HDD/SSD power state question.

[Jstagzsr]

i usually have my task manager running at all times to monitor cpu usage and gpu usage and Ethernet usage, etc, and i also run speccy at all times to monitor temperatures..

today when i opened task manager after not having it running in a while only 2 of my 6 drives popped up and it took a second or two for the rest to pop up.. So it got me wondering.. Are the hard drives and solid state drives powered completely off when theyre not in use? and if so, does that mean that theyre powered on 24/7 while i have task manager running? aka causing unnecessary wear and tear on them for no reason?


C- samsung nvme m.2 ssd

D- 1tb hdd

E-1tb hdd

F-500gb hdd

G- 500gb hdd

H- 480gb ssd

[TrigrH]

33 minutes ago, Jstagzsr said:

Are the hard drives and solid state drives powered completely off when theyre not in use?

By default windows can sleep them you can adjust this both in device manager and power options.

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and if so, does that mean that theyre powered on 24/7 while i have task manager running?

Drives are always powered, HDDs can stop spinning when not in use (if not disabled in the options above).

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aka causing unnecessary wear and tear on them for no reason?

Spinning a HDD shouldn't cause any measurable wear assuming they are not exposed to shock. As for SSDs there should really be no reason to sleep them.