Turning off specific drive

[ProjectBox153]

I have two hard drives in my system: a 1TB WD Blue and a 3TB Seagate Barracuda. I am wondering if there's a way to keep one of the two drives off unless it's being accessed (in this case the 3TB Barracuda). I want this drive to last as long as possible, and seeing as it's in a system that runs 24/7, I don't want it to run all the time. The WD Blue drive needs to run all the time. Thanks!

[A Silver]

6 minutes ago, Jamiec1130 said:

I have two hard drives in my system: a 1TB WD Blue and a 3TB Seagate Barracuda. I am wondering if there's a way to keep one of the two drives off unless it's being accessed (in this case the 3TB Barracuda). I want this drive to last as long as possible, and seeing as it's in a system that runs 24/7, I don't want it to run all the time. The WD Blue drive needs to run all the time. Thanks!

The only way I can think of is to physically unplug it

[Aleks NE]

7 minutes ago, Jamiec1130 said:

I have two hard drives in my system: a 1TB WD Blue and a 3TB Seagate Barracuda. I am wondering if there's a way to keep one of the two drives off unless it's being accessed (in this case the 3TB Barracuda). I want this drive to last as long as possible, and seeing as it's in a system that runs 24/7, I don't want it to run all the time. The WD Blue drive needs to run all the time. Thanks!

The probably is a way to do that with some kind of program, I just unplug my 3rd disk when it is not being used.

[mariushm]

It's actually better if the hard drive runs 24/7.  What "weakens" a hard drive is  parking and unparking the read/write heads (moving the heads from the stand-by position over to the surface of the platters) and the increases and decreases in temperature. 

 

It's better for a hard drive to start, reach the normal operating temperature (between 30-40c is the best according to a study made by Google in their datacenters) and then stay and spin 24/7 at that "stable" condition (same temperature, same rpm, same pattern of reading and writing data and so on).

 

The temperature cycling (cold - hot - back to cold) put more wear and tear on the hard drive compared to what continuous running of the hard drive motor could ever do to affect the hdd's life.

 

A hdd doesn't use a lot of power, usually around 5 watts, so you won't save money by turning it off.