Docking Station wakes HDD on removal

[logger]

I am new to the SP3 and these forums so excuse me if this has been covered before. I did a search and could not see mention of this issue.

I have a 2TB WD My Passport connected to my Docking Station. It is my photo library for Lightroom.

When I undock my SP3 from the Docking station I would expect the HDD to shutdown gracefully and do nothing until I redock the SP3. However even if I use the Safely Remove Hardware option and Eject the HDD it will come back to life and spin continuously when I remove the SP3. Sort of negates the utility of dock having it do this and cause the HDD to spin for weeks continuously. I do not want to have to pull the power on the dock when I leave home on my frequent trips away.

Is there perhaps a setting somewhere I have missed. Has anyone eles seen this behavior and found a way to fix it.

 

[hughlle]

When your surface is plugged in, it can control the hdd such as sleep and activity. Once the sp3 is removed from the dock, the dock is now just functioning as a powered usb hub. Anything plugged into the usb ports will receive power. At least that is my understanding based on other members experiences.

 

[logger]

Aha thanks. Makes sense now what is going on. I eventually found the thread at http://www.surfaceforums.net/threads/usb-power-on-dock-after-shut-down.15215/ where a solution is to use an additional USB hub that includes a power switch. Will probably just unplug the HDD when I go away from home. I am getting a couple of Dell U2414F monitors. They have a gaggle of USB 3 ports. Suppose a further solution might be to connect the HDD to one of the monitors instead of the Docking Station. That way I an just hit the monitors power switch stop the HDD. Thanks for the reply.

 

[logger]

I found a decent solution using the USB ports on my twin Dell monitors instead of those on the docking station.

They have a option under Energy use: USB on/off during standby. Off being the default. So I simply plugged the HDD into the monitors USB instead of the docking station. Now when I undock the SP3 the external HDD stays powered down. On the other Monitor I have set it the other way to USB on during standby. I can then use that monitor to charge phones when the SP3 is undocked with the screen in standby. All good.

Damn. My cunning plan has been thwarted. The USB power selection in the Dell montitor OSD is overridden when you connect to an upstream powered hub such as the docking station. The screen detect the SP3 dock is still powered and the "USB on/off during standby" menu greys out and is ignored.

 

[Telstar1948]

I found a decent solution using the USB ports on my twin Dell monitors instead of those on the docking station.

They have a option under Energy use: USB on/off during standby. Off being the default. So I simply plugged the HDD into the monitors USB instead of the docking station. Now when I undock the SP3 the external HDD stays powered down. On the other Monitor I have set it the other way to USB on during standby. I can then use that monitor to charge phones when the SP3 is undocked with the screen in standby. All good.

Damn. My cunning plan has been thwarted. The USB power selection in the Dell montitor OSD is overridden when you connect to an upstream powered hub such as the docking station. The screen detect the SP3 dock is still powered and the "USB on/off during standby" menu greys out and is ignored.

Interesting! I'm still in the process of setting up a desk in my study. I have a 32" Samsung monitor to use and it has a USB 3 dock built in to it. I'd planned to connect my SP3 to it to use so that I'd have less clutter on the desk as I would using external USB 3 dock(s). I hadn't given thought to whether the built in dock would be "hot" or not after unplugging my SP3, but I'll look into that once I have everything set up.

In my regular work office I have my MS SP3 dock set up with external monitors, but they don't have built in USB docks so I use external USB docks plugged into my SP3 dock. Everything USB powers down when I unhook my SP3 from the MS dock, like you said.

Thanks for the thought about the built in USB dock on the monitor!

 

[logger]

My latest method to kill the ext HDD power is to de-power the screen when I am away for extended periods.

Undock SP3, ext HDD attached to Monitor comes back to life, Quick press of the power button on the front off the Dell screen powers it right off. That will do for now.