External Drive Constantly Spinning

[Steven B. Butts]

I have a Samsung SP1614N 7200RPM 160GB Harddrive in a Coolmax
CD-309-COMBO enclosure. It seems to be spinning whenever the drive
is turned on. Is this common with all of the enclosures or are there some
that will stop spinning when the drive is not being accessed? How bad is
this for the drive? I wanted to share this drive on my ftp server, so I
really
don't want to turn it off.

 

[Rod Speed]

I have a Samsung SP1614N 7200RPM 160GB Harddrive in a
Coolmax CD-309-COMBO enclosure. It seems to be spinning
whenever the drive is turned on. Is this common with all of the
enclosures or are there some that will stop spinning when the
drive is not being accessed? How bad is this for the drive?

Not bad at all. I prefer to leave drives spinning except in
laptops and notebooks to maximise battery charge life.

I wanted to share this drive on my ftp server,
so I really don't want to turn it off.

Then just check that the drive is staying cool and dont worry about it.

 

[Bill]

My Maxtor 5000DV does the same thing.
Very quiet, never gets past slightly warm.