD with intermittent light load.
Another process that is doing the same kind of access is DIskInfo64.exe, but this process does not determine the light to be intermittent in load and permits the spindown for APM.
Now the HDD turn off rapidly following directly the Windows APM set to 1 minute.
I will uninstall all WD apps to permit to have a cold HDD.
I wish the apps will be available for all units and permits a more endurance to them without temperature problems.
I tested also for the first time the horizontal position, and then newly the vertical, i don’t know it this has rehabilitated the correct function of HDD.
