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You are here: MacNN Forums > Hardware - Troubleshooting and Discussion > Consumer Hardware & Components > Is an external drive supposed to spin down when not in use for a while?

Is an external drive supposed to spin down when not in use for a while?
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Veltliner
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Dec 27, 2010, 03:48 AM
 
I have one 3-year old G-Drive Q that spins down when not in use.

And one that is about 5 months old, 1 Tb, but it's always spinning until I eject it.

The latter is probably better so you don't have to wait for the drive to spin up when accessing it.

Others might argue that they want a drive to shut up when they don't use it - spin down and be quiet.

So what's standard? Why the different behavior of two drives from the same company?
     
ibook_steve
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Dec 27, 2010, 03:58 PM
 
What's your spindown setting in Energy Saver?

Not sure why the two drives would have different behavior.

Steve
Celebrating 10 years and 4000 posts on MacNN!
     
seanc
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Dec 27, 2010, 04:30 PM
 
It depends on who made the drive enclosure or what chipset it's using.
One might have the disk configured to spin down while idle, the other may not.
     
Veltliner  (op)
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Dec 27, 2010, 09:34 PM
 
Originally Posted by ibook_steve View Post
What's your spindown setting in Energy Saver?

Not sure why the two drives would have different behavior.

Steve
I unchecked "put drive to sleep when possible."
     
Veltliner  (op)
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Dec 27, 2010, 09:35 PM
 
Originally Posted by seanc View Post
It depends on who made the drive enclosure or what chipset it's using.
One might have the disk configured to spin down while idle, the other may not.
Both are G-Techs, both use Oxford chipsets, but they were purchased three years apart.
     
seanc
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Dec 27, 2010, 09:37 PM
 
Could be totally different boards inside, different firmware too.
     
Veltliner  (op)
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Dec 27, 2010, 09:40 PM
 
Originally Posted by seanc View Post
Could be totally different boards inside, different firmware too.
I see. Well, I'll let my hard drives then behave as they want to. Let's spoil the kids.
     
   
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