Forum Discussion

Aspirant

Oct 15, 2020

Microsoft Explorer Spins Up Disks

When I open a Microsoft Explorer window on my computer the network attached NAS disks immediate spin up. Other that turning off the NAS is there a method to inhibit Microsoft Explorer from access th...

Sandshark

Sensei

Oct 16, 2020

I assume you mean Windows Explorer and that you are opening it at the "My Computer" level. If you have shares mapped as drives, then I don't believe that is possible, as Windows does an inquiry as to the status of the "drive", including a check of used and free space. The NAS wakes up the drives to make that determination.

An option would be to not have the drive mapping(s) permanent, but enable them only when you need to. A couple of batch files could be used to connect and disconnect, and there may be an application that does it, too.

JosephAE
Aspirant
Oct 16, 2020
Yes Windows Explorer. Sorry for not being clearer. Thanks for replying.

The NAS drives are not mapped to my computer or any device on the home network.

Any time I open Windows Explorer the NAS disks will spin up if they had been asleep.

Does Windows Explorer store some kind of history and if the NAS had at one time been mapped Windows Explorer goes out and looks for it again?

Or when Windows Explorer opens does it send out an inquiry for the status of everything on the network?

Thanks for the help.
- StephenB
  Guru - Experienced User
  Oct 16, 2020
  It does actively look for network devices when you first click on the network icon in the left pane. I don't think it will do that if the network devices aren't being displayed in the main pane, but I am not sure about that.