View Full Version : External Hardrives
Hondapanda
11-15-2003, 06:27 PM
Hi, i bought a western digital 80 gb hardrive, and i have a question. When i turn my computer off, the disk of the external drive keeps on turning, is there a way to stop that. Is it ok to just disconnect it at night?, is it bad for it. someone know anything?
digitaltrapper
11-16-2003, 06:09 PM
I've been wondering the same thing. I emailed Iomega about it and they said that over time, the constant spinning could create a problem with excess wear and they said it would be OK to unplug it overnight. But now I am not too sure because starting it back up each day might be more abussive.
kailes
11-16-2003, 07:38 PM
i have one tha tI use fo rmy DJ gigs so am constantly unpluggin it and plugging it back in and have seen no problems with it to date (6 months of doing this so far)
Originally posted by Hondapanda
Hi, i bought a western digital 80 gb hardrive, and i have a question. When i turn my computer off, the disk of the external drive keeps on turning, is there a way to stop that. Is it ok to just disconnect it at night?, is it bad for it. someone know anything? I have the same Western Digital 80GB hard drive, and I'm wondering the same thing. I don't understand why there isn't an on/off switch on the hard drive. Does anyone know if it's ok to leave it on (plugged in) all the time? Thanks.
tonyoci
12-31-2003, 03:53 PM
I can't directly answer the question but I can tell you this. I have a TIVO that contains hard drives, these are constantly on and spinning, they always record the last 30 minutes. This means that the drive is ALWAYS spinning and has been for the last 3 years (other than a reboot or two).
Most hard drives were built to spin like this. The most wear on a drive is when powering up and off so you are putting LESS wear on it by leaving it spinning.
Tony - Disk Manufacturing Industry Consultant (I really am)
prerunnerz_123
12-31-2003, 10:33 PM
From what I learned in my computer class, its completly fine to turn it of and on. Its better than leaving it on because it wears down teh disk and cause your HD to go bad quicker
I have also have a Western Digital 7,200RPM 80GB external hard drive, I just unplug the back of it when I turn my computer off, which isn't very often.
Although the hard drive inside the device isn't like the iPod, it isn't sensistive, it's like an internal computer hard drive, it will be fine spinning.
Originally posted by bandage_boy
II just unplug the back of it when I turn my computer off, which isn't very often. Have you ever had any problems when you unplug the power cable from the back of the hard drive?
According to the Quick Install Guide...
"When disconnecting power, always unplug the AC power supply before disconnecting the DC power connector on the back of the drive."
I'm not sure why there's a difference between unplugging from the back of the hard drive (DC) and unplugging from the power strip (AC). Anyone out there know?
Eh, I've had mine for a while now and nothing is wrong with it. I use it frequently too.