external drive uptime

Spyhop · 5 Jun 2006 at 13:39

I've got an external USB 250GB Lacie drive here. It has its own power brick and manual on-off switch. It has got a Seagate drive inside, which I assume is just a plain old consumer desktop drive.

I'm tempted to leave it running 24/7/365. Is it wise to do so? I don't think it spins down at all.

SiriusB · 5 Jun 2006 at 16:43

HDDs are designed to run pretty much all the time so I wouldn't worry too much. It is likely you will add more wear and tear to the drive over a shorter period of time, but I suspect you will be upgrading to a larger HDD before any real danger of it clapping out.

Having said that I don't like to run anything more than is necessary so if you dont always need the external drive I would turn it off. If anything it will save you some electricity lol

SiriusB

Spyhop · 5 Jun 2006 at 18:59

Thanks. I don't strictly need it to be on 24/7 but it does house all of my music and it's in an awkward place to reach the on-off switch.

Really, I'm just wondering if it is recommeneded to run consumer HDDs 24/7 for long periods of time. I'm pretty lazy but if there is a significantly increased risk of failure, I can make sure to turn it on and off each day as required.

jimblowscash · 7 Jun 2006 at 17:13

it should in theory be fine, however if your looking to run them 24 / 7 look at the lacie D2 range, the all alloy drive with the blue light, i have an old 180GB that has been on for the last 8 months ( mainly coz i cant reach behind my desk !) it runs ok and i havent had any problems with it although the casing does get quite warm by design, i.e it dissapates heat through the alloy.