Question on hard drives

[Jethro]

Are hard drives always spinning? Or do they sit static and spin up
only when in use (reading and/or writing)?

Thanks

Jethro

 

[Mike Walsh]

Hard drives normally spin all the time, but they can be made to spin down with settings in the BIOS or in power management settings under screensaver.

 

[Rod Speed]

Are hard drives always spinning?

In some systems.

Or do they sit static and spin up only when in use (reading and/or writing)?

That doesnt happen much. What does happen with the drives that
arent spinning all the time is that they spin down when they havent
been used for a specified time, and then spin up again when next used.

The vast majority of laptops and notebooks do it this way,
desktops can do it either way, but spinning all the time the
system is turned on is the default with XP now.