Safe to leave external HDD running 24/7?

[FuryofFive]

I googled my question and found a lot of results, however nothing that would answer the question in way that i could understand.

I recently bought a 4TB WD mybook to use for backing up all my files
I was considering getting a new router with 1x or 2x USB ports. to Turn the external drive into a makeshift NAS. A way that i could share all my files across the 4 computers in my household.
My main concern is leaving the device on, since there is no active cooling in these devices(that i'm aware of), i'm worried the drive with fail due to overheating.
Also unlike HDD that shut off when not in use, do external HDD's shut off or stop spinning when not in use?

(Also posted on hardforum)

 

[Bardock]

does it have a fan?

 

[FuryofFive]

does it have a fan?

i dont believe so, it has slits that allow heat to escape. not sure if it has a heatsink, never opened the enclosure.

 

[corkyg]

I have 6 externals - different kinds - none have fans. They are not designed to run 24/7. OTOH, they may well do OK since they are external and not subject to internal system heat. If a NAS function is what you want, why not invest in a proper NAS case that has a fan?

 

[FuryofFive]

I have 6 externals - different kinds - none have fans. They are not designed to run 24/7. OTOH, they may well do OK since they are external and not subject to internal system heat. If a NAS function is what you want, why not invest in a proper NAS case that has a fan?

Im thinking i may go that route eventually. I was just checking out different ways to about it.

 

[FuryofFive]

Im thinking i may go that route eventually. I was just checking out different ways to about it.

im not sure which direction i want to go in

I can return the external drive and go straight NAS,

keep the external and still go NAS
using the external as a back-up of my back-up essentially.

or stay with the external as it is now


update***im gonna stick with my external, then eventually i either go NAS with possible Mirroring

 

[Compman55]

The power supplies are not designed for 24/7. Most failures of external drives that are out of warranty, the drive itself is good, the power brick, or circuit board inside is not. Just my experiance.

 

[FuryofFive]

The power supplies are not designed for 24/7. Most failures of external drives that are out of warranty, the drive itself is good, the power brick, or circuit board inside is not. Just my experiance.

what about something like
WD My Cloud 4TB Personal Cloud Storage - NAS

external enclosure with NAS built-in

 

[dave_the_nerd]

I've used fanless externals with USB equipped routers for years. They typically idle and spin down after a while.

 

[FaceToKeyboard]

I say go for it. I'm almost positive leaving the HDD plugged in won't do it any harm, unless everyone on your network is actually going to constantly be using it.
I doubt external HDDs would needlessly be spinning under power when there's no file/data transfer occurring.

Never spinning down is typically a feature of NAS oriented drives, or so I believe.

 

[FaceToKeyboard]

--

 

[Blintok]

not sure about the mybook but i have WD element externals. They go to sleep after a certain period of time. One i only use to backup and then turn it off (unplug) i call this drive "Vault" ... The next one i call "backup" and it is a mirror of Vault. but i keep backup plugged in and let it sleep when idle.

does the mybook have an external light? on the element when the drive is on the light is solid but when sleeping it slowly blinks.

 

[rovopio]

so as long as it has sleep feature on it... do you think it'll be okay...?

i never actually ask this question but i leave my wd mybook 3.5" drive running 24/4 maybe...

 

[FuryofFive]

i think for the effort going into this. ill probaly just get a NAS and run mirroring. Storage is cheap compared to the cost of losing data. plus having a network storage option that doesnt go off with the machine its attached to is nice.

 

[Charlie98]

I bought a 2TB Seagate external drive, opened the enclosure and found a nice Barracuda in it so I pulled it out and installed it in my HTPC. Not wanting to waste anything, I put an old Hitachi 500GB HDD in the Seagate enclosure and am running it 24/7 as one of my backup drives on my desktop.

The power supplies are not designed for 24/7.

...I guess we will find out.

The drive is anything but a 'green' drive, but it still spins down after about 30 minutes of non-use... that may be due to the enclosure controller, however, I don't really know. In my case, if the enclosure or power adapter fails I'm not really out anything, but I'm curious to see how long it performs.

 

[ronbo613]

I've got a lot of external enclosures, most with fans, some without. Personally, I would not leave a hard drive enclosure on longer than necessary. No doubt the hard drive could stay on 24/7, but most enclosures I've owned have extremely low quality components and PCBs. Seems they put more money into the outside appearance of the enclosure and went super cheap on the guts.

I've had a couple enclosures fail and had a look at fixing them but it wasn't worth the effort.

 

[AnitaPeterson]

If you run Crystal DiskInfo - or any other similar program - it will regularly check the temperature and alert you if it rises above a certain threshold (usually 50 degrees Celsius). It will also scan for other errors.
If you keep the power bricks connected through a UPS, it will filter power transients (brownouts, spikes) which are the primary cause of power source failures.

 

[FalseChristian]

I have a Seagate external 3TB USB 3.0 drive. It automatically goes into sleep mode when not in use for 1/2 hour. I also turn off my computer for 8 hours while I sleep. All your components will benefit from this.

 

[Charlie98]

If you run Crystal DiskInfo - or any other similar program - it will regularly check the temperature and alert you if it rises above a certain threshold (usually 50 degrees Celsius). It will also scan for other errors.

That happened to me... I had a hard drive cradle setting on top of the Seagate external horizontally positioned box, running a disk wipe, and it shot the external's HDD to 54C! Not a very good design...

 

[Blain]

"Safe"... yes
Wise? Not so much

 

[tweakboy]

I took out all 3 HDs ,,, feels soo good.. CPU temps went down too.

I had iCage ,, took the cage out.

 

[Anteaus]

The drives should spin down just like internal drives. It's perfectly safe to keep the drives connected 24/7. That said, if the drives are used for backup purposes I would keep them disconnected when not in use purely as protection from power surges or other issues that could potentially corrupt the data or hurt the drives. It's just a cautionary tale.

As to the heat, definitely avoid putting them horizontal...there is a reason the vent is at the top. Enclosed spaces can be bad also.