Power Option: Hard Disk (Turn off for idling?)

[Dukhat]

Howdy great peeps,

I have my computer powered on all the time (during sleep the fans helps to mask my tinnitus),
but I've been wondering if it's a smart idea to turn the disk save option on whilst I sleep?

I already use a custom power save option for when I sleep, but I'm unsure if I should turn this on.

I have an SSD & 3 hard disks, but I've read that continuous spinning up & down,
is bad for the health of the hard disks? Although I know this option doesn't effect the SSD.

So it should be safe to use whilst I sleep? Since no programs are running from the hard disks (so no spinning).
Or is the power usage when I sleep already low enough that this option wouldn't effect them?

Kind regards

 

[Brink]

Hello Dukhat, and welcome to Seven Forums.

When your computer goes to sleep, the HDDs will always get turned off.

This power option setting instead is for turning off the hard drives after you are idle for a specified amount of minutes.

This is for saving a bit of electricity or battery power.

It is true that you don't want to have your HDDs spinning up and down often. If you turn on this setting, you would want to set the minutes to an amount based on your usage to avoid having the HDDs turning on and off often.

 

[Dukhat]

Hello Dukhat, and welcome to Seven Forums.

When your computer goes to sleep, the HDDs will always get turned off.

This power option setting instead is for turning off the hard drives after you are idle for a specified amount of minutes.

This is for saving a bit of electricity or battery power.

It is true that you don't want to have your HDDs spinning up and down often. If you turn on this setting, you would want to set the minutes to an amount based on your usage to avoid having the HDDs turning on and off often.

Howdy & thanks,

I do not let my computer go to sleep, since it will stop the fans from spinning,
so if I do not enable the power saving, it will have regular power usage?

 

[Brink]

Unless the HDDs themselves have a built-in power saving feature, they'll be running 24/7 if you don't set them to power off when you want when idle.

 

[Megahertz07]

Stopping fans and / or disks aren't only a matter of energy saving.
As they are rotating devices they have bearings that has a limited life.
I also would say that you should turn off your computer when not in use or at least once a day.