Should I keep my external hard drive on?

[DonWrk]

Is it ok to keep the external hard drive on all the time? Or should I back up every so often and then unmount it?

 

[John T]

There's no valid reason or advantage to turning it off. It'll go to sleep when your computer does.

 

[DonWrk]

Ok thanks, was just wondering if it was bad to have it running non stop.

 

[ChrisA]

Is it ok to keep the external hard drive on all the time? Or should I back up every so often and then unmount it?

Time Machine will run a backup every hour, the drive has to be o for that to work. And YES, do use TM for your backups.

The drive will partially power down when it's not in use so some power is saved. Then if you know you will nowe be using it for a day or more then unplug the power at the wall