Is it a good idea to turn off the HDD when idling?

[VSTOLL]

I'm using an SSD for the OS, main apps and scratch disk and a WD Blue for storage and games.

 

I don't browse through the files of the WD Blue frequently and I don't play too much these days, so, is it better to make the HDD turn off after a while?

 

Summer is coming and my room is ridiculously hot and I don't have an AC. My case is the NZXT S340, so the HDD doesn't receive airflow. I'm confused because I know that turning on and off the HDD can wear it, but not sure if it'll wear it more than if I leave it on all day long with high temps during summer (the HDD will possibly hit 40ºC+)

 

Thanks!

[knightslugger]

HDDs seem to want to spin forever. the more times the have to ramp up and park seems to wear on them mechanically.

 

I'd just leave it spin.

[JakeNTech]

If you know you are not going to be using the drives just unplug them before you turn your PC on. 

Drives will eventually spin down on there own, the WD drives seem to take about 10 minutes of no activity, but the issue is that windows may want to wright something to it. I have a HDD that stores all my pictures and school work on, but for no reason what so ever in the middle of a game and then you will hear the head moving and then it will just turn off. If you can't face leaving the drive off then just let it spin. HDD's don't tend to give out that much heat and they aren't really effected by it either. What I did was hot glue a fan to push air over the drives. 

[Ryujin2003]

If it were a laptop, I would be more inclined to say yes, because that is the type of thing that is more likely to get jarred when you leave it somewhere, so it could potentially save the disk if it's parked and a kid or animal bumps it pretty good. Otherwise, it's a desktop, so I'd leave it spinning. It isn't going to wear it out any faster staying on, and it won't use that much extra power to make it worth saving on the energy bill.

[ARikozuM]

I leave my drives to their own schedule. Some drives, like my WD Black, I leave spinning indefinitely, but the Blue stops spinning after 30 minutes.

26 minutes ago, knightslugger said:

ramp up and park seems to wear on them mechanically.

Parking is only for the read heads. They park themselves even if the drive is at full spin. 

[Sauron]

HDDs spin down by themselves when they're not being used.

[knightslugger]

1 minute ago, Sauron said:

HDDs spin down by themselves when they're not being used.

unless [Windows] power management tells them not to.

[Sauron]

Just now, knightslugger said:

unless [Windows] power management tells them not to.

Well yes, but it seems to me the OP is asking whether he should do it manually. I'd trust the OS to know when a drive isn't needed, it's also less of an annoyance.

[VSTOLL]

12 minutes ago, Sauron said:

Well yes, but it seems to me the OP is asking whether he should do it manually. I'd trust the OS to know when a drive isn't needed, it's also less of an annoyance.

I'm asking about the option in the power options. Windows turns off the HDD after 20 minutes on all the power profiles available, even the custom one that comes with the Ryzen Chipset drivers.

 

 

[Sauron]

1 minute ago, VSTOLL said:

I'm asking about the option in the power options. Windows turns off the HDD after 20 minutes on all the power profiles available, even the custom one that comes with the Ryzen Chipset drivers.

I wouldn't change it from where it was then, it won't save you much heat anyway and it would be more useful on a laptop for power usage.

[VSTOLL]

2 minutes ago, Sauron said:

I wouldn't change it from where it was then, it won't save you much heat anyway and it would be more useful on a laptop for power usage.

You mean that I should leave it on the default settings, that will turn off the HDD after 20 minutes, right?

[Sauron]

1 minute ago, VSTOLL said:

You mean that I should leave it on the default settings, that will turn off the HDD after 20 minutes, right?

Yes.