XPS 8930, HDD never off, sleep mode question

what you see there in the power setting is all you get,

all that is w10 controlled, what sleeps and what not.

why not just make custom power OPTIONS profile.

then set every bit as you want. ever single one.

advanced settings,

turn off hdd after 0 minutes  (means disabled.)

here is mine try this.

I have no idea all all what you have on or off here,  nor if speedstep is and issue.(see processor state below)

many things in a pC sleep or not. and you are IN CONTROL of all that.

also on any HDD

making it spin up 100 times a day and down, is never smart.ever. (wear and tear)

i guess ?you mean if you click the box sleep what does that do.? if HDD set to 0.?

S1 to S4, are tricky.,lets ask MS that ,question it is not DELL'S OS.

well only MS has that answer, (for sure endless w10 updates can change all that in 1 day)?

if you told it to not to sleep the hdd, it will not sleep, unless you , did sleep the whole PC.

spin up time can be 3 full seconds, but your HDD maker specs that and easy to read in there data sheet.

HDD motor must attain full speed "RPM) and FLY the heads, before any thing can happen. OK?

sleeping almost any HDD reduces its life,  need proof ask or ask seagate, or any top maker (search landing zone wear and effects.)

you can hear the drive, at any time using simple checks case cover off.

if say you did a power profile, and wondered if the drive spun down,  you can at any time listen to any HDD casing and go gee it spins, or now. (a $5 stethoscope or long screwdriver to the ear and casing.

all techs know this and mech too. any thing that spins can be heard and even detect bad bearings and more.

now lets wax tech here, the Sleep modes are complex your IHC/PMC chip ahas S0 to S5 or more sleep modes.

and more.  windows controls that, and the modes are here. see this, , what you are asking is what does windows 10 do , for each state. you need to say in S0 mode,  that is how to keep the drive HOT and spun up.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Configuration_and_Power_Interface#Power_states

what you are asking is what are the w10 settings relationships 1:1 to S0 to S5, 

run the queryflag commands/

https://www.techrepublic.com/article/investigating-sleep-states-in-windows-10/

or this APP

https://www.passmark.com/products/sleeper/

That would be a maybe. This link shows what I mean. During use many hard drive manufacturers have the drives designed so they spin down during periods of inactivity. Also while you are using the system if the HDD is not required for data access, it can also spin down. The drives do this as a way to prolong life and use less energy. Also when coming out of sleep you can usually hear if the hard drive is spinning up. Want a way to save energy and prolong life, replace the HDD with an SSD. 5x faster and since there is no spin up time, accessing data is immediate.

@JOcean @savvy2 

Thanks! All true, of course...

But, I was specifically interested in what happens when I put the desktop to Sleep. My guess is that the hard disks go to sleep too, but I was hoping to hear from people who know more than me and might offer a definitive answer. And, yes, I will test it by listening.

Thanks again!

JF

my z270 shows (cp sleep off)

mine has lots of pink, due to my custom profile.

there  is only one problem here,

and that is not knowing what that sleep check mark do  in control panel.

does it do S1 or deeper.  ??

speed modes are vastly more complex than that simple windows, screen shows..  way way more,

do the full query in the command line. see like 50 things on my PC are speed enables. (on/off)

the MS control panel is but a toy.  (GUI toy grade)

why not just  test it your self,  listen to the drives, see if they spin down?  its like 5 minutes work lid off.

if the w10 toy does not work as you want buy a better GUI, APP, that will, to any granularity you want.

The HDD while stay spinning if the OS does not send sleep commands to it, or not sleep that SATA port.

XPS 8930, uses what,z370 (im tying on  Z270 now, and i never sleep my pc , i just turn it off when done G3 (zero power  mode)

the 370 chip run SATA , but if you took your PC now in S0 mode and pulled the data cable youd see the drive stayed going Spun up, and only commands to it down that port turns off the drive or sleeps it or PSU goes offline G3 mode

so all that is 100% w10 software controls, you should ask MS this question for the Z370

here is there answer

Details of the intermediate sleep states can vary depending on how the manufacturer has designed the machine. For example, on some machines certain chips on the motherboard might lose power at S3, while on others such chips retain power until S4. Furthermore, some devices might be able to wake the system only from S1 and not from deeper sleep states.

First of all, run powercfg /energy command from the command prompt with administrator privileges (Run as Administrator). This command will perform a 60 second analysis of the computer’s energy consumption and provide you with a report: (by default in the system32 folder): C:\Windows\system32\energy-report.html. It will list if your hardware is capable of S1, S2, S3 or S4 sleep mode.

If your hardware supports sleep mode, then try to enable sleep mode in Power option.

then in the report (viewed with any browers)

do control +f search for every word "DISK"

bingo all you need is that.

if you don't like what you see turn off sleep or ask dell for new or modified drivers that allow what you want.

no answering pie in the sky myth, (in context) HDD AUTO sleep (like say running FREEDOS?)as a crude example and the drive goes to sleep all by itself the HDD driver never once sent that command to the HDD

I call myth :

I see you quoting Micheal Johnson

and him not once naming one hdd that does this, the topic is 3.5" desktop HDD not external or others, or USB passport!  NO GoFlex drive. or ESATA, horrors.

  I see no such drives sold or by dell. (in a real desktop with real 3.5": Sata HDD.) {no Al Gore inside !}

not these , https://www.seagate.com/support/kb/my-drive-is-sleeping-too-much-in-windows-221291en/

No USB drives or any of that.

just 3.5" rust drives from WD, Seagate or HGST?  or Samsung? Toshiba? or? be nice to know.

 no hDD stated in this post./?. no SKU number or I'd pop a datasheet fast, sure whole.

the topic is INTERNAL rust HDD drives and only those.

the OP said SS Toshiba 512GB drive  ,oops that is the boot drive he means SSD of some kind not SS.

SS means super speed USB-SS. sorry, but SSD means solid state drive.(flash  based 100%)

but the data sheet on this PC shows m.2 slot pci-e/nvme.  so i guess that is the boot drive.SSD.

the topic is the 3 HDD real. 3x2TB online. (no drive models stated)

so my guess he only means the unnamed, HDD< x3.  why not  name them fully with sku or full drive names and models. so we can talk 1:1 with hard facts.

2tb time 3, are those.

the 2tb Seagate FIRECUDA 3.5" hDD has 2 modes one sleep and standby idle.

ST2000DX002

the drive NEVER SHUTS ITSELF OFF ever.

unless the PC OS sends the commands sleep or sets up the standby timer,  all are 100% OS actions hard.

never does this drive  ever self sleep of its own accord. ( by default the timer is OFF)

the command states

Standard Standby timer, IORDY supported and may be disabled (2F00)

we can do this all day but not if  you told what HDD you own, off the labels, make and model number.

pasted

Standby mode
The drive enters Standby mode when the host sends a Standby Immediate command. If the host has set the standby
timer, the drive can also enter Standby mode automatically after the drive has been inactive for a specifiable length of
time. The standby timer delay is established using a Standby or Idle command. In Standby mode, the drive buffer is
enabled, the heads are parked and the spindle is at rest. The drive accepts all commands and returns to Active mode
any time disk access is necessary.
• Sleep mode
The drive enters Sleep mode after receiving a Sleep command from the host. In Sleep mode, the drive buffer is disabled,
the heads are parked and the spindle is at rest. The drive leaves Sleep mode after it receives a Hard Reset or Soft
Reset from the host. After receiving a reset, the drive exits Sleep mode and enters Standby mode with all current translation
parameters intact.
• Idle and Standby timers
Each time the drive performs an Active function (read, write or seek), the standby timer is reinitialized and begins
counting down from its specified delay times to zero. If the standby timer reaches zero before any drive activity is
required, the drive makes a transition to Standby mode. In both Idle and Standby mode, the drive accepts all commands
and returns to Active mode when disk access is necessary.

startup time 1second or less.

If sleep general (enabled) overrides HDD NO SLEEP, I do not know that.  and varies by PC, all PCs and all OEM.

The thing to do first is prove it does first or not., then  worry that, if it sleeps the drive.

Do the test then post results.

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@Josephus Flavius wrote:

When asleep, do the SATA drives stop spinning until the PC is awakened

During an S3-Sleep-State ... yes. During S4-S5 ... IDK but you would think so (pretty obvious need).