Does Qnap NAS allow HDD spin down (hibernation) when not in use?

Last updated on 20 May 2021 📧 Subscribe

On my Lockerstor 4, there is an option to let the HDs stop spinning
after there has been no activity for some time.

Do you know whether the QNAP also has a function like that?

In my situation, I need centralized storage for my PCs and laptops,
but the disks definitely don’t need to be spinning 24/7.

 

Yes, you can enable this setting also on Qnap NAS.
Here is how :
https://www.qnap.com/en/how-to/faq/article/why-are-my-nas-drives-not-entering-standby-mode

If for some reason drives do not spring down, you may be having an app keeping them alive. Here is how to check that :
https://wiki.qnap.com/wiki/Find_out_which_process_prevents_the_hard_drives_from_spindown

I hope this helps.

 

 

You can enable standby mode in Control Panel > System > Hardware. If your drives are unable to enter standby mode, check whether the following applications or services are running.

 

 

 

Why would hard drives keep wake-up and will not spin down?

Applied models:

Applied Firmware:

  • All version

The following can keep NAS hard drives from spinning down:

  • Several QNAP services (Download station, Music Station, etc.) can enable regular jobs that always wake up hard disks from spindown. Check the configuration of these services, if they are activated.
  • Automatically synchronizing QNAPs NAS time with an internet time server can wake hard drives.
  • System daemon is running for RAID management (synchronizing).

 

 

Why are my NAS drives not entering standby mode?
  • BT downloading
  • Container Station
  • Device sharing. If your NAS is shared with multiple devices on the same network, drives will not be able to enter standby mode while a device has access to the NAS.
  • Indexing or thumbnail generation. If you have recently moved or saved a large number of files to your NAS, these files will be indexed. Your NAS will also generate thumbnails for newly-added media files. Depending on the number of files, the indexing and thumbnail generation process may take a long time to finish. Drives will not be able to enter standby mode during this time.
  • Mattermost
  • Microsoft Networking: AD service, WINS server, or Domain Master
  • Network access to the NAS. If your NAS is connected to the internet, ensure that you do not enable DMZ or port forwarding on your router or firewall. This may make your NAS vulnerable to unsolicited access and may compromise the security and functionality of your drives, preventing them from entering standby mode.
  • Notes Station 3
  • NTP server
  • OceanKTV. OceanKTV routinely synchronizes recommended playlists from online databases, which prevents drives from entering standby mode.
  • Q’center Agent. Q’center Agent regularly collects disk health and monitoring information, which prevents drives from entering standby mode.
  • Q’center Server. Q’center Server stores information that the NAS sends regularly, which prevents drives from entering standby mode.
  • Qfinder Pro, Quick Install Wizard, or NetBak Replicator. These services routinely search for your NAS on the network, which prevents drives from entering standby mode.
  • QmailAgent. This app routinely accesses and checks email accounts to synchronize and back up emails, which prevents drives from entering standby mode.
  • Shared folder mapping
  • UPnP
  • USB Wi-Fi dongle. Using a USB Wi-Fi dongle to connect to a Wi-Fi network via an access point may prevent drives from entering standby mode.
  • Virtualization Station. If virtual machines are running in Virtualization Station, drives will not be able to enter standby mode.
  • HybridMount File Cloud Gateway connection. This kind of connection routinely accesses and checks cloud services to synchronize file lists, which prevents drives from entering standby mode.
  • Plex Media Server
  • QuFirewall

Other apps that routinely access your NAS may prevent drives from entering standby mode.

If problems persist, you can connect to your NAS using SSH port 22 or telnet port 13131 and issue a ps command. This will show all running processes.

You can also run a diagnostic program to discover the processes that have access to NAS drives:
http://wiki.qnap.com/wiki/Find_out_which_process_prevents_the_hard_drives_from_spindown

 

 



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