On Thu, Oct 6, 2011 at 8:29 PM, Grant Edwards <grant.b.edwa...@gmail.com> wrote: > On 2011-10-06, Jarry <mr.ja...@gmail.com> wrote: >> Hi, >> >> In my server I have a few disks which must be running 24/7, >> but I also have a single big hard-drive, which is used only >> for a few minutes every day, just for backups. How could I >> power disk off when not needed (and "on" again when needed) >> in order to save a little power and prolong its life? > > That prompts one to ask the question: Does spinning a drive up/down > every day lengthen or shorten it's life compared to having it on 24/7 > (assuming the same number of seeks in both cases).
I think it is generally believed that by NOT spinning down the drive, you are going to shorten its life-span. Any HDD made in the past few years are designed with spin-up/spin-down when idle in mind. Constantly spinning will probably wear it out faster than regularly spinning up and down. It should be able to handle thousands of spin-up/spin-down cycles with ease. I think SMART will tell you how many times it has happened. In my case I disabled it because I found it to be annoying and inappropriate for my RAID, but I realize I'm wasting power and probably jeopardizing the long-term health of my drives by not allowing them to spin-down.
