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06/30/2005 08:03:40 PM · #1 |
I have a 300GB Maxtor External HD.
Right now it is off most of the time and I turn it on only when I need to access something on it, but space on my computer continues to dwindle, I find myself needed to turn it on more.
So my question is about whether or not it's "safe" (aka, not particularly damaging to the HD) to just leave it on 24/7, like I do with my computer? |
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06/30/2005 08:06:36 PM · #2 |
| i had a bad experience with a Maxtor OneTouch 250 GB. it was on and mounted and my win xp machine crashed, corrupting the entire drive. i had all my pictures on it too! luckily i was able to run some disk utilities to recover most of the corrupt data, but i wouldn't trust it as primary storage, esp if you're using win xp. |
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06/30/2005 08:06:47 PM · #3 |
I don't think it matters. I only turn my external on when needed.
Hard drives are so chaep nowaday. I got 5 80GB internals for $120 on Ebay. |
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06/30/2005 08:08:50 PM · #4 |
I wouldn't leave it on 24/7 unless you have a really good way to keep it cool. I've heard too many bad things about externals overheating. I have a Lacie and a Seagate, both of which I only turn on when I need to throw something on them.
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06/30/2005 08:24:22 PM · #5 |
ok guys, thanks for the heads up. I guess better to be safe than sorry.
I would love to get some internal HD's, but we only have laptops in the house, so the external maxtor is my only option. |
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07/01/2005 11:29:45 AM · #6 |
You can add some sort of Network Attached Storage or a server. Some of the external hard drives have a port to connect via ethernet, so the isolation provided by the ethernet may help protect the data if your PC crashes.
There are personal servers available that don't require as much set-up as a traditional server.
By using NAS or a server, if you have more than one system in the house (you said laptopS) all the PCs can use that one storage device. |
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07/01/2005 11:39:53 AM · #7 |
External HD's do get hotter than normal, this is the spec from their site:
Environmental Specifications
Operating temperature: 5º C to 35º C (41º F to 95º F)
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07/01/2005 12:03:47 PM · #8 |
| well first of all I would have got a seagate if I were you, not a maxter. But ya, its actually better to leave your hard drive running than turn it off. I dont mind letting my seagate run cuz it has good bearings that will take a long time to wear out.its the start stop process that wears out your hard drive. Kinda similar to stop and go traffic in your car. The other issue is that your drive is external. usually externals arent used in a conventional manner. not sure if you bought it for security reasons or what, but if I had an external it would probably be for that reason and I wouldn't want to leave it running unattended all day. The only time I turn my comp off is when I have to restart after a long period of time. windows tends to misplace things and freak out when its been left running without a restart for a long period of time. |
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07/01/2005 12:17:01 PM · #9 |
Originally posted by Hardcore Poser:
well first of all I would have got a seagate if I were you, not a maxter. But ya, its actually better to leave your hard drive running than turn it off. I dont mind letting my seagate run cuz it has good bearings that will take a long time to wear out.its the start stop process that wears out your hard drive. Kinda similar to stop and go traffic in your car. The other issue is that your drive is external. usually externals arent used in a conventional manner. not sure if you bought it for security reasons or what, but if I had an external it would probably be for that reason and I wouldn't want to leave it running unattended all day. The only time I turn my comp off is when I have to restart after a long period of time. windows tends to misplace things and freak out when its been left running without a restart for a long period of time. |
Its not actually the spinning that'll mess up an external hard drive, its the fact that if the OS crashes during an I/O operation, it'll corrupt the filesystem on the drive. The network storage is actually the best way around this because the data goes through ethernet to the controller which then writes to the drive, so even if the computer crashes, no big deal. Linksys has a network storage device that is essentially a network hub with USB ports in it which you can plug external storage into. This would be your best option for reliable external storage. |
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07/01/2005 12:21:13 PM · #10 |
Originally posted by hankk:
You can add some sort of Network Attached Storage or a server. |
A nifty looking, reasonably-priced product is is the HomeStor from PermaStor. This is a RAID-5 stand-alone device that offers Point-in-Time copies (i.e. an online backup that is safe from corruption or viruses, assuming space is available for such), an optional DVD writer for off-line backups, and web-based management of the device. Very cool... especially since it is RAID-5. So if one of the drives ever fails, you just replace the dead drive and there is no down time or data loss... much better than any single-disk solution, NAS or not.
Message edited by author 2005-07-01 12:28:52. |
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07/01/2005 12:43:39 PM · #11 |
Although in some situations, leaving the drive on is better than turning it on and off, it depends on how often you use the drive. If you are like me, and require the computer to be fully operational at any point in the day for both remote access and local access, just leave it on.
However if you write/read from the drive once a month, leaving it on 24/7 is probably not as good an idea. |
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