**snip**
I hoped to reduce the probability of it [tape player]
failing at the same time as the internal HD by
starting it less often
For HDs the R/W head always comes into contact with the disc once the rotation drops
enough. Crack open a dead HD and you'll see nice concentric rings which just don't exist
on a new device. HD life depends an awful lot on the bearing condition as well; I found
older bearings (HDs 10 years ago) get a bit gummy and may stick on startup, especially in
humid conditions, in which case it was better to keep running. Environment is a huge
factor - if you get a "condensible atmosphere" as you would frequently get in
Hawaii, it's best to keep running because the elevated temperature discourages
condensation.
For a tape device the usual problems are mechanical wear (which doesn't happen
if you're not running a tape), expired pinch rollers, spiders, geckos, ants,
dust, and lint. The dust and lint is usually made worse by a fan forcing dirty
air from the room through the drive. The electronics themselves are not likely
to fail unless you have a lightning strike. Some electronic components age
poorly and there's no saving them regardless of whether you remove power or not.
I've found most HDs manufactured in the past 5 years are very tolerant of power
cycling so I think the primary consideration for switching off your equipment
in this case would be environmental factors (does it get very humid where you
are).
But I notice that most backup utilities are designed to
backup automatically at the same time every day or week.
That seems to assume that the system is always running.
You can initiate a backup yourself; you don't have to have the system running
all the time. Most backup software was originally intended for businesses so
it's convenient to do the backup when hardly anyone is using the machines; home
computers simply aren't used (as much) in the same way.
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