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    Turn off hard disk after ? minutes!

    Discussion in 'Dell' started by sinstoic, Feb 23, 2008.

  1. sinstoic

    sinstoic Notebook Deity

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    How many minutes is ideal or what do you recommend I set at: Control Panel > Power Options > Change Plan Settings > Change Advaced Power Settings > Hard Disk > Turn Off Hard Disk After > Setting?

    What will happen if I set it to Never? Will it wear down the hard disk faster?
     
    sinstoic, Feb 23, 2008
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  2. MonsPubis

    MonsPubis Notebook Consultant

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    I set it to Never. Microsoft should not have provided that option with Windows. Turning the hard disk on and off frequently results in wear. It is better to keep it running even at the cost of a little less battery life or an increase in AC power consumption.
     
    MonsPubis, Feb 23, 2008
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  3. Prasad

    Prasad NBR Reviewer 1337 NBR Reviewer

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    Set to "never".
     
    Prasad, Feb 23, 2008
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  4. Smoothieboy

    Smoothieboy Notebook Consultant

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    The hard drive in my personal video recorder (similar to Tivo) finally died after almost six years of constant running. I just replaced the drive with another. I wouldn't worry about letting the hard drive run. Just make sure to have a good backup plan. I think what kills drives faster is repetitive starting and stopping and hard bumps while spinning.
     
    Smoothieboy, Feb 23, 2008
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  5. kanehi

    kanehi Notebook Deity

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    With today's drives it doesn't matter. Having the disk turned off while it's inactive will save power, wear and run cooler. This is a big advantage when you leave and do something else and come back to work.
     
    kanehi, Feb 24, 2008
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  6. chelet

    chelet Notebook Deity

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    I forget if I currently have mine set to Hibernate after 3 hours or if I put it on Never while on AC power. I've had it both ways. But it's set to Hibernate after 30 minutes of no input when on battery.

    Use your own judgment. If you tend to forget and leave it on when it's running on battery, you might want the laptop to turn itself off after a time. If you tend to go away and come back to it a lot, you might want to set it so only the screen turns off and the hard drives never spin down unless it's almost out of battery power.
     
    chelet, Feb 24, 2008
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