Is HDD power down bad for the HD?

  • Thread starter Thread starter dterrors
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dterrors

I've heard that enabling the HDD power down feature in bios is bad for
hard drives? Their life (/crash) expectancy is shortened by powering
up and down frequently. Is this true?
 
I've heard that enabling the HDD power down feature in bios is bad for
hard drives? Their life (/crash) expectancy is shortened by powering
up and down frequently. Is this true?
Click to expand...

this question has/was asked a few months ago in this or another group and
was answered by someone who worked for one of the major
manufacturers............he stated it was better to keep a drive active and
running.
 
In said:
I've heard that enabling the HDD power down feature in bios is bad for
hard drives? Their life (/crash) expectancy is shortened by powering
up and down frequently. Is this true?
Click to expand...

Yes.
 
I've heard that enabling the HDD power down feature in bios is bad
for hard drives? Their life (/crash) expectancy is shortened by
powering up and down frequently. Is this true?
Click to expand...

Yes. Apparently most if not all modern hard drives have liquid
bearings. When they are rotating at full speed, there is no metal to
metal contact. On the other hand, apparently there is some physical
wear when they are spun up and spun down. I think you can get a
hint/clue by looking at the data sheet. I think you would look at the
mean time between failure (MTBF) and the power cycles, and do some
simple math.

Apparently that is especially true for like a 10,000 RPM Raptor or a
server hard drive that is intended to be left on 24/7.

With my first PCs, I enjoyed using the sleep mode. Nowadays,
especially with an operating system that I do not have to reboot
frequently, the hard drive runs for days at a time without power
cycling (being turned off/on).

Have fun.
 
Yes. Apparently most if not all modern hard drives have liquid
bearings. When they are rotating at full speed, there is no metal to
metal contact. On the other hand, apparently there is some physical
wear when they are spun up and spun down. I think you can get a
hint/clue by looking at the data sheet. I think you would look at the
mean time between failure (MTBF) and the power cycles, and do some
simple math.

Apparently that is especially true for like a 10,000 RPM Raptor or a
server hard drive that is intended to be left on 24/7.

With my first PCs, I enjoyed using the sleep mode. Nowadays,
especially with an operating system that I do not have to reboot
frequently, the hard drive runs for days at a time without power
cycling (being turned off/on).

Have fun.
Click to expand...

Liquid bearings? Somehow I'm having trouble comprehending that. I've
worked with mechanical devices for many years and never seen or heard
of such a thing. It's not that I doubt you, but how the heck does
such a thing work?
 
Liquid bearings? Somehow I'm having trouble comprehending that. I've
worked with mechanical devices for many years and never seen or heard
of such a thing. It's not that I doubt you, but how the heck does
such a thing work?
Click to expand...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluid_dynamic_bearing

Picture of FDB Hard Drive Motor. FDB is also used in some cooling fans.
Every one of these pictures that I've looked at, has done a poor
job of illustrating the concept.

http://comexgroup.com/storage/_hdd/img_toshiba_mobile/fluid_bearing.jpg

Paul
 
I've heard that enabling the HDD power down feature in bios is bad for
hard drives? Their life (/crash) expectancy is shortened by powering
up and down frequently. Is this true?
Click to expand...

It is true if you are shutting down and restarting the HD many times a day.
However, if you have a backup HD that is not accessed regularly, you can let it
power down.
 
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