HD auto shutoff or not?

[scottatwittenberg]

ok.. i remember a few years ago deciding not to have my hard drives shut off automatically via the power saving thing.. (on the screensaver tab in display properties)... this was because i read that starting and stopping them could wear out th bearings more which would shorten their life and make them louder...

but now i am in the situation where my hard drives, at laest my maxtor, run hot... so which is worse? heat? or power cycling? i leave my computer on 24/7...

i set my computer to turn off my drives automatically.. and just now when i woke my computer up.. didn't hear my computer get any louder.. so i guess they run silently.. i was hoping that i could reduce my ocmputer noise a bit.. but i guess it realyl is my panaflo which is the loudest thing on my computer.. and i am overly picky or something..

back to the original question.. is it still true that you shouldn't have your hard drives turn off automatically? or should i do it to save heat, at least when they are not being accessed.. oh.. it is possible i guess that they still get accessed by f@h and never shut off.. i have no idea how to check that..

ok.. discuss.

 

[BillR]

I’ve heard about every argument both ways on the subject and I’m still not sure. In my case I leave the machines on 24/7 and they are all under full load doing Folding At Home. Most of the drives are 3 years or older and I have yet to have a problem (save the one IBM, but we won’t go there), the rest are all WD.

I do run fans on the drives to keep them cool. My hottest drive a Raptor 74 is cool to the touch.

 

[Elledan]

HDDs are rated for a certain number of spin-up cycles, so you don't want to have them spin down if you can avoid it.

Find a way to properly cool the HDDs. They, and you, will be far happier that way