How to turn off a hard drive after being idle in Windows 10

After your Windows computer has been idle for a period of time, there are many reasons why you might want to turn off your hard drive.When the computer is running, the hard drive is spinning and heat is generated inside the disk drive, which may shorten its lifespan.

Turning off the hard drive after the computer has been idle for a period of time can also save energy.If you're using a laptop, this can also extend your computer's battery life.Here's a simple way to change how long your computer waits before the hard drive spins down.

How to turn off a hard drive after being idle in Windows 10

Changing how long a Windows machine waits before shutting down the hard drive isn't complicated.Here's how to set it up:

1. Click the "Start" menu and select "Settings".

2. You have to go into the power management settings, so click on "System".

3. Then select "Power & Sleep" from the left pane.

4. Look for "Related settings" -- this may be on the right or bottom of the right pane, and then click "Additional power settings."

5. You should be able to select or customize your power plan on the screen.Find the selected plan and click Change plan settings.

6. Click Change advanced power settings.A new window will pop up.

7. Look for "Turn off the hard drive after setting up".Here you can change how long your computer turns off your hard drive when idle.

How long should you wait to spin down your hard drive?

There are benefits to turning off a hard drive after the computer is idle, but the downside is that restarting File Explorer in Windows will take longer while you wait for the disk to spin up again.It's about finding the right balance.

Depending on how you use your computer (whether you step away from it for long periods of time multiple times throughout the day, or whether you work all day and let it sit idle at night), you should choose how long it takes for your Windows PC to stop working on your hard drive.

Spinning your hard drive up and down multiple times a day can shorten the life of your drive.So if you tend to use your computer suddenly during the day, it's best to set a longer time here.

However, if your computer is running most of the day and only sleeps and idles at night, it might be a good idea to set this value lower.This way, your computer will quickly spin down the hard drive when you're done using it, extending the life of the hard drive.

Save hard drives and laptop batteries

Depending on how you use your computer, you can change how long your computer waits for the hard drive to spin down when it's idle.This saves energy and extends battery life and hard drive life.