KeepAliveHD

KeepAliveHD is an app designed to prevent your hard drive from entering sleep mode. This is done by automatically creating a tiny single text file every few minutes.
It features a manager for multiple drives and lets you specify the text writing frequency. Even casual PC users can handle it with ease.

Simple setup and interface

After a fast setup operation that shouldn't give you any trouble, you're greeted by a standard window split into four panes, where you can easily configure settings and examine drive information.
Any drive can be included in the monitor, and you can specify different file writing frequencies for each one (in seconds, minutes or hours).

How it works

KeepAliveHD doesn't implement a specific option for establishing the output directory for the small text file. Instead, it creates it in the root of the selected drive. This is why it has an additional option for selecting a directory instead of the drive, in order to generate the TXT document in a non-intrusive known place, while preventing its originating drive from entering sleep mode.
Furthermore, the utility doesn't clutter the hard drive with multiple files. It doesn't generate a new text file in the given time period but overwrites the same one. The file has the .txt format and the "KeepAliveHD" name. It includes a single line of text which informs you that it was generated using this application, along with the date and time of last modification.
Some users might have preferred multiple lines of text in order to keep track of all dates and times of modification, like a log file. However, this would have affected the file's size, which is a priority for KeepAliveHD.

Monitor multiple drives at once

Writing mode is disabled by default to give you the necessary time for including as many drives as you want in the monitor. It's possible to remove any item from the list if you change your mind, or to edit properties. Once the monitor is enabled, it starts writing files in all specified locations.

Disable file writing on user inactivity

Moreover, you can set the tool to automatically disable writing if the computer stops receiving any commands from the user, and you can establish the idle time (in minutes or hours). It's capable of running at every Windows startup until further notice, as well as of hiding in the system tray area when minimizing or exiting the main app window.

Delete the text file and view drive information

The tool may also be asked to delete the text file after it was written, ignore volume names, and to log any error messages to file that you can later investigate.
In the second pane you can view the volume name, total size, free space, and type of each identified drive, select one or more drives, and add them to KeepAliveHD's monitor with one click. Plus, you can refresh the list if any changes have been made in the meantime.

Evaluation and conclusion

It had a low impact on computer performance in our tests, generated and overwritten the text files instantly, and didn't hang, crash or prompt error messages.
To wrap it up, KeepAliveHD is a practical little application for preventing the hard drive from entering sleep mode, backed by intuitive options for all user levels, and we can definitely appreciate its simplicity and concern toward minimal file size.