External hard drive question

[JR]

I just purchased a Western Digital 80 gig external hard drive connected via
USB 2.0. It's not my main drive though. Basically I just use it for
work-related storage, music, and some photography.

I have it sitting on top of my computer box, but the only way to turn it off
is to unplug it from the electrical outlet or pulling the plug out from the
back of it.

I'm curious if it's bad for the drive to leave it on, even when I"m not
using the drive. Typically I leave my computer on at all times, even when
I sleep and the computer goes into low power mode/hibernation. Should I
make a habit of turning off the external drive or can I leave it running?
There was nothing in the Western Digital notes about this when I bought it.

Thanks for any feedback on this.

 

[Chris]

It should be ok to be left on, it won't consume much power or wear the drive
motors if there's no disk activity.

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