Always On, or On & Off?
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.
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.
Comments
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.
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: )
(I, also, have a killer UPS system)
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.)
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.
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.
and.... yeah.. i agree that my thing about "drive wear and tear" is more related to confirmation bias than fact.