Hdparm for Windows

Hdparm for Windows is a compiled version of hdparm for the Microsoft operating system. It can completely disable HDD APM or change APM values to prevent drive from parking its head, stop load/unload cycle count increasing and annoying drive ticking sounds.

HDD APM explained in brief

The Advanced Power Management feature (APM) present in virtually all modern hard disk drives is aimed to save energy and power consumption by regulating the performance of the hard disk drive. Power consumption is reduced by adjusting spin speeds and disabling internal components when not in use. Aggressive power saving settings allow the hard disk drive to stop its spindle motor and park heads more frequently, which allows saving as much energy as possible, but put stress on mechanics and leads to delays on drive reads caused by waiting the magnetic disks to spin up to the necessary speed. In other words saving energy is achieved by decreasing performance and to a certain extent shortens drive life.