External hard drive(should it always be on?)

[rmart]

Hi guys,

I just bought an Iomega 1TB external harddrive for my home laptop( I us eit as adesktop because of space). My friend who is computer savvy told me that I should have it on (ac power) all the time and it should be connected all the time.

I was wondering if data was being written to the external drive, then why can't I turn the power off and disconnect it after I use it. Reconnect and turn the power on when I need to backup files/folders to the external drive.

I asked my friend who installed it the same question, but he won't reply for aome reason?

Thanks for your help.

Rob

[pranjal p]

Yes it could be always On or its your wish you could turn it of remove the cable and store the harddisk in a proper place but be careful it should not break

[johnke7cw]

Hi guys,

I just bought an Iomega 1TB external harddrive for my home laptop( I us eit as adesktop because of space). My friend who is computer savvy told me that I should have it on (ac power) all the time and it should be connected all the time.

I was wondering if data was being written to the external drive, then why can't I turn the power off and disconnect it after I use it. Reconnect and turn the power on when I need to backup files/folders to the external drive.

I asked my friend who installed it the same question, but he won't reply for aome reason?

Thanks for your help.

Rob

I have 3 desktops and two laptops, also 1TB external drive. Each of the componets have MTBF ( Mean Time Between Failure ) usually listed somewhere in their Specs.

Some feel that each time you turn on that device (hard drives, desktops or laptops) the shock of turning on the device may shorten the life of that device. That may be true. Also there are some believes that you never turn of those devices.

I know several people who have had there computers and associated hardware on for years
and have not had a propblem. Every device will fail at some time and it is a guessing game. Power surges and brown outs are a real problem I will suggest that you invest in a battery back for the devices you have. They too will fail sometime.

One work year is 2080 hours for a 5 day 8 hour work week. There is 8762 hours in a year. When I was working in the computer industry we generally saw that the MTBF was in the 100,00 hour catagory. If I see the MTBF listed for 10,000 hours I don't think I would buy it

Now when I sign of the internet and go to bed or anything else I turn off the what ever devices I am using. If it is off there will not be exposing my self to outside STUFF.

The long and short of it is It is your choice.

John.

[rmart]

Thanks John. I'm assuming I could turn it off and disconnect the usb cable since I will be using it raely for backups only. I have plenty of space on my c:drive on my laptop.

Thanks for the advice about the battery for all devices.

Rob

[rmart]

Yes it could be always On or its your wish you could turn it of remove the cable and store the harddisk in a proper place but be careful it should not break

Pranjal, thanks for your post. The fact that I could turn it off and unplug it is a good thing. I will leave it untouched on it's stand.(small stand)

Thanks again,

Rob

[rmart]

Yes it could be always On or its your wish you could turn it of remove the cable and store the harddisk in a proper place but be careful it should not break

Hi Pranjal,

Thanks for your reply. It's a good thing that I could turn it off and disconnect the drive. I have plenty of space on C: on my laptop and I will be using it rarely.

It is on a stand(small one) I will not touch it.

Thanks again,

Rob

[Master Rattley]

External hard drives are simple things. Like Large USB's.. Simply leave it on if you want to backup, and store Temp files to config your Desktop etc. into a new computer, or save files. Other wise you can unplug it with no harm to anything. Save what needs to be saved and that is all you need to do.

[rmart]

Thank you for replying to my question Master Rattley. I appreciate it.