Should my hard drive go into "sleep" mode?

[RZetlin]

Through Windows Power management, should I let my hard drive shut down after several minutes or should I allow it to continue spinning?

I have heard arguments for both methods.

Having the hard drive to continue to spin can cause heat and wear and tear.

While having the hard drive wake up from sleep mode takes up more power and can wear the arm.

Which method do you use for your hard drive?

[n_w95482]

When I tried using the hard drive power off option on my old comp it would freeze every time I took it out of sleep mode so I eventually turned it off. I haven't tried it on my new comp but I don't really need to use it anyways.

[hushypushy]

i never let my drives spin down. on my old computer i had tons of problems when i left it there for a couple hours and it froze when i came back (i suppose when it was spinning up again)

[RZetlin]

Are there any articles on the web that talks about hard drive spin down having an effect on mtbf lifetime?

[hushypushy]

im not sure, but http://www.google.com can help you on that....

I generally let my HD spins. Hard Drives wear out. They are going too. They are the single most replaced computer component. Because there data cannot be gaurenteed unfortunately.

I am against the sleeping because of the arm coming out and clanking. And the HD tends to sleep even when I am using the computer. Nothen more annoying than my HD falling asleep during a game. Then Virtual Memory kicks in and my game actually "stops" for almost 5 seconds to access the drive as it wakes up.

[n_w95482]

I think newer hard drives tell you how many on/off cycles it can take before dying. Try checking the manufacturer's site for some info. I also found out that my comp shuts off the HD whenever it goes into sleep mode (I can hear it spin up when I hit the space bar to bring it out of sleep mode) and it works just fine so I guess older comps might have some problems with it.

[hushypushy]

i guess it depends on how much you leave your computer alone....frequent spin ups are gonna hurt your drive.

and if you leave it alone that damn long then you might as well shut it down

[GSDragoon]

I turn my comp off at the end on the night and back on in the morning or when I come back from classes.

[hushypushy]

see, then you probably shouldnt enable them to sleep. i leave my computer on most of the time (probably at least 150 hours a week)...but i dont want them to spin down because i dont want it freezing when i get back....

[Chinoz]

I'd just leave it on. I'm sure you rather stay awake then being aroused from sleep every 5 minutes

[GKort]

Originally Posted by n_w95482

When I tried using the hard drive power off option on my old comp it would freeze every time I took it out of sleep mode so I eventually turned it off. I haven't tried it on my new comp but I don't really need to use it anyways.

same here...but on this PC and every PC i own i will never do it...it takes too long to boot it back...wether its 1 second or 1 hour...its too long...and what does it save? 20 cents of power?

[hushypushy]

and what does it save? 20 cents of power?

well....technically the point is just to lengthen your hard drive's life...but in the end, i honestly think that having it "sleep" hurts it more than helps it

[n_w95482]

Originally Posted by GKort

same here...but on this PC and every PC i own i will never do it...it takes too long to boot it back...wether its 1 second or 1 hour...its too long...and what does it save? 20 cents of power?

Well with my new comp it only takes about 2-3 secs to go from sleep mode to the "please input password" (something like that) screen in win xp. I then punch in my pw and it instantly shows the desktop. It does shut the hard drive off in sleep mode and I checked the power management settings and everything was set to "Never" so I guess I can't disable the hard drive spin down thingy in sleep mode.

[Demigod]

Originally Posted by n_w95482

When I tried using the hard drive power off option on my old comp it would freeze every time I took it out of sleep mode so I eventually turned it off. I haven't tried it on my new comp but I don't really need to use it anyways.

Something similar used to happen on my 8.4 GB Quantum Fireball (which I'm still using) some years ago. I would play a long session of FF6 and go to save it, only to have the hard drive fail to spin back up and crash the computer (lost many hours of gameplay as a result ). It was a recurring problem until one day it just disappeared (I think a format or mobo upgrade did it, I'm not sure). If the drive fails to spin back up then I think there's a problem with your hardware or software (and not necessarily the hard drive).

I let my hard drives fall asleep with half an hour of inactivity. I leave my computer on all the time, no sense having it spinning needlessly. The drives always spin back up without a problem so I have no worries about that. Moving parts tend to wear out quickly (including monitor and hard drives) so it's good to shut them down when you don't need them. I've been using my Quantum drive for almost 5 years now (and always as my primary drive) and it's still good. No bad sectors or strange noises or any problems at all. It's kind of slow at writing compared to my other, newer drive but it's still perfectly functional.