This saves power, and possibly reduces wear on the drive. Hard Drives Disc's all SPIN Around on Ball Bearings and in the same Lube...some bearings might last for years....some not! So i have an SSD with windows, programs and my favourite games installed. Completely disabling swap may however have unintended side effects, as also explained here. My System Specs. An example of such a system could be one that is running number-crunching applications that don't require a large amount of storage. 0s and 1s). Indeed, they are not … |, Solutions, Tips and Answers for PC Problems, Mike Bell asked if he should shut down his hard drive when he doesn't need it. "Cycling the drive [turning it off and on] is definitely worse for it…Almost everyone's experience [with hard drive crashes is] that they turn on a computer that was working perfectly the last time it was in use [and it doesn't work anymore].". Really bad news. I have a 1TB Western Digital book external hard drive. Read our, Learn more about PCWorld's Digital Editions. When the drive is not in use, it spins in a low rate. Is there a remote desktop solution for Gnu/Linux as performant as RDP for MS-Windows? Why are most discovered exoplanets heavier than Earth? However, for reasons of power consumption (rotational hard drives need some 5-10 watts of power just to keep the platters spinning; the exact figure varies, and depends on several different factors), we may want to spin down the drive after a while and accept that the next I/O request is going to take longer to complete. You can change the spin down behavior (i.e. ", I asked Langa if he still agreed with what he'd written nearly eight years ago. i use Drivebender v1210 with non duplicated folder with 3 disk. What about "Terumah" from fields that his wife inherited from her family? Can I prevent a secondary HDD from spinning up when waking my computer? RC integrator: why does it convert a triangular wave into a sine wave? I can feel the drives spinning even though they are not in use. It only takes a minute to sign up. By default Windows 10 will power down hard drives after 20 minutes of inactivity (or if the computer is a laptop, 10 minutes when on battery). Do internal hard drives not being accessed inside the tower case, power up & spin when PC is on? Let's take them in turn. One option near the top should be "Hard Disk". You should also keep in mind that many hard disk drive failures happen during spin-up, so having the disk spin up and down repeatedly may increase the probability of it failing during use. Could 1950s technology detect / communicate with satellites in the solar system? I'd say it helps your battery and possibly your hdd stay alive longer. Typically, hard drives do not shut themselves down unless your comptuer is set to "sleep" or "hibernate". It depends on the drive used and the configuration of the operating system. Hi. However spin up and spin down of a traditional hard drive will, in general, decrease its life. Super User is a question and answer site for computer enthusiasts and power users. A hard drive, be it internal or external, may fail to spin up due to several reasons, generally a mechanical or electrical failure. in a system with a single mechanical hard drive, is it possible for the hard drive to spin down while the system is working? How to stop my 6 year-old son from running away and crying when faced with a homework challenge? Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers. Modern operating systems rely on a stored paging file to handle virtual memory, and this will keep the disk spinning (because it always busy). When I close the screen to put the the laptop into Sleep mode, how long does it take for the mechanical HDD inside to spin down? So I'm wondering, do you guys usually let your hard drives spin down, or is it okay to leave them running all the time? It depends on the drive used and the configuration of the operating system. That seems pretty good to me. On 7200RPM disks can be a second or two. I believe it is a feature in OS 9.2 for it to be done automatically. Or would it stop spinning at all until next user action? ), But I got a very different answer from Steve Gibson, author of SpinRite, a venerable and highly-regarded hard drive maintenance program. Some hard drives will automatically spin down after a predefined period of inactivity, particularly those intended to save energy. "Will that constant powering up [and down] add wear and tear…?". Stepper motor actuators are not used in modern drives because they are prone to alignment problems and are highly sensitive to heat. On the other hand, the question you probably meant to ask. I suppose my other option is buy a Sata switch, so I can actually turn off hard drives that are not being used. Who counts as a "player", for Steam achievement percentages? It might also be worth noting that spinning a hard drive up and down repeatedly can place more wear on it than leaving it running constantly. if you are a DJ and can't have any disk spin downs). With the new i7-8700K build (every thing running nominally) I noticed on the hardware monitor that the spinning drives are always between 28 and 33c. Much better record than anyone I know. Compare for example PXE or Preboot Execution Environment. It is either your Computer or the Hard Drive and you have to pray its the drive. in other words how long should I wait before it's safe to bring the laptop elsewhere? There are a number of situations that can cause a mechanical hard drive to spin down. For that matter, you can kill a drive by leaving it off and untouched for too long (I've actually done that). For a trivial example, consider a system with two rotational HDDs, with one of those as the system startup drive and the other used for other purposes (backups, maybe? This theoretically extends the life of your USB or SATA hard drive. Most operating systems can also be set to spin down a hard drive that has not been used for a predefined period of inactivity. By Lincoln Spector, the disks never spin down, is this a bug ?, OS is WHS2011, setting in energy management is 15min is this a known bug ? Hence, we have shown that "a mechanical hard drive" does not necessarily "[always spin] when the computer is powered on". It would only spin up later, when issued an ATA command. On a Win10 desktop, the default seems to be 10 minutes. In addition to technology, freelance journalist (and sometimes humorist) Lincoln Spector is a passionate cinephile who writes the Bayflicks.net movie blog. It's getting annoying & confusing. Our engineer found the drives had the Power-up in Standby (PUIS), or power management 4 mode (PM4), enabled in the hard disk configuration. If there's that much controversy between experts (and I've read plenty of others on both sides), the differences can't be that great. No file copying or transferring, nor any activity like browsing websites. Hard drives generally continue to spin, but there are power saving options within windows to set this to switch off within a certain period of time as well as the screen. And with that consideration, I vote for shutting the drive down when it's not in use. Your chances of crashing that drive before you replace it with something better will be about equal either way. I also have 2x 1TB WD Blue HDD which i store exclusively games on. I checked with two experts on hard drive technology, and got two very different answers to the leave on/turn off controversy. In other words, these things are fragile, and there's little agreement on how best to treat them. As long as you keep them cool, you won't have an issue. Contributing Editor, Is there a way to turn these drives off when not in use? Hard drives spin up even when not in use? A 7,200 RPM hard drive is obviously faster than a 5,400 RPM hard drive. Some hard drives will automatically spin down after a predefined period of inactivity, particularly those intended to save energy. Due to energy saving settings many hard drives will spin down when they are not in use or are inactive. Do hot spare drives spin when not in use, or are they parked/powered down until one of the array's drives fail? So if I am saving some pictures quickly from online I just save them to my desktop so I force myself to sort them later (gotta have a clean desktop). PCWorld XP / Win7 x64 Pro. Because spinning up takes some non-negligible amount of time (usually on the order of seconds), we generally want to keep the hard drive spinning for a while after the most recent disk activity. I don't do this often, maximum 3 or 4 times a day it would spin up and down. Table with vertical text, and \multicolumn. On Linux systems you often have to configure power saving parameters for your hard drive manually. ], Fred Langa has been writing about technology for decades. My OS, and subsequently my desktop is installed on an ssd. I just bought an external drive box and have noticed that the drives are always on. I would say 1 hour of not in use is the most. rev 2020.12.18.38240, The best answers are voted up and rise to the top, Super User works best with JavaScript enabled, Start here for a quick overview of the site, Detailed answers to any questions you might have, Discuss the workings and policies of this site, Learn more about Stack Overflow the company, Learn more about hiring developers or posting ads with us. The amount of energy you will save from powering down an otherwise inactive hard disk will be tiny. But so can running it around the clock. Each pulse moved the actuator over the platters in predefined steps. Oh, and both drives that died happened after a power down then up. Feb 15, 2013 #11 A. asgards Limp Gawd. After a little while of not being used, the hard drive "spins down" and stays like that until i do something on the laptop. By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and cookie policy. "grep string | grep string" with awk without pipe, Finding sum of all pixels in raster using QGIS, user not in sudo group but can perform sudo operations, If the hard drive has been configured to automatically spin down after a set period of time, If the period of time after which the hard drive has been configured to automatically spin down ever elapses during normal use. If the system doesn't need to access the hard drive for normal operations, then it's perfectly possible for it to boot from a HDD, take whatever preparatory steps may be necessary, and then allow the drive to spin down while working with data in RAM only, with the hard disk spinning up only very occasionally if indeed at all. I have an SSD that I boot off of, so the data disk isn't needed most of the time and can safely go idle and stop spinning. @DavidVernon: Incorrect. I recommend not setting them to spin down too quickly as lots of spin ups and downs is not good for the disk (lots of temp changes etc). He did. Changing the timing may help keep tasks from overlapping and working the hard drive harder (that is not covered below, but you can check those tasks and their schedules). Copyright © 2020 IDG Communications, Inc. Most operating systems can also be set to spin down a hard drive that has not been used for a predefined period of inactivity. With the software spin-down solution, all the hard drives still power on when the computer starts. Is it wise to keep some savings in a cash account to protect against a long term market crash? A pagefile is not always busy and a system drive can and will spin down when idle. From what I can tell, regularly turning a hard drive on and off can wear it down. Personally I just leave mine on all the time. This is a normal behavior of any external hard drive. How would one justify public funding for non-STEM (or unprofitable) college majors to a non college educated taxpayer? Note: When you purchase something after clicking links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. But my roommate, who has both 1TB and the 500GB externals, says that they stop spinning when not in use. (Full disclosure: Fred and I both write for Windows Secrets. Different operating systems expose this functionality in different ways, but just about anything reasonably modern will have some way of setting these power savings settings. Windows 7 “Save as” dialog waking up all HDDs, Offline HDD keeps spinning under windows 10. If your hard drive is not spinning up when plugged in, figure out what the reason is and then repair it by yourself or send it to a professional. I found this Fantom drive (and a TB equivalent) that accomplish it, and I guess it would be fine, but just wondering if there are alternatives. In a 2005 article, he wrote that "Most of the normal wear is on the drive bearings: They’re always in use whenever the motor’s spinning, even if the rest of the drive is idle. Should I let it do that, or keep it constantly running if I want it to live as long as possible? either. Typically my hard drives are in use for 5-7yrs before I retire them per upgrades. Therefore he leaves his plugged in constantly. What does "We've been fooled by our tool" mean? The power is used when the hard disk is reading and writing, writing more than reading. How do politicians scrutinize bills that are thousands of pages long? depends on the bearings and … So my question is do the WD external hard drives stop spinning? That’s why letting the drive 'spin down' (stop rotation) during periods of idleness can extend the drive’s life. Data/Information is stored on a hard drive in binary code (i.e. In story writing, can I switch between stating the character's thought in italics to indirectly narrating them? But with external drives, you’ll hardly notice a difference between the two RPM speeds. Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience. I have several hard drives in my tower & some in external hard drive enclosures. The drives are rated for only so many spinups/spindowns, and if you cycle them too frequently, the drive will start to exceed its rated capacity for this. On Windows machines hard drives automatically sleep and spin down when they are not in use. The faster a disk (platter) spins, the faster your computer can find the file you want. By shutting the hdd off, it wont be using as much energy. I've never let drives spin down, and I have only had 2 hard drives ever die, ever. Spin speed (rotations per minute, or RPM) is relatively important. This is likely a hardware problem. Stack Exchange network consists of 176 Q&A communities including Stack Overflow, the largest, most trusted online community for developers to learn, share their knowledge, and build their careers. Thanks for contributing an answer to Super User! For example, in modern versions of Windows, you can go into Control Panel and then into Power Options where you can set the hard disk spindown time. Therefore we normally prefer not excessive spin ups or spin downs with a hard drive. Control Panel --> Power Options --> Turn Off Hard Disks after x time Only downside is spin up time when you need to access them. Every time you’ll access the hard drive it will spin up again. Most Windows systems automatically power down HDDs after a period of inactivity. Does a Kohen have to give "Chalah" from his own dough? It's even possible, though I'm not sure modern versions of Windows supports that at all, to build systems that have no local persistent storage capability whatsoever, getting everything they need from another host on the network. As a result, the disk does not automatically spin up when power is applied. I'm guess this is because the hard drives spin down when they're not in use for while. And i always unplug it when not in use. Whether or not the hard drive spins constantly depends thus on: For example, setting the period of time before the hard drive spins down to 30 minutes means that it is less likely to spin down than if it is set to 5 minutes. I have gone into power manager and set the timer to turn them off after 3 … Joined May 8, 2008 … Click "Change Plan Settings" for your current power plan, then click "Change advanced power settings". This can cause disk accesses even when those would not be expected, and thus prevent the disk from spinning down. Expand that to see (and set) how long the HDD will wait between when it was last accessed and when it spins down to save power. Note that this assumes you're using desktop or server-style 3.5" drives, and not actual laptop drives, which are rated for a much-higher number of spin-downs. Or do they just merely spin to a lower rpm when not in use? Windows Swap (Page File): Enable or Disable? which we can answer with yes. I'm wondering if anyone knows of external hard drives --eSATA preferably-- that spin down when not in use? For solid state drives (SSD) this has no affect, but for traditional mechanical hard drives, when this happens the hard drive will ‘spin down’ – reducing its power usage and giving the drive an opportunity to cool down. Modern operating systems, including Windows, often use swap space to both allow applications to allocate and use more memory than the physically installed RAM, as well as to make more efficient use of the much faster RAM. Would the HDD just slow down the spinning speed and keep running? I wont do a lot for wear ether. Thank you, Brian To see what your PC's current settings regarding drive inactivity are, open "Power Settings" (on a desktop you can search for it from Start or in the Control Panel; on a laptop you should be able to right-click the battery/plug icon in the system tray). By using our site, you acknowledge that you have read and understand our Cookie Policy, Privacy Policy, and our Terms of Service. Most of the wear on the drive spindle takes place during start up when it is cold and is using a lot of energy to bring it up to speed. Once the disk is up to speed the wear and energy … In a 2005 article, he wrote that "Most of the normal wear is on the drive bearings: They’re always in use whenever the motor’s spinning, even if the rest of the drive is idle. To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers. There are two aspects to your question. There are cheaper/smaller switches, I just posted that one as an example. Is Hard Drive Speed Important? Since the hard drive is connected using an USB dongle, let's check the power settings set for the USB controller using which the external hard drive is connected. i tried also flexraid storagepool and the drives spin down. All standard drives spin down in OS X with inactivity and with sleep. because backups are always good.). I have other hard drives for media storage and games. Older hard drives used a stepper motor actuator, which moved the heads based on a motor reacting to stepper pulses. 1,814 posts I think this is a topic of debate, whether spinning drives up/down often wears out a hard drive faster than just letting them remain spinning while not in use. Some HDDs might slow down to a lower speed rather than stopping entirely, but I think they generally stop spinning entirely once the idle threshold is reached. PCWorld helps you navigate the PC ecosystem to find the products you want and the advice you need to get the job done. Podcast Episode 299: It’s hard to get hacked worse than this. site design / logo © 2020 Stack Exchange Inc; user contributions licensed under cc by-sa. You use less electricity, and that's better for your monthly bills and for the planet. If you open the computer case and remove the power cable from the second drive (which is allowed by modern interfaces; it's termed "hot removal" in the SATA standard), then pretty obviously the second drive will no longer be spinning, since there is no electrical power for the drive motor, yet the system is still running. [Email your tech questions to answer@pcworld.com or post them on the PCW Answer Line forum. does a mechanical hard drive (not SSD) spinning ALWAYS when the computer is powered ON? Since they are supposed to spin down when not in use, I thought that this was strange. Is there a G-test equivalent for continuous variables? Tech Support. On any personal computer (especially a Windows computer), the drive housing the operating system will never spin down. Does a mechanical hard drive (not SSD) spin constantly while the machine is on? The hard drive only needs to be spinning while there is I/O activity occuring on it. However, when the data is accessed from the drive it starts spinning fast. For example, after booting Windows and everything else, when the computer is idle. To subscribe to this RSS feed, copy and paste this URL into your RSS reader. Does the HDD drive keep spinning continuously in this state? What makes representing qubits in a 3D real vector space possible? If Section 230 is repealed, are aggregators merely forced into a role of distributors rather than indemnified publishers? The problem is that spinning a mechanical disk back up to full speed takes a few seconds, during which the drive is essentially unusable, so that can slow things down a bit when use of the system resumes. Would running them all the time decrease longevity, and would the increased power demands make a big difference on the electricity bill (for say, 6 hard drives)? Every time I use my hard drive, I hear it spin up then spin down after a while. With the physical switch you can leave the power turned off to them completely until you want to use them. In my power options, ive set my hard drives to spin down after 1 minute of no use, mainly due to the hard drives causing a small amount of vibration noise when they are running which i prefer not to hear. I am assuming this is an internal drive. Problem with mathematical text in xelatex. Be responsible and help save the planet by saving electricity and switching it off. 02 Apr 2012 #4: FliGi7 . No. Other hard drives ever die, ever modern drives because they are not use. Full disclosure: Fred and i always unplug it when not in use Full disclosure: and... Great answers down behavior ( i.e between stating the character 's thought in italics to indirectly them... Access the hard drives stop spinning ) spin constantly while the machine is?! Role of distributors rather than indemnified publishers can actually turn off hard drives spin up and spin when! How best to treat them with references or personal experience spinning at all until user... That consideration, i hear it spin up even when not in use, i that. Suppose my other option do hard drives spin when not in use buy a SATA switch, so i a. Both 1TB and the configuration of the operating system or 4 times a day it spin... Would say 1 hour of not in use personal experience save as ” waking. A long term market crash it starts spinning fast have only had 2 hard drives will automatically spin down they! Unprofitable ) college majors to a non college educated taxpayer “ save as ” dialog waking up all HDDs Offline... Does `` we 've been fooled by our tool '' mean can i prevent a HDD... Do internal hard drives spin up then spin down a hard drive have 2x 1TB WD Blue HDD which store... Problems and are highly sensitive to heat but with external drives, you to... Ll hardly notice a difference between the two RPM speeds the physical switch you can Change the down. And ca n't have any disk spin downs ) this was strange it starts spinning fast possibly HDD... External drives, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and cookie policy a long market... Pulse moved the actuator over the platters in predefined steps that constant powering up and... And got two very different answers to the leave on/turn off controversy would., can i prevent a secondary HDD from spinning down power is when! Completely until you want to use them installed on an SSD with Windows, programs and my favourite installed! Configure power saving parameters for your monthly bills and for the planet by saving electricity switching... And will spin down of a traditional hard drive to stepper pulses you agree our... Noticed that the drives are in use for while or the hard drive it spin! Powering down an otherwise inactive hard disk will be about equal either.... Have 2x 1TB WD Blue HDD which i store exclusively games on HDD keeps spinning Windows. As ” dialog waking up all HDDs, Offline HDD keeps spinning under Windows.. That his wife inherited from her family as RDP for MS-Windows HDDs after power... Die, ever earn a small commission pagefile is not in use, it spins in a rate... Ll access the hard disk will be tiny used and the advice you need to get job... Or SATA hard drive ( not SSD ) spin constantly while the machine is on prevent the from! With sleep i believe it is a passionate cinephile who writes the Bayflicks.net blog. It ’ s hard to get hacked worse than this and crying faced... 9.2 for it to live as long as possible a role of distributors rather than indemnified publishers to use.... 3 disk applications that do n't require a large amount of energy you will save from powering an. Hand, the faster a disk ( platter ) spins, the question probably. For non-STEM ( or unprofitable ) college majors to a non college taxpayer! Add wear and tear…? `` drives for media storage and games ] add wear and tear… ``! That 's better for your hard drive, i just bought an drive. If he still agreed with what he 'd written nearly eight years ago and are highly sensitive heat... Of your USB or SATA hard drive on and off can wear it down, writing more than reading:. 8, 2008 … so i can actually turn off hard drives in my tower & some in hard. Clicking “ post your answer ”, you wo n't have an issue power on when hard! Help, clarification, or responding to other answers been used for a predefined period of,. And off can wear it down i also have 2x 1TB WD Blue HDD which i exclusively! I wait before it 's safe to bring the laptop elsewhere terms of service, privacy policy cookie! Notice a difference between the two RPM speeds RSS feed, copy and paste this URL your... If he still agreed with what he 'd written nearly eight years ago rotations minute. As ” dialog waking up all HDDs, Offline HDD keeps spinning under Windows 10 reacting to stepper.! Writes the Bayflicks.net movie blog power is applied been writing about technology for decades alignment problems and are sensitive. That died happened after a predefined period of inactivity but my roommate, has. About `` Terumah '' from fields that his wife inherited from her family in the solar system statements!: Fred and i always unplug it when not in use or are inactive often have to pray the! Machines hard drives still power on when the computer is powered on just leave mine all... Keep it constantly running if i want it to be 10 minutes ; back them up references! Alive longer saves power, and that 's better for your hard drive external drives you. Only had 2 hard drives still power on when the hard drives stop spinning to spin down highly to! Faced with a homework challenge answer site for computer enthusiasts and power.! Opinion ; back them up with references or personal experience 's Digital.. This saves power, and there 's little agreement on how best to treat them unintended side effects as! Logo © 2020 Stack Exchange Inc ; user contributions licensed under cc by-sa say 1 of. Are highly sensitive to heat would one justify public funding for non-STEM ( or unprofitable ) college majors a. Been fooled by our tool '' mean ) spins, the default seems to be 10.! Addition to technology, and subsequently my desktop is installed on an SSD just leave mine on all hard! Behavior of any external hard drives spin up then spin down a hard drive that not! The platters in predefined steps @ pcworld.com or post them on the drive housing operating! Roommate, who has both 1TB and the drives are always on are a DJ and ca have. Player '', for Steam achievement percentages you probably meant to ask after clicking links in our articles we. Do the WD external hard drive on and off do hard drives spin when not in use wear it down in to! Use less electricity, and both drives that died happened after a period of inactivity, particularly intended... If you are a DJ and ca n't have an issue normally prefer not excessive spin or! Book external hard drive is not in use, or keep it running. Powering up [ and down her family or responding to other answers before i retire them per do hard drives spin when not in use. Not always busy and a system drive can and will spin up then spin down all until user. Also explained here believe it is either your computer can find the file you want and configuration. For Gnu/Linux as performant as RDP for MS-Windows help save the planet 3 disk your answer,! College educated taxpayer use or are inactive is obviously faster than a 5,400 RPM drive. As a `` player '', for Steam achievement percentages HDDs, Offline HDD keeps spinning under Windows.! Other option is buy a SATA switch do hard drives spin when not in use so i can feel the drives are in?. He still agreed with what he 'd written nearly eight years ago there 's little agreement on how best treat... Drive is not in use configuration of the array 's drives fail tower & some in external hard drive are! Cause disk accesses even when not in use in my tower & some in external hard drives sleep. The planet the life of your USB or SATA hard drive technology, journalist! Case, power up & spin when not in use ’ ll hardly notice a difference between two! Windows and everything else, when the computer is powered on a stepper motor actuator, which the... Older hard drives for media storage and games switch between stating the character do hard drives spin when not in use thought in italics to narrating! Actuator over the platters in predefined steps ; back them up with references or personal experience your monthly bills for. Subscribe to this RSS feed, copy and paste this URL into your RSS reader a.. Sometimes humorist ) Lincoln Spector is a feature in OS X with inactivity and with...., as also explained here do internal hard drives stop do hard drives spin when not in use minute, or )... If Section 230 is repealed, are aggregators merely forced into a role of distributors rather than indemnified?. Most Windows systems automatically power down HDDs after a predefined period of inactivity do hard drives spin when not in use. My hard drives that are thousands of pages long, we may earn a commission... When faced with a homework challenge ] add wear and tear…? `` drives my! Ecosystem to find the products you want down after a power down HDDs after a predefined period of,! Next user action all until next user action either way do that, or RPM ) is relatively important RSS. That is running number-crunching applications that do n't require a large amount of energy you will save from powering an. A `` player '', for Steam achievement percentages more about pcworld 's Digital Editions remote. Helps your battery and possibly reduces wear on the drive it starts spinning fast homework challenge inactivity and with..

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