Why can't my NAS drives enter standby mode?
Last modified date:
2025-10-02
Applicable Products
QTS, QuTS hero
Solutions
This section provides step-by-step instructions to diagnose why your NAS drives fail to enter standby mode. If Solution 1 does not resolve the issue, proceed to Solution 2 for advanced analysis.
Solution 1: Disable Services and Apps
Many built-in services and apps on your NAS may prevent your drives from entering standby mode due to routine system access. Check the following list and disable unnecessary apps and services. Before you proceed, ensure that you have enabled disk standby mode following the steps below.
- Log in to your NAS as an administrator.
- Open Control Panel.
- Go to System > Hardware.
- Select Enable disk standby mode: The status LED will turn off if there is no access within.
- Click Apply.
Important
While standby mode reduces power consumption, frequent spin-ups and spin-downs cause more wear and tear compared to constant spinning. This poses a risk to disk health. Therefore, we recommend setting a power schedule instead of using standby mode. For instructions, see the "Configuring the Power Schedule" section in the QTS User Guide.
Disable NAS Built-in Services
Disabling certain NAS built-in services can help prevent excessive network activity and allow your drives to enter standby mode.
- Disable UPnP Port Forwarding
- Log in to your NAS.
- Open myQNAPcloud.
- Click
on the top right corner.
A warning message appears. - Click OK.
- Select Auto Router Configuration.
- Disable the UPnP Port Forwarding toggle switch.
- Disable Microsoft Networking
- Log in to your NAS.
- Open Control Panel.
- Go to Network & File Services > Win/Mac/NFS/WebDAV.
- Deselect Enable file services for Microsoft Networking (SMB).
- Disconnect Unnecessary Devices
Disconnect devices that do not require frequent access to your NAS. - Disable DMZ and Port Forwarding
Disable Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) and port forwarding on your router or firewall if your NAS is connected to the internet. These settings expose your NAS to unsolicited access, compromising NAS security. - Remove Mapped Shared Folders
Remove mapped shared folders on computers that are constantly accessing your NAS. - Use a Wired Ethernet Connection
Connect your NAS to the network using an Ethernet cable instead of a USB Wi-Fi dongle. - Complete Indexing and Thumbnail Generation
When you upload data, your NAS indexes files and generates media thumbnails. This may take some time, depending on the number of files, and the drives remain active during the process.
Disable QNAP Apps
If you suspect the following apps are causing issues, disable them in App Center. Refer to the descriptions provided to determine which apps should be disabled. For instructions, see the "Enabling or Disabling an App" section in the QTS User Guide.- AMIZcloud Agent: Routinely collects system resources, status and performance data.
- Boxafe: Routinely accesses cloud services to synchronize and back up cloud data.
- Container Station: Check if containers are running. If running, they keep your drives active
- Download Station: Check if Download Station or are running download or upload tasks. If running, they keep your drives active.
- DA Drive Analyzer: Regularly collects disk health information.
- Helpdesk
- HybridMount: File Cloud Gateway routinely accesses cloud services to synchronize files.
- HBS 3 Hybrid Backup Sync
- Multimedia Console
- Media Streaming add-on
- Notes Station 3
- NetBak Replicator: Routinely searches for your NAS on the network.
- OceanKTV: Routinely synchronizes recommended playlists with online databases.
- Q'center Agent: Routinely collects disk health and monitoring information.
- Q'center Server: Routinely stores information sent from your NAS.
- QuFirewall
- QmailAgent: Routinely accesses and checks email accounts to synchronize and back up emails.
- Virtualization Station: Check if virtual machines are running. If running, they keep your drives active
- Qfinder Pro: Routinely searches for your NAS on the network.
- QVPN Service
Disable Third-Party Apps
Disable the following third-party apps in App Center. For instructions, see the "Enabling or Disabling an App" section in the QTS User Guide.- P2P Apps
- Mattermost
- McAfee Antivirus
- Plex Media Server
Solution 2: Analyze File Modifications
If disabling services and apps does not resolve the issue, you can use the following steps to identify the specific app that prevents your hard drives from spinning down.
- Access your NAS via SSH. For instructions, see this tutorial.
- Execute the following command in the terminal.
The SSH terminal displays a list of the most recently modified files on your NAS. The file that appears at the bottom of the list might be what prevents your NAS from entering standby mode.cd /dev/shm; wget https://eu1.qnap.com/Storage/tsd/utility/standby_debug.sh -O standby_debug.sh ; sudo sh standby_debug.sh - Verify the status LED on your NAS turns off after the terminal output stops updating. This indicates the drive has successfully entered standby mode.
- Open File Station 5 on your NAS.
- Click the Public folder on the left panel.
- Right-click the newly created standby test log.
- Select Download.
- Open the downloaded standby test log.
- Examine the lines indicating "Last file modification". See the following for an example.
This indicates that Q'center performed a write operation, preventing the disk from spinning down.Last file modification: Wed Mar 9 15:15:46 2022/share/CACHEDEV1_DATA/.qpkg/Qcenter/qnap-cms/var/log/rrd_pregen.log. - Disable the app identified in the file path. For instructions, see the "Enabling or Disabling an App" section in the QTS User Guide.
