HDrive Awake
All modern hard drives have built-in software that put the drive to sleep for energy saving and wear & tear purposes. Most drives can take anywhere from 15-30 seconds to wake from a sleeping state. If you have multiple drives, this problem is compounded. HDrive Awake will make sure that your hard drives do not go to sleep unless you want them to.
The application is very easy to use and only takes a few seconds to set up. Once it is running, all your internal and external hard drives will be available to you with no sleep/wake cycles to slow you down!
The best part is that HDrive Awake is free!
It is highly suggested that you research the different theories on not allowing your hard drive to sleep. CANELA Software does not take any responsibility for any damage caused by the use of this software. Here are two different places to start: Google research paper and Energy Star.