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Each time I want to use my usb external hard drive for the first time there is a short latency for allowing it to run, how to make it run at all time, so that while for example I watch a movie, stop and goes back to it it run instantly.

It would be best to have a script that stop it from shutting down for a certain period of time

Saxtheowl
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    Possible duplicate of [External hard drive keeps powering down](https://askubuntu.com/questions/1049808/external-hard-drive-keeps-powering-down) – graham Sep 24 '19 at 13:51
  • If the external drive is a spinning HDD disk, it should stop when it's not in use, as running constantly will shorten the drive's lifespan. I don't recommend forcing a drive to run indefinitely unless it's a server hard drive. If it's an SSD or a flash drive, it shouldn't be stopping in the first place. – GNULinuxOnboard Sep 24 '19 at 14:17

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You could use hdparm to do this. Run sudo hdparm -S /dev/sdx | grep level to see what the current spin-down time of the drive is. Replace /dev/sdx with your hard drive.

You can change the spin-down time to 0 with sudo hdparm -S 0 /dev/sdx, changing /dev/sdx to the identifier for your hard drive.

I do not recommend disabling the spin-down time, as it will decrease the lifespan of the hard drive.

GNULinuxOnboard
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  • I’m not sure if it goes back to default spin-down time after a reboot or if it saves it. If it does save it, no need to make a script. – GNULinuxOnboard Sep 24 '19 at 15:29