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ext hd: software spin-down?
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Forum Regular
Join Date: May 2004
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Having recently assembled an external firewire drive, I notice that the hd never spins down, even if disconnected from my computer. In the interest of having the equipment last as long as possible, I'd like to reduce stress on the hd and spin it down when it's not in use. My Unix pals told me about hdparm, a utility to accomplish such goals... looking online I found a minimum of discussion from mac users about it.
It comes to mind that my fanless enclosure could be left on all the time, and this would be easier for me, since it has no power switch. I could be concerned about wear-and-tear, but the Seagate drive *does* have a 5-yr warranty. The enclosure does not get more than warm to the touch, even after a lot of disk activity.
1) are there other ways to spin down the external hd while leaving it on?
2) why shouldn't I just leave it on 24/7?
thanks for your time.
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Cameron
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or maybe I should've posted this in the hardware hacking category... doesn't seem to be much interest here.
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Cameron
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Mac Elite
Join Date: Nov 2001
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Originally posted by brickcam:
or maybe I should've posted this in the hardware hacking category... doesn't seem to be much interest here.
It depends on the enclosure. My La Cie drive (250 GB Extreme drive) spins down automatically (when unused for 5-10 minutes, or when I sleep the machine). Other enclosures do not.
I'm unaware of how to physically make a drive spin down that doesn't do it automatically, other than turning off the drive.
Note, for longevity purposes, many drives these days have a MTBF (mean time between failures) of about 1 million hours. So, unless it fails in the first couple months, odds are you can leave it on for 5 years nonstop and you shouldn't have an issue. The one caveat is that heat destroys drives -- once they get over about 50C the failure rate goes up DRAMATICALLY (average lifespan is about 1/10 what it should be).
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Forum Regular
Join Date: May 2004
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thanks CatOne, that's useful info. A megahour is a damn long time. Seeing as how my house is at about 5°C right now -- I have been stingy with the heat -- my drive is probably in good shape, temperature-wise. Besides, it's on the floor in the corner, and my heat is in-ceiling. Odd, I know, and just as inefficient as it sounds.
About a software spindown, see
http://unixhelp.ed.ac.uk/CGI/man-cgi?hdparm+8
check out the -S flag.
I'm just hesistant to do any of this manual screwing-around with my drive before asking the mac community if they know anything.
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Cameron
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