Power managment....Hard drive question

[Zipp]

Are you better off letting your hard drive spin down or always on? I was told you have less of a chance of failure when you dont let it spin down....Any truth to that?

 

[amdskip]

Ehh, basically ymmv on this I guess. I don't have mine to automatically suspend or anything but I will sleep my computer down if I'm not gonna be on it for an hour or two.

 

[redbeard1]

Truth? I don't know about that. But in the old days that was what people always seemed to think was better. With modern drives, I don't think it means as much as it used too. Though the hardest part of starting any electrical device, is the draw of power when you first turn it on.

Any engineers out there have a bit of theory for us?

 

[bruincal]

I remember a couple years ago when I read so many articles debating whether leaving a computer continously on was good or bad for the computer.

In my opinion, it is better to turn off the computer. Because today's hard drives spin so fast, often 7200rpm or more, this generates a lot of heat and places a lot of stress on the motor and the bearings. Running your hard drive 24/7 can only decrease its life span.

However, the other side of this argument is that leaving your hard drive on all the time will prevent it from being stressed by the "surge" of electricity when it is turned on. Considering today's solid state circuitry and the efficient voltage regulation done by the power supply, I don't think this is much of an issue anymore. So turning the hard drive off will probably extend its life longer than leaving it on all the time.

Oh yeah, another thing. It saves electricity!!! =P I live in California, and electricity conservation is a big issue here! =P

 

[Storm]

Originally posted by: bruincal
I remember a couple years ago when I read so many articles debating whether leaving a computer continously on was good or bad for the computer.

In my opinion, it is better to turn off the computer. Because today's hard drives spin so fast, often 7200rpm or more, this generates a lot of heat and places a lot of stress on the motor and the bearings. Running your hard drive 24/7 can only decrease its life span.

However, the other side of this argument is that leaving your hard drive on all the time will prevent it from being stressed by the "surge" of electricity when it is turned on. Considering today's solid state circuitry and the efficient voltage regulation done by the power supply, I don't think this is much of an issue anymore. So turning the hard drive off will probably extend its life longer than leaving it on all the time.

Oh yeah, another thing. It saves electricity!!! =P I live in California, and electricity conservation is a big issue here! =P

Well I run XP and under the Power Management scheme. I have Never Turn off Hard disks. I dont have extra cooling for my harddrives. In my four year stay at college my computer was on 24/7 almost close to 365 days a year even idling. Never had a harddrive die yet. *knocks on wood* Now that I'm back home after graduating I dont leave it idling
and still no problems.