Smol pwsh script that keeps your external enclosure HDDs spinning forever without sleep. Useful for loud drives and reduces mechanical wear if your controller is very agressive and puts to sleep every 5min or so. It pokes ALL drives, ssd are safe anyway, but all HDDs will wake!

KeepHDDAwake.ps1

# Drive Keep-Alive Script - WAKEY WAKEY ALL THE DRIVES
# Pokes every drive letter every X minutes so they dont fucking sleep!

Write-Host "🔄 Starting Drive Keep-Alive Monitor..." -ForegroundColor Cyan
Write-Host "Press Ctrl+C to stop`n" -ForegroundColor Yellow

function Get-AllDrives {
    # Get all drive letters that are ready (mounted and accessible)
    $drives = Get-PSDrive -PSProvider FileSystem | Where-Object {
        $_.Used -ne $null -and $_.Free -ne $null
    } | Select-Object -ExpandProperty Name
    
    return $drives
}

function Poke-Drive {
    param([string]$DriveLetter)
    
    try {
        $path = "${DriveLetter}:\"
        
        # Try direct drive access first (works for external drives)
        try {
            $handle = [System.IO.File]::Open(
                "\\.\${DriveLetter}:",
                [System.IO.FileMode]::Open,
                [System.IO.FileAccess]::Read,
                [System.IO.FileShare]::ReadWrite
            )
            $buffer = New-Object byte[] 512
            $handle.Read($buffer, 0, 512) | Out-Null
            $handle.Close()
        }
        catch {
            # Fallback: Write a tiny file (forces real disk I/O)
            $tempPath = Join-Path $path ".__keepalive__.tmp"
            [System.IO.File]::WriteAllText($tempPath, (Get-Date).Ticks.ToString())
            Remove-Item $tempPath -Force
        }
        
        $timestamp = Get-Date -Format "HH:mm:ss"
        Write-Host "[$timestamp] ✨ Poked ${DriveLetter}: - " -NoNewline -ForegroundColor Green
        Write-Host "WAKEY WAKEY!" -ForegroundColor Magenta
        return $true
    }
    catch {
        $timestamp = Get-Date -Format "HH:mm:ss"
        Write-Host "[$timestamp] ⚠️  Failed to poke ${DriveLetter}: - $($_.Exception.Message)" -ForegroundColor Red
        return $false
    }
}

# Main loop
$intervalSeconds = 180

Write-Host "🔍 Detecting all drives...`n" -ForegroundColor Cyan

while ($true) {
    $allDrives = Get-AllDrives
    
    if ($allDrives.Count -eq 0) {
        Write-Host "⚠️  No drives detected! This shouldn't happen..." -ForegroundColor Yellow
    }
    else {
        Write-Host "💾 Found drives: $($allDrives -join ', ')" -ForegroundColor Cyan
        
        foreach ($drive in $allDrives) {
            Poke-Drive -DriveLetter $drive
            Start-Sleep -Milliseconds 300  # Brief pause between drives
        }
    }
    
    Write-Host "`n💤 Sleeping for some time...`n" -ForegroundColor DarkGray
    Start-Sleep -Seconds $intervalSeconds
}