Changing Idle3 Timer on Western Digital drives

With the release of the Western Digital RED class of NAS disks, this process becomes redundant unless you have a Western Digital GREEN or a BLACK series disk.
Again. DO NOT PERFORM this on the WD RED or RE series as they have the necessary firmware to operate properly WITHOUT MODIFICATION... otherwise... enjoy :)

This video discusses what you'll need to do in order to change the Idle3 timer of a Western Digital hard disk and what you can expect when doing that.
Changing the Idle3 timer will affect the Load Cycle Count of the hard disk by changing when the hard disk unloads its head.

Use the Ultimate BOOT CD v5.1.1 or greater and choose the "Free DOS" option from the menu when booting.
http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/downloa...
You do not need to customize the UBCD as the Free DOS component includes the WDIDLE3 v1.05 app.

Western Digital Support
http://support.wdc.com/product/downlo...
WD Support has a link to their Idle timer here
http://support.wdc.com/product/downlo...

Remember to...
* BACKUP your data before attempting anything with your disk
* Power down the machine when connecting/disconnecting the disk
* Take adequate anti-static protection (ensure you're earthed)
* Connect only the disk you're interested in changing
* AHCI may need to be disabled to scan/detect the disk
* This demo used WDIDLE3 1.03 for DOS
* This function was on Western Digital SATA disks, both Green & Black series
* Most hard disks are warranted to 300,000 Load Cycles
* Some models disable Idle3 and some set it to 3720 seconds (62 mins)
* I have performed this on WD Green, Black & RE disks with capacities of 1.0TB, 1.5TB, 2.0TB and 3.0TB disks

This advice is offered as is... all action you take is at your OWN risk.

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