All times are UTC - 5 hours [ DST ]


Forum rules


Please do not post questions about data recovery cases here (use this forum instead). This forum is for topics on finding new ways to recover data. Accessing firmware, writing programs, reading bits off the platter, recovering data from dust...



Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 3 posts ] 
Author Message
 Post subject: to power down or spin, that is the question, whether it is b
PostPosted: December 14th, 2007, 23:08 
Offline

Joined: July 26th, 2007, 10:21
Posts: 13
What is the feelings out there regarding timeout-powerdown.
Let's assume 30 minute email check at 7AM.
Then 60 minutes of email/surfing at 7PM.
Is it better to powerDown disk during idle time or let it run?


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: to power down or spin, that is the question, whether it is b
PostPosted: December 15th, 2007, 0:24 
Offline

Joined: December 23rd, 2006, 16:08
Posts: 935
Location: NJ
If you're talking about saving energy, it's certainly better to power down for longer periods.

For drive life, I personally don't think there's much a difference for most people. At this moment, I have maybe 10 hard drives running 24 hours a day. I've had most running for years, and have had some kind of drive running constantly for the past 15-20 years. I keep them all cool. I've had 2 failures. One was a newer Seagate that developed a weak head or a lot of bad sectors. The other was a Maxtor with tons of bad sectors after baking for who knows how long (The fan died). Never had a spindle bearing failure. If spinning down is the only way to keep the drive cool, it might be useful. Personally, I'd rather rely on an old drive running 24 hours a day that's kept cool, instead of a new drive that gets baked.

For only 1.5 hours a day, Spindown might look attractive. I'm sure someone else here has more experience with drives that spin down regularly.

Then again, spindown may be a moot point. Even with most things turned off, I notice little bits of drive activity from time to time. I tend to think that on most computers SOMETHING is accessing the drive at least every 10 minutes or so.


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: to power down or spin, that is the question, whether it is b
PostPosted: December 17th, 2007, 14:43 
Offline

Joined: July 26th, 2007, 10:21
Posts: 13
I will post a summary of responses If I get a large number.

The question is specifically related to drive life.

I think most of us will agree that the thermal shock created by power-on causes many electronic failures.


Code:
    Warranty                         hours           power-ons
                                                in this senerio
maxtorsolutions.com  3 years           26,280          2,190
SATA II/300 STM301603N1AAAS
ATA/100 STM305004N1AAA



Code:
Hitachi Ultrastarâ„¢ A7K1000
from data sheet Reliability   50,000 Start/stops
                                        24 x 7 : 1,200,000 hours MTBF (136 yrs!)

to be continued


Top
 Profile  
 
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 3 posts ] 

All times are UTC - 5 hours [ DST ]


Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 15 guests


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot post attachments in this forum

Search for:
Jump to:  
Powered by phpBB © 2000, 2002, 2005, 2007 phpBB Group