RT-AC68U USB 3.0 attached disk never goes to sleep

[753951]

Yesterday I attached 2.5" Seagate hard drive to USB 3.0 port. Everything works fine so far (well, if you can call 25MB/s write speed fine), but one thing bugs me. Even after 2 hours of inactivity disk was still powered on and spinning.

Is that normal? And if it is, is there a way to set it up so it goes to sleep after certain time of inactivity?

 

[dixonqwerty]

Maybe it is indexing the hard drive? But I can be wrong on this. Is the hard drive empty, or do you have files on it?

 

[753951]

No it's not empty, but web page showed that indexing was done in about 15-20min. I left it overnight and it's still powered on.

 

[dixonqwerty]

Do you have any of the folders on the disc as a directory for example for a torrent program?

 

[753951]

No, nothing fancy. I have disk, with my music and video library. Stock firmware.

There was no network access for 8-9 hours (overnight). No smart phones on, no computers, iPads, etc. All off. Only router and attached disk.

 

[EdJack]

Stock firmware.

I think that is exactly your problem. I have stock firmware, and have nothing enabled (no torrents, download master, media server, etc.) Nothing. But the drives spin 24x7 on both USB2.0 and USB3.0.

After digging around to find out what the problem is, it really has nothing to do with your RT-AC68U router. It has to do with the stock ASUS firmware, and everyone with ASUS routers is complaining about it.

I think the only solution to this is to install Merlin firmware, then there is an option to spindown (or sleep) the hard drive after a certain interval of inactivity.

The reason I came here and signed up for an account was to download the Merlin firmware to update my RT-AC68R router to fix this same problem I am having. I want to connect USB harddrives, but don't want them to spin 24x7 and burn out after 6 months.

The RT-AC68R I have is identical to the RT-AC68U you have. "R" for retail store like BestBuy, and "U" for online store like Amazon, Newegg, etc. Otherwise, identical. So I think it is the same problem.

I'll let you know how it goes once I upgrade to Merlin tonight, and select the setting to spin down the drive after say 10 minutes of inactivity.

I'm not sure why ASUS doesn't add a switch setting to spin down and sleep the drive to the Stock Firmware. But I figure I'll just install Merlin and see if that solves the problem.

 

[whsbuss]

I think that is exactly your problem. I have stock firmware, and have nothing enabled (no torrents, download master, media server, etc.) Nothing. But the drives spin 24x7 on both USB2.0 and USB3.0.

After digging around to find out what the problem is, it really has nothing to do with your RT-AC68U router. It has to do with the stock ASUS firmware, and everyone with ASUS routers is complaining about it.

I had an RT-AC66R and my USB hard drive spun down after an hour using Asus firmware. So I'm not so sure its a universal issue.

 

[RMerlin]

Unfortunately, there is no real standard for HDD power management when the disk is interfaced over USB, unlike when used on a native SATA port inside a computer. Some disks will power down on their own through their own internal FWs. Some of them will require power management to be enabled using hdparm/sdparm. Some of them will listen to external request for spindown (which is what my FW does), others won't.

Unfortunately, there is nothing definitive there - you have to experiment to see if it works or not. One of my test disks would properly spindown when asked to, but another one would not.

 

[753951]

Thanks everyone for your insight. I'll try things suggested here and we'll see how it goes.

 

[EdJack]

Here's some testing I did with my RT-AC68R (same router as the RT-AC68U).

Three USB hard drives tested:

(1) 3.5 external hard drive USB 2.0 (with external power supply).
(2) 2.5 external hard drive USB 2.0 (powered by USB).
(3) 2.5 external hard drive USB 3.0 (powered by USB).

Stock ASUS firmware:

Number (1) spins down and goes to sleep. Number (2) and (3) run forever and never spin down.

Merlin firmware (with switch to spin down drive after 10 minutes):

Number (1) and (2) spin down and go to sleep. Number (3) runs forever and never spins down.

So it seems the Merlin firmware does a better job at the spindown. But regardless, certain harddrives have a mind of their own, and won't go to sleep regardless. I guess you just have to try a few different brands until you can find one that works for you.

 

[753951]

Is that same 2.5" disk connected to different USB ports in your case (2) and (3)? Or are they different brands?

 

[753951]

My Seagate 2.5" drive is of Backup Plus variety. By default, spin down on drive is disabled and the only way to put it to sleep is to issue command from OS. Seagate has utility called Seagate dashboard. Among plethora of useless features is ability to set default power down time. I set it to 10 minutes. I'll attach drive back to router and see if it indeed spins down.

 

[753951]

And it spun down indeed

 

[pierrerion]

Unfortunately, there is no real standard for HDD power management when the disk is interfaced over USB, unlike when used on a native SATA port inside a computer. Some disks will power down on their own through their own internal FWs. Some of them will require power management to be enabled using hdparm/sdparm. Some of them will listen to external request for spindown (which is what my FW does), others won't.

Unfortunately, there is nothing definitive there - you have to experiment to see if it works or not. One of my test disks would properly spindown when asked to, but another one would not.

Sorry if I'm reviving a dormant thread. but after enabling my Seagate Expansion 5TB spin down after 5 min from Seagate Dashboard, the drive only spins down initially and then comes back for no reason. I am running Asus stock firmware and another Seagate 3TB drive spins down flawlessly with the router without me having to tweak anything. What should I do?

 

[L&LD]

What router? What firmware version?

Have you ever reset the existing firmware to factory defaults and configured it manually and minimally to connect to your ISP and secure the router?

I would recommend you upgrade to the latest RMerlin release (378.55) for your model and do a complete reset to factory defaults and see if the problem persists. At that point, more pertinent info may be provided, if needed.

 

[pierrerion]

What router? What firmware version?

Have you ever reset the existing firmware to factory defaults and configured it manually and minimally to connect to your ISP and secure the router?

I would recommend you upgrade to the latest RMerlin release (378.55) for your model and do a complete reset to factory defaults and see if the problem persists. At that point, more pertinent info may be provided, if needed.

The same router with OP, RT-AC68U running 3.0.0.4.378_4585.

And no I haven't done any reset on the router, but I'll follow your suggestion and see if it fixes it. I was perfectly happy with the stock Asus firmware, but if RMerlin could fix this thing for me then I'm all ears.

 

[mahmud]

I am using Asus AC 52U firmware verson 3.0.0.4.376.3754 and use transcend 1 TB HHD. please give me any solution to stop spinning the HHD for 24/7.
thank you

 

[L&LD]

I am using Asus AC 52U firmware verson 3.0.0.4.376.3754 and use transcend 1 TB HHD. please give me any solution to stop spinning the HHD for 24/7.
thank you

You might start by using a more current firmware for your router model.

376.xx is very old and many security fixes (if nothing else) have been implemented since.

With Asus stock firmware, I don't think there is any possibility of running a script (I may be wrong here thought) and worse, RMerlin's firmware (which does give you that ability) is not supported for your model.

Hope someone else has better news for you.

 

[Roy2002]

My 8TB Seagate used to work fine with Merlin, but with latest 20145 it won't spin down. I am using AiMesh...

 

[GuruGuy]

In my 86u, there is a USB setting to enable hibernation. Not sure if it's in merlins FW, I'm using stock. Administration, System, USB Setting