External hard drive: In a recent post someone mentioned that in order to save wear-and-tear on an external hard drive, the drive should be turned off when not in use. I use the...

Cheese

In a recent post someone mentioned that in order to save wear-and-tear on an external hard drive, the drive should be turned off when not in use. I use the external drive to do an automatic backup at 2am every day which only takes about 10 minutes. Since the drive remains idle for more than 23 hours per day, should it be switched off (by unplugging the USB connection) when not in use? How many of you unplug external hard drives when not in use?

Shellback Loc: North of Cheyenne Bottoms Wetlands - Kansas

Mine are plugged in all the time - if they are not accessed by a program, they go into a standby (sleep) mode - so to me, not an issue...

Cheese

Shellback wrote:

Mine are plugged in all the time - if they are not accessed by a program, they go into a standby (sleep) mode - so to me, not an issue...

Do your drives have special software that puts them in sleep mode, or do all drives do that?

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

My WD Passport Ultras go to sleep.
(I'll have to check the 3.5s in my drive dock. I usually dismount and power down the dock when done.)

D-Train Loc: Bend, Oregon

As someone that has gone through literally dozens of external hard drives over the past 20 years (and someone that has worked in the IT industry for as long) the single most important thing to be careful of with external drives is to not move them, especially if they are spinning. Otherwise they will start to fail because the read/write heads will bounce off the spinning platters, and before you know it you start having read errors (your drive will start making lots of clicking noises). If this happens start backing up your backup data before it’s gone for good. Another option is to use an external SSD. No moving parts, infinitely faster than traditional drives, but more expensive. You can get an external 1TB SSD for well under $200, worth every penny IMHO.
P.S. To answer your original question, leave them on, it’s more important not to move them.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

D-Train wrote:

... external hard drives ... the single most important thing to be careful of with external drives is to not move them, especially if they are spinning.
.....
.....

I vehemently agree

(And that includes a gyroscopic affect which could slow down the platter, possibly killing the head's air bearing (heads crash).)

Shellback Loc: North of Cheyenne Bottoms Wetlands - Kansas

Cheese wrote:

Do your drives have special software that puts them in sleep mode, or do all drives do that?

Not sure on all drives - I have passports and a toshiba - been using them for a little over 5 yrs now with no issues -

Agree with not moving when spinning...

ricardo7 Loc: Washington, DC - Santiago, Chile

" You can get an external 1TB SSD for well under $200, worth every penny IMHO."

Can you please tell us where this can be found for well under $200.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

ricardo7 wrote:

" You can get an external 1TB SSD for well under $200, worth every penny IMHO."

Can you please tell us where this can be found for well under $200.

https://www.samsung.com/us/computing/memory-storage/portable-solid-state-drives/portable-ssd-t5-1tb-mu-pa1t0b-am/?cid=pla-ecomm-pfs-cha-22019-22506&gclid=Cj0KCQiAn4PkBRCDARIsAGHmH3dY8WDvaAuX30y_aXNAjhDyrsdcaz4pJlsiACUl6HBHaUJ7L3lT6bIaAqLpEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

To show you how SSD prices are dropping, this same drive was the same price for 500 GB a year ago.

ricardo7 Loc: Washington, DC - Santiago, Chile

Thanks for the info.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Cheese wrote:

In a recent post someone mentioned that in order to save wear-and-tear on an external hard drive, the drive should be turned off when not in use. I use the external drive to do an automatic backup at 2am every day which only takes about 10 minutes. Since the drive remains idle for more than 23 hours per day, should it be switched off (by unplugging the USB connection) when not in use? How many of you unplug external hard drives when not in use?

I have a NAS with two drives, and they turn off automatically. On my desk, I have two external backup drives, and I turn them on and off when I do backups.

OnDSnap Loc: NE New Jersey

Cheese wrote:

In a recent post someone mentioned that in order to save wear-and-tear on an external hard drive, the drive should be turned off when not in use. I use the external drive to do an automatic backup at 2am every day which only takes about 10 minutes. Since the drive remains idle for more than 23 hours per day, should it be switched off (by unplugging the USB connection) when not in use? How many of you unplug external hard drives when not in use?

If a drive is going to crash, it's usually during the on/off cycle. Leave it on IMO. I've had computer running for years without shutting them off other than to reboot after an install. I hold my breath every time I do it. Or you could just get an SSD, getting cheaper by the day and no moving parts to fail. I'm not saying they won't. Just less likely..

jbk224 Loc: Long Island, NY

I'm using SSD, so moving is not really an issue. I disconnect my external drives when not in use since any unforeseen reboot of the system could cause a problem with a drive not 'properly being removed' (OS X). While unlikely, I do not have an issue with reconnecting my drives when needed. I do not use my computer exclusively for photos.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

OnDSnap wrote:

If a drive is going to crash, it's usually during the on/off cycle. Leave it on IMO. I've had computer running for years without shutting them off other than to reboot after an install. I hold my breath every time I do it. Or you could just get an SSD, getting cheaper by the day and no moving parts to fail. I'm not saying they won't. Just less likely..

Yea, the chances are greater at landing/retracting. But being a sealed unit assembled in a clean room environment, should not be a problem.
Do you have your computer and drives set to not got to sleep after x hours of non-use? Mine is three (maybe four) hours.

Country Boy Loc: Beckley, WV

I have 3 external drives and I turn them off and disconnect them when not in use. I also shut my PC down when not in use as well. I believe it would lessen the impact of any power surge to have the system off rather than asleep.