External HD... Leave on?

[1rottenapple]

Kinda a dumb question but I was wondering if I can just leave on the external harddrive I bought. It has an on/off switch powered by an A/C switch.

 

[CanadaRAM]

I would turn it off -- but only after either doing a shut-down on your Mac, or after dismounting the drive from your desktop by Ejecting or dragging the icon to the trash.

 

[ITASOR]

I turn mine off when not using them for the simple fact that the noise and slight vibration drives me crazy. If you're always using it, it's probably better to leave it on than keep turning it on and off, but if you use it once and a while I would say what CanadaRAM said, unmount and turn off when not going to use it for a while.

 

[2nyRiggz]

I turn mines off when not in use....i'm too scary to leave it on, too many thoughts of it breaking down.


Bless

 

[macmanmatty]

I turn mine off when not using them for the simple fact that the noise and slight vibration drives me crazy.

I turn mine off for the same exact reason.

 

[arcsbite]

I was always told to leave it on as most damage occurs when powering on/off.

I've had my external for about a year now and it's been switched on all the time (except for when i'm away from home for more than a day..or when moving it)

I'm now worried i've been doing the wrong thing.

Off Topic....but remember to back up your drives regularly! (I back mine up fortnightly, the ones at work all went down last month, thank god for back ups..I now remind everyone lol)

 

[chibianh]

I've had mine for 4+ years and it's been on whenever my computer was on. My computer is on 24/7, btw. It's still going strong. *knocks on wood*

 

[yg17]

I turn mine off at night because it's loud as f*ck and 2 feet from my bed.

 

[arcsbite]

Mine's in my office 2 doors away from my bedroom, and it's fairly quiet, so i've never really noticed it.
think i may need to look further into what's best.
logic tells me that leaving it on is best, but I don't know enough about them to decide.

 

[1rottenapple]

Well I could always mount it inside our computer desk cupboard so noise won't be a big deal. Now I'm confused like this guy ->

 

[Macky-Mac]

Well I could always mount it inside our computer desk cupboard so noise won't be a big deal. Now I'm confused like this guy ->

so do what you want with it......it's clear that there isnt a consensus as to the only correct way to deal with it. Leave it on if you want, if the noise bothers you then turn it off

 

[elbirth]

I've looked into this a little before for my own purposes, and as best as I can tell, leaving it on is just fine (I usually leave mine all the time unless I'm not going to be using it for a while).

I think one thing many people don't realize is that when it's in the external enclosure, it's essentially identical to being inside the computer- except it's outside in its own little box. When they're in your computer, they're always powered up and ready to roll, but they spin down when not in use so that they don't wear out. The same thing happens in the enclosure. The loud noise you hear from it isn't the drive spinning, but the small power supply inside the enclosure that's on.

 

[1rottenapple]

Okay so it doesn't spin fast all the time. I guess that was my main concern!