WD External HDD - never spin down?

[Art Vandelay]

I helped a friend set up her new WD 120GB external HDD.

She leaves her PC on 24/7 because other people on her
LAN need to share stuff at times when she is not there
and she doesn't want anyone else to have physical access
to her office or PC.

I set it to automatically backup to the external HDD in the
middle of the night.

I was concerned that, if she turned off the HDD during the
day, she would forget to turn it on at the end of the day to
be on for the scheduled backup.

So, this thing is running 24/7 and, as far as I can tell, never
spinning down. Are these drives designed to run this way?
Is it likely to die a premature death? Is there a way to have
it spin down after a certain period of inactivity?

Thanks for any info on this.

A.V.

 

[Rod Speed]

helped a friend set up her new WD 120GB external HDD.

She leaves her PC on 24/7 because other people on her
LAN need to share stuff at times when she is not there
and she doesn't want anyone else to have physical access
to her office or PC.

I set it to automatically backup to the external HDD in the
middle of the night.

I was concerned that, if she turned off the HDD during the
day, she would forget to turn it on at the end of the day to
be on for the scheduled backup.

So, this thing is running 24/7 and, as far as I can tell, never
spinning down. Are these drives designed to run this way?

Not in an external box. They often arent a very good environment
at all for 24/7 running, because they usually have lousy cooling.

Is it likely to die a premature death?

Yes, if its getting rather too hot.

Is there a way to have it spin down after a certain period of inactivity?

Yes, some of the external boxes do spin the drive down on inactivity.

 

[Ron Reaugh]

I helped a friend set up her new WD 120GB external HDD.

She leaves her PC on 24/7 because other people on her
LAN need to share stuff at times when she is not there
and she doesn't want anyone else to have physical access
to her office or PC.

I set it to automatically backup to the external HDD in the
middle of the night.

I was concerned that, if she turned off the HDD during the
day, she would forget to turn it on at the end of the day to
be on for the scheduled backup.

So, this thing is running 24/7 and, as far as I can tell, never
spinning down. Are these drives designed to run this way?

Yes, it can just keep spinning IF the external enclosure is well cooled
with a fan.. The primary issue is green.

Is it likely to die a premature death?

No, unless the drive isn't well cooled then yes. There is no
internal/external to this.

Is there a way to have
it spin down after a certain period of inactivity?

Is it USB2?

 

[Art Vandelay]

Thanks for the reply.

Sorry , I forgot to mention that it's USB2.
It's manufactured by WD as an external drive - not an
internal drive that I put in my own enclosure.
(Dual-option Model # WD1200B015-RNN)

I put the optional feet on it, so it stands up on it's side
to expose more surface area and vent holes. I don't
see a fan.

A.V.