How to Turn Off Hard Drive When Not in Use on Windows 11

This practical guide explains how to turn off hard drive when not in use on Windows 11. Follow the steps in order, review the requirements first, and use the troubleshooting notes when a setting or option does not work as expected.

Instructions to turn off hard drive in Power Options Windows 11

Step 1:

You open the Run dialog box, enter the keyword powercfg.cp and press OK to access.

Step 2:

Display the Power Options interface, click Change Plan Settings as shown below.

Continue to select Change advanced power settings .

Step 3:

Display the new interface, we click Hard Disk to expand. At On Battery you will see the default battery for 10 minutes. To turn off the hard drive, you set a new time limit for both On Battery and Plugged in modes . Finally, click Apply to save.

How to Turn Off Windows 11 Hard Drive Using Command Prompt

Step 1:

You enter the keyword Command Prompt and select Run as administrator .

Step 2:

Display the command prompt interface, enter the command powercfg -change -disk-timeout-dc 0 . Replace 0 with the amount of time (in minutes) you want to disable the hard drive after it has been inactive.

After performing the above steps, restart your Windows 11 computer to apply it.