External HDD. Should it spin down when not in use?

I have a 400 GB Seagate HDD in a USB/Firewire encloseure. When I have it turned on the HD spins at full speed all the time. A friend told me that it should spin down when not in use and that if it doesn't it will decrease the life of the drive.

Any opinions? Should I shut it off after I access what I need on it? Thanks

 

I would think that it will decrease the HDs life if it is running constantly.

My WDs spin down after a few minutes. I am not sure if my seagate does, it is at home. I will be home in a couple weeks and will check if you don't get more info by then.

 

My maxtor definitely slows down but it is in a Nexstar 3 case, and not controlled by maxtor hardware. I'd perhaps contact seagate and ask them.

 

Well, an external drive should spin down when idle, but unfortunately most do not.

Windows is unable to power manage an external USB/Firewire drive, which means the enclosure's chipset must handle that task itself. Most don't bother.

 

A desktop 3.5" drive is typically rated for 20-30,000 spin-ups/spin-downs. So you don't want to do it wantonly, you should make spin-ups and spin-downs as minimal as possible to prolong the life of the drive. They're designed to run. If you're on power, it won't hurt it to keep running. If it's a 2.5" type drive, it will save power if it spins down, and they're rated around 300,000 spin-ups/spin-downs, so it's much less of an issue.

 

Thanks. Definitely good info! You seem to know your stuff.