[MLStrand56]

I have a disagreement with a friend.

I think that HD's remain spinning as long as the computer is on.

He thinks that HD's spin up when data is needed, & stop when the data transferr is complete. He maintains that this is a good reason for a 2nd. HD (Data Drive). His reasoning is that since the HD is not spinning all the time, It'll last longer.

This goes against everything I've ever learned about HD's.

What's the answer?

MLStrand56

[mjd420nova]

There are many programs to do just about anything with a hard drive. In the early days, the initialization schemes involved moving the head through a preset pattern that also resulted in a "chirp" from the drive itself. Parking heads and spinning down a drive may save some life but that would be questionable. Power savings on laptops dictates they have some routine to spin down the drive and dim any backlights. All of my drives spin continuosly, even the laptop, as it seldom gets taken portable. The design of most drives is to run most efficiently at their normal speed, 5400 or 7200 RPM. Slowing them may create more heat.

[compnovo]

MLStrand56, on 03 February 2013 - 04:01 AM, said:

I have a disagreement with a friend.

I think that HD's remain spinning as long as the computer is on.

He thinks that HD's spin up when data is needed, & stop when the data transferr is complete. He maintains that this is a good reason for a 2nd. HD (Data Drive). His reasoning is that since the HD is not spinning all the time, It'll last longer.

This goes against everything I've ever learned about HD's.

What's the answer?

MLStrand56

Your friend is mistaken, hard drives don't spin down after a transfer is complete. However, so-called "green" drives spin down after a period of inactivity, it's built into their firmware (I use one as a storage drive on my desktop). They're considered green because of the energy saved while they're parked.

Google "green drives" and you'll see what I mean.

[waldojim]

Windows stops my drives (even on the media center) after 10 minutes of inactivity. Hard drives take about 10 to 15 seconds to spin up, and about 20 to 30 seconds to spin down. It makes no sense to stop after every transfer. It also takes 3 times the running energy to spin a drive up than to leave it running for a short time. Having them set to power down during inactivity is actually a great way to save electricity and bearing life on the drives.

EDIT: For what it is worth, exact behavior is actually down to the OS. If Windows power management settings say NEVER turn off a drive, it won't. It can also be set to power down the drive after 1 minute of inactivity.

This post has been edited by waldojim: 03 February 2013 - 08:38 AM

[LiveBrianD]

From what I've read, spinning up and then down is harsh on the drive, so I don't have the drives set to spin down. I just have the entire machine sleep after 20 minutes.

[LincolnSpector]

It depends on which sort of state the computer is "on."

When you're using your computer--reading, writing, etc.--the drive spins. But various power-saving modes will turn off the drive. Sleep mode, obviously, turns off the drive. But Windows also has an advanced power setting to turn off the drive after x minutes of no activity.

The so-called green drives either slow down or turn off the drive when it's not in use. Whether this actually saves power is controversial. I don't have an opinion on that one.

The other controversy: Is is better for the drive to leave it on or to turn it off? I don't believe there's an easy answer to that. It's difficult to test and there are a great many variables. I'd say it's probably bad for a drive to leave it on 24/7, and also bad to shut it off every five minutes. Anything reasonable between those extremes probably won't wear out your drive before it becomes obsolete.

Lincoln

This post has been edited by LincolnSpector: 03 February 2013 - 11:13 AM

[mjd420nova]

The only time I've set a drive to spin down was after 15 minutes and it was a second drive with a solid state drive as the primary. The wear from spinning down and up, multiple times per hour would dictate adjustment of the time setting to a little longer period. On the other hand, I have a 350 GB drive that has been running for almost 18 months, 24/7. The extra heat can be handled with some ducting and another quiet fan. I have had users mount heat sinks to the frame but more air does more to keep the heat down. Various mfgr have different schemes, some will park the heads and then spin down, others just slow so the heads don't need to be repositioned before fetching data.

[LincolnSpector]

mjd420nova, on 03 February 2013 - 06:01 PM, said:

The only time I've set a drive to spin down was after 15 minutes and it was a second drive with a solid state drive as the primary. The wear from spinning down and up, multiple times per hour would dictate adjustment of the time setting to a little longer period. On the other hand, I have a 350 GB drive that has been running for almost 18 months, 24/7.

Hi, mjd420nova.

Just out of curiosity, why do you have a hard drive running 24/7. Is it a server?

Lincoln

[waldojim]

LincolnSpector, on 03 February 2013 - 11:13 AM, said:

It depends on which sort of state the computer is "on."

When you're using your computer--reading, writing, etc.--the drive spins. But various power-saving modes will turn off the drive. Sleep mode, obviously, turns off the drive. But Windows also has an advanced power setting to turn off the drive after x minutes of no activity.

The so-called green drives either slow down or turn off the drive when it's not in use. Whether this actually saves power is controversial. I don't have an opinion on that one.

The other controversy: Is is better for the drive to leave it on or to turn it off? I don't believe there's an easy answer to that. It's difficult to test and there are a great many variables. I'd say it's probably bad for a drive to leave it on 24/7, and also bad to shut it off every five minutes. Anything reasonable between those extremes probably won't wear out your drive before it becomes obsolete.

Lincoln

These days, define obsolete...

The media center has been running for years on 1TB drives. That array would actually cost more today to set up than it did several years ago when built. I do allow Windows to turn drives off after 20 minutes of inactivity, and so far most have made it about 4 years now...

[LincolnSpector]

waldojim, on 06 February 2013 - 01:17 AM, said:

These days, define obsolete...

You need a larger drive and have no need for the smaller one.

Lincoln