Setting HDDs to switch off after inactivity. Good or Bad?

[chickenbeef]

Good or Bad?

Which will ensure a longer lifespan of your HDD? (Allow windows to turn off your HDDs if they're inactive or don't allow it)

 

[Obelix]

depedns on how long your inactivity is...Mine i keep running casue i could potentially be stoppping and starting the drives several hundred times a day ( depending on what the inactivity time is set to... )... also, window has these irritating background jobs that run around and mess with your files. They tends to trigger a drive start shortly after it shutdown...

 

[Ockie]

Not sure if this is true or not, but I have been told that the temp fluctuations when the drive keeps turning on and off can cause the platters to expand and contract and therefore cause damage. But like I said, not sure how true this is.

 

[LazyLion]

If the drive manufacturers have built this capability into the drives, do you think it will cause damage to them? Do you think they would knowingly build a function into a hard drive that could potentially damage the drive?

Or do you think this quest for saving the planet and green power and using less electricity and making devices that turn off to save power is just a sham?

 

[killadoob]

Well gary do you know without a doubt that a hdd shutting down 10 times a day won't shorten it's lifespan?

I am fairly certain it cannot be good for a hdd with moving parts to stop and start all day. You may actually find it fails sooner. Gary though seems to have solid concrete info to contrary though so i am waiting for that

My hdd's never turn off.

 

[chickenbeef]

If the drive manufacturers have built this capability into the drives, do you think it will cause damage to them? Do you think they would knowingly build a function into a hard drive that could potentially damage the drive?

Or do you think this quest for saving the planet and green power and using less electricity and making devices that turn off to save power is just a sham?

The dudes that made my drives forgot to put that feature in them. I have to set it in windows to switch off after a period of inactivity. (my guess is that the operating system switches it on and off, not the drive itself)

So the general consensus seems to be that they should be left on all the time.

 

[LazyLion]

http://hothardware.com/Articles/Western-Digital-Caviar-and-RE2-GreenPower-1TB-Hard-Drives/

Active Power Management – WD GreenPower drives monitor work load and automatically invoke idle mode whenever possible to further reduce unnecessary power consumption. Drive recovery time from idle mode is less than one second, providing seamless power management between the drive and the host controller.

1.2 million hours MTBF — The highest available reliability rating on a high-capacity drive.

So the drive can run constantly for 1.2 Million hours before failure. Never mind start, stop... that is constant operation.

@Killa... you do realize that your drive heads are spinning up and stopping all the time that the computers is on, don't you? That is what drives do. That is how they are designed. The heads move from idle to read mode all the time. Besides that you drive may have the above idle feature built in anyway... so your platters may also be spinning up and slowing down and there is not much you can do about it.

If you leave your drives powered on all the time, You are using up some of that Mean Time Before Failure. if you allow them to switch off when idle... even for ten minutes or an hour, you are saving the life of the drive. Switching them on again is not going to kill them... they are already in standby mode with electrical feed active.

 

[acidrain]

Well if the 1.2 Million is a good estimate for most drives then just let it run as you will die before the drive does as 1.2 Mil hours equates to about 136 years.

Afaik with the "green" drives, they have a variable RPM, 5400 being idle and 7200 being the operational speed... not all drives have this function.

 

[LazyLion]

Well if the 1.2 Million is a good estimate for most drives then just let it run as you will die before the drive does as 1.2 Mil hours equates to about 136 years.

so then allowing it to turn off to save power and energy will also not lessen it's life any more significantly.

 

[chickenbeef]

I don't have green drives...hate em.

Gary does have an interesting point though. Hmmmmm...

 

[I am Penguin]

Well gary do you know without a doubt that a hdd shutting down 10 times a day won't shorten it's lifespan?

I am fairly certain it cannot be good for a hdd with moving parts to stop and start all day. You may actually find it fails sooner. Gary though seems to have solid concrete info to contrary though so i am waiting for that

My hdd's never turn off.

Well from an Electronics viewpoint.
-Shutting the power off/on to a drive will be bad as it would be a negative effect. Electronics fail mostly due to spikes induces.
-Letting the drive go to sleep by a controlled stop and start will not damage the drive as its done in a controlled manner.
- Letting the drive shut down after the drive was stopped already will not damage the drive mechanically Again the electronics are not switched off they are just in low power mode.
-Letting the PC shut down when the drive was already in low power mode will not damage the drive.

The key is to not have the drives undergo any electric switching On/Off/On.

From a Mechanical viewpoint allowing drives to stop when not used will save wear and tear and thus increase life span.
From a Electrical viewpoint letting the drive's go to sleep under controlled conditions increase lifespan by reduced stress on components.

MY PC's are on 24/7 the just go to sleep/ suspend to ram. When you touch a key everything gracefully starts where again from it left off.

 

[LazyLion]

I don't have green drives...hate em.

Gary does have an interesting point though. Hmmmmm...

Ja, those were WD Green drives I linked to, but my point is that is the way the industry is moving with a drive to make everything green compliant.