Hard drive to sleep = harmful ?

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badtzbadtz
Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
I have a powerbook with an external firewire HD (3.5" HD).



I have the "Put Hard Disk to sleep when possible." checked in the energy saver.



The firewire drive contains my music, videos.



My HD would have to spin up everytime I decide to play music and or a video after it falls to sleep.





Would having this checked harm my drive? Or should I un-check it so that it keeps on spinning all the time?

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 5
    buonrottobuonrotto Posts: 6,368member
    It should be fine, and it's certainly preferrable to have your HD spin down in order to save battery power. I suppose that the start/stop behavior increases your likelihood of a head crash, but the increased chance is probably quite insignificant. I've never had a problem with my hard drives on any of my desktops or portables in recent memory. Consider what an iPod goes through with its HD, andyour Powerbook is that much better off.
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  • Reply 2 of 5
    ebbyebby Posts: 3,110member
    It's worse for higher RPM drives (like 10,000RPM) since the drive has to work extra hard to spin up to speed. Those are usually set to spin down if you leave your computer on overnight or a few days. Low RPM drives like in laptops, some desktops and the iPod are less affected by the wear&tear involved with spinning up a drive.
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  • Reply 3 of 5
    badtzbadtz Posts: 949member
    would having it spin down be better than just having it always spinning?



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  • Reply 4 of 5
    thuh freakthuh freak Posts: 2,664member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by badtz

    would having it spin down be better than just having it always spinning?







    well, it saves energy, if you're into that.



    and as for the topic question: it most definitely is not any more harmful than ever using a hard disk. would you consider it risky to turn on your computer? the only thing you have to contend with is the delay when you use the drive; if you are okay with that, then by all means, keep that item checked. the comptuer is not going to force the drive to spinup any faster than usual.
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  • Reply 5 of 5
    aquaticaquatic Posts: 5,602member
    don worry about it
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