w7/vista can't power off an external drive,is true?

[mantra]

Hi

reading the feature of USB Safely Remove in this page

-http://safelyremove.com/fullFeaturesList.htm

there is:

Power off drives on stopping in Vista & Win 7
When you safely remove the device in Windows XP it powers the device off – in the case of a flash drive its led was switched off and in the case of a portable hard drive it was spun down. But Microsoft changed this behavior in Vista and it still exists in Win 7: after you stop the device on these OSes the hard drive continue spinning and flash drive continue lighting. All modern hard drives park theirs heads automatically when you unplug them so in theory this behavior shouldn’t lead to loss data or damaged drives. But in practice the hard drive usually sound strangely when you unplug them on run and this makes a hard drive owner being a bit nervous when he hears that
USB Safely Remove can change this behavior and make the system power down USB ports. In order to enable this feature just answer "Yes, please" when USB Safely Remove suggests you to enable it.

is it true ?

thanks
cheers

[Raza0007]

By default Vista and windows 7 are designed not to power off your external usb devices. You can change this behavior in the "power options"

See here for details.

Keep in mind that most external usb drives are configured to power down after they have been idle for a certain time. This setting does not effect them. My WD usb drive powers off after 30 minutes, regardless of whether this option is enabled or disabled.

The usb safely remove info is something slightly different. They are talking about powering down your hard drives as soon as you safely remove them from within windows. You actually do not need to do that. Just safely remove the hard drive and then just disconnect the usb cable to power it off.

[mantra]

Originally Posted by Raza0007

You can change this behavior in the "power options"

See here for details.

thanks RAza

and this setting in the power option force to power off the drive?

[Raza0007]

Originally Posted by mantra

thanks RAza

and this setting in the power option force to power off the drive?

Try it, I am sure it will power off your external drive. However, it is usually meant for other usb devices like usb mice and keyboard etc. As I mentioned, your external drive should power off on its own after 30 minutes or so. It is configured in the drive's firmware. You can use this freeware HDDScan software to configure power management setting of your external drive.

[mantra]

Originally Posted by Raza0007

, it is usually meant for other usb devices like usb mice and keyboard etc.

thanks
i have keyboard and mice usb
what does refer with them?
HDDScan crash often under w7 , and i don't know why..

[Raza0007]

Originally Posted by mantra

thanks
i have keyboard and mice usb
what does refer with them?
HDDScan crash often under w7 , and i don't know why..

The option is meant to turn the power off idle usb devices, any device. However, after a detailed look I do not think this will help with external usb hard drive. If you want to power off an external hard drive automatically, you will have to configure the hard drive's own parameters, using the hard drive manufacturer's utility or HDDScan.

I use HDDScan on windows 7 32-bit and it has worked fine for me. No crashes.