Always On, or On & Off?

JusMe

I've just bought a 1T Acer external hard drive, as a backup to my other external hard drive, where I keep my music and movies because my internal drive would have too much on it.

And, as an additional benefit, I've found that I can connect that drive to my living room DVD player with the large screen. (Curious that it only goes a couple of folders down, so if the .avi file is actually buried a bit, I can't see it. Not to worry.)

My question now is whether to leave the external drive powered on all the time, or turn it off whenever I'm not watching something on it.

mick

I'm an "always on" person, but if i only use a peripheral once every couple of days, that means I turn it off when it's not in use.

It's just a feeling that spinning up and down is more wear on the drive. I also, though, have a killer UPS system, so I don't worry about random acts of nature crumping my electronics.

rbernato

Hm...I live by the maxime to always turn off electronic devices that aren't in use. I even regularly unplug stuff you can't switch off but just put into standby or "sleep" mode, because standby still draws electricity... then I also unplug my WLAN over night, and stuff like set-top boxes or the tv set -- I am also a bit paranoid and don't trust mains adaptors that get hot or warm to the touch after I hears stories of fires started by one of those overheating.

Plus unplugging stuff you don't use on a regular basis helps you save money on the electrical bill (money you can spend on more geeky stuff you then unplug after use :happy: )

flak

I leave everything on all the time, because I don't want to waste time waiting for it to boot up when I want to use it.

(I, also, have a killer UPS system)

JusMe

Hmmm, with my low electric rates, cost isn't a factor at all.

I was just wondering about the wear on the hard drive connected to the DVD player and tv. Like now - tv off; DVD player off; but external hard drive sitting on top of the player is still connected and on. Not connected to the computer unless I want to transfer stuff to it. My UPS is computer and modem connected, but that's in a different room from the tv and DVD player - they've got a surge protector bar.

Maybe while it's connected to the player and tv I'll leave it spinning, or not spinning as it isn't really in use, just connected and powered up.

(Until I watch something from it tomorrow night.)

urbansurgeon

i'd most likely turn it off as i'm a white noise freak firstly and a high-cost electricity payer 2nd.

chris

I'd likely turn it off as it's only going to get sporadic use when hooked up to the tv.

mick

i wonder if my feeling that it is more wear on the drive to wake up and shut down is still accurate. that's a leftover from... heh.. forever.

Biff

There's really no good information on enhanced wear and tear on drives, even back from the dawn of time. It's a myth perpetuated by the tested information on cars and light bulbs.

While usage patterns vary person to person, as a general rule, if you're going to be away from your machine for a while, turn it off! Unless you're using something like kill-a-watt, nothing electronic we use these days has zero consumption, it is a lot less than when it's running.

JusMe

I'm not concerned at all about the amount of electricity used. My rates are so low that it wouldn't make the difference of a beer a month (not that I want to pour a beer a month down the drain!).

Unless I connect it back to the iMac to transfer new avi files, I'll keep it with the tv, used during the evening to watch things.

So, at the moment, unless someone presents good reason otherwise, I'll turn its power on before evening use and then turn it off again.

Sure don't want the regular startup and shutdown to affect it, though.

mick

Biff said...There's really no good information on enhanced wear and tear on drives, even back from the dawn of time. It's a myth perpetuated by the tested information on cars and light bulbs..

light bulbs? you mean the part about the energy-efficient compact fluorescents that aren't energy efficient at all if you turn them on and off (they need to be on for an extended time before efficiency happens)?

and.... yeah.. i agree that my thing about "drive wear and tear" is more related to confirmation bias than fact.

blueshead

blueshead turns himself off..... nighty... yawns...