"Put harddisks to sleep when possible" vs longer HDD life?

Something I've been pondering:
I can save battery by telling the computer to put the harddisk to sleep when possible, but am I sacrificing HDD life span by spinning it up and down often?

I doubt that you are making much of a difference in either respect. It probably takes less energy to keep an already spinning disc spinning than it does to start it spinning again, if the interval is short. If it's longer, putting the disk to sleep probably does save a little energy, and the strain on the drive's mechanical parts will be less than if it's spinning down and back up again every five minutes.

Similar Messages

  • Energy Saver: Put HDs to Sleep When possible?

    Apple implies that this preference, turned on, will save energy. But what about wear and stress on the internal and external HDs as they spin up and down?
    I have this pref. set to "on" (the default), but every time that I use the computer and the HDs are not spinning, and I then do something that requires an HD to spin up, all of them spin up, one after the other, before the operation can start. This takes time while all I want to do, for example, is open a document etc. that is not on an external HD. So, setting the pref. to "off" would stop this irritating and recurring delay (the HDs would of course spin down when the computer was put to sleep).
    My question is, therefore, would setting this to "off" wear out the HDs significantly?

    FWIW, I never sleep desktop computers or their associated HDs, only their displays. Mine run 24/7 and are only restarted when required to switch OSs or install updates. They're only shutdown when going on vacations. Most electromechanical devices failures occur druing power up.

  • 10.8.5 on MacPro5,1 - disabling "Put hard disks to sleep when possible" doesn't work any more

    I have always had "Put hard disks to sleep when possible" disabled in the Energy Saver section of System Preferences, but since upgrading to 10.8.5 this setting is no longer obeyed... I can distinctly hear the sound of my hard drives winding down and winding back up *very* often, and toggling the setting has no effect...
    There's other threads about hard disk sleep issues with 10.8.5 and it seems this is another one to add to the list... Definitely needs to be addressed because my hard drives are powering up & down quite a lot even when the system is sitting idle, which is gonna create a lot of unnecessary mechanical wear on those drives...

    Unfortunately, this is a known bug that Apple is working on. 
    I submitted feedback regarding this issue and surprisingly received a couple of phone calls from Apple support about this issue.  I ran through several questions with the tech and advised him that I temporarily resolved the issue by restoring from a saved 10.8.4 installation.  So, for the moment, everything is working as it should.  The Apple tech asked if I would be willing to re-install 10.8.5 and provide some logs, but I declined since everything is back to normal now. 
    As a side note, it has been said on other forums, the issue can be temporarily "fixed" by setting your monitor to never go to sleep and stay on, which ironically causes your hard disks to "never" sleep either.   I also provided this bit of info to the Apple tech in hopes of resolving this. 

  • "Put the hard disk(s) to sleep when possible": How to Exempt One Drive?

    I have a Mac Pro with 4 internal hard drives, 2 external hard drives, the built-in SuperDrive, and a new Pioneer BDR-205 internal Blu-ray drive. Here's the problem: If the "Put the hard disk(s) to sleep when possible" option is enabled, when the system puts the BDR-205 to sleep, it will never wake up unless the computer is shut down and restarted. (Basically, it disappears from the System Profiler and can no longer be accessed.)
    If I turn off the Energy Saver "Put the hard disk(s) to sleep when possible" option, then the BDR-205 never has a problem -- but then none of my other drives ever go to sleep, either.
    Does anyone know of a way to exempt a specific drive (or drives) from being put to sleep by the "Put the hard disk(s) to sleep when possible" feature? I've found where the settings for this feature are stored, in \Library\Preferences\SystemConfiguration\com.apple.PowerManagement.plist (the setting is Disk Sleep Timer -- 0 = never sleep, any other number = how many minutes before a drive is put to sleep), but I can't find where there might be some undocumented option to allow us to say, "Don't put THIS drive to sleep". It seems silly that this option is an all-or-nothing proposition.
    Anyone have any ideas? Thanks in advance.

    I am having the same difficulty. A way to exempt a specific drive from sleep would be most useful.

  • "put hard disk(s) to sleep when possible" setting - YES or NO?

    I've searched.... but I can't find a definitive answer.
    Is it a bad idea to NOT "sleep" my hard disk(s)?
    (i.e. - uncheck the "hard disk(s) sleep" option)
    I have a new macbook and I'm running Time Machine on an external (powered) drive. I have my computer set to "put hard disk(s) to sleep when possible" but I'm having problems with "improper device removal" warnings when I wake up the macbook. I would hate to shorten the life of my drives - but potentially corrupted
    files on my Time Machine disk kind of defeats the purpose of back ups.
    I realize that "sleeping" conserves battery life - but when the macbook is plugged in, what should I do?
    thanks

    the external hard drive is unmounting itself and I receive the "improper removal" warning. I've seen similar posts in the Time Machine discussions. It seems that it might be a sleep related issue. Macbook wakes - but doesn't wake external?
    (Although one time it unmounted while the macbook wasn't sleeping)
    At first I thought it was because the drive was bus powered -so I switched to a powered drive. Problem still happened - so I removed the drive from my usb hub and plugged straight into macbook usb port... but the problem is still occuring.
    (Also.... wondering if verifying my back up drive will assure me that no data corruption occurred with improper removal...of should I do another complete backup?) thanks

  • Does "Put the hard disk(s) to sleep when possible) work with external drive

    I have an external backup drive which I use for doing daily backups. I have set an iCal alarm daily to remind me to turn the hdd on at the right time.
    When Time Machine comes along in a couple weeks, I am going to be leaving this drive on all the time while I'm working on my computer but was wondering if the energy savings mode of putting the hard drive to sleep applies to external USB drives as well? Would be nice to know that when I put my computer to sleep at the end of the day that my external drive also goes to sleep. I'm not sure if this has to be a function of the external box or if OS X can shut off the drive.
    Any wisdom?

    You can test this very easily:
    The "Put the hard disk(S) to sleep when possible" default time is 10 minutes of inactivity.
    Just leave your Mac alone for 10 minutes: you should hear both drives spinning down. If the external noise was not clear enough, you can then "wake it up" by double-clicking its icon on the desktop:
    If it was spun down, you'll have to wait a couple of seconds or so, with the spinning colored beachball, while it is spinning up again.
    Note that if you're performing a task that uses only you Mac's internal HD, the external should spin down while you're using your Mac. Then if double-clicking its icon shows the colored spinning beachball stalling, it's very clear it goes to sleep as intended.
    Most of the external hard drives should be able to spin down, at least all my LaCie do it with no problem.

  • If I set my iMac not to sleep, but set hard drives to sleep when possible will they sleep?

    If I set my iMac to never sleep, but my Hard Drives to sleep when possible why don't they sleep?

    They don't sleep because your Mac is using them (as your Mac is turned on). If they go to sleep, you may damage the external drives because your Mac doesn't unmount the drives first

  • HT3964 IMac, Mountain Lion- overheating and putting itself to sleep when it gets too hot.

    I've tried re-setting the SMC on my intel core i5-2.66 GHz Imac 27" to stop the fan from running all the time.  It started when I first upgraded to snow lepeard. I thought maybe Moutnain Lion would help this issue,  but now it's overheating and putting itself to sleep when it gets too hot.  Any suggestions?  This happens after about two hours of working.  Using Adobe Suite only and still overheats. 

    The Apple Support Communities are an international user to user technical support forum. As a man from Mexico, Spanish is my native tongue. I do not speak English very well, however, I do write in English with the aid of the Mac OS X spelling and grammar checks. I also live in a culture perhaps very very different from your own. When offering advice in the ASC, my comments are not meant to be anything more than helpful and certainly not to be taken as insults.
    First off, there is nothing wrong with the fans running all of the time, they are the Macs cooling system and they would not run under normal conditions if the Mac didn't need them to run. So unless they are racing and your Mac sounds like a jet ready for take off, the fans are just doing their job.
    That said, I think Apple's idea of how mcuh and how fast they should run does not always match the iMac's real needs. I, like many others, use SMC Fan Control and I set the speed at which my Mac's fans run.
    http://www.eidac.de/?cat=4

  • Computer does not put itself to sleep when used in lid-closed mode

    Hi. I'm having a small problem when using my macbook pro with the LED display, lid closed and with external keyboard and mouse. If I leave the computer unattended, the display goes to sleep at the time specified in system settings under energy saver. The computer, however, does not go to sleep - the white power indicator remains solid and noises for new email etc can still be heard.
    I should probably just try to remember to put it to sleep manually but I keep forgetting. Does anybody know what settings I need to adjust?

    I tried cycling the old battery many times, and the computer would still shut down unexpectedly instead of going to sleep when it ran out of power. I got a free replacement from the supplier [http://myworld.ebay.com/cbkusaelectronics>, but I have cycled this new battery twice now, and it still does not go to sleep when it runs out of power. The capacity of the battery is fine (4.9 Ah), and the timing calibration seems fine as well. I have two older batteries from NewerTech and they allow sleep every time, so I think my computer is fine. Can anyone enlighten me about the cause of this problem? Does my battery lack some 'sleep battery' cell in it for use after the other 4 cells discharge? Or does my battery lack a chip that communicates with the computer? Is there any hope of getting this battery to support sleep when discharged?
    Has anyone else seen this problem consistently in a brand of battery? Does anyone have a recommendation for a cheaper battery that does not exhibit this problem? I have been happy with NewerTech, but they cost over $130.
    (I only paid $44 plus $10 shipping, so I probably got what I paid for. It is maybe still worth it to have a high capacity battery for such a low cost, but I can't rely upon it in those last few minutes or I may lose work.)

  • PB puts itself to sleep when in use

    The powerbook will put itslef to sleep with no warning. I will be working as normal on my computer and all of a sudden the computer diplay will go black, and the sleep light will begin to blink. I am not certain if the hardrive also goes to sleep, but im pretty sure it does. Sometimes it will happen as soon as I rewake it, and in most cases this ends in the computer freezing and forcing me to remove the battery and AC adapter to simply restart it.
    I have tried reseting the power management unit, removing external devices, and instructing the computer to not sleep at all. It seems to happen at random, for instance, atm, it seems to be working fine, but it could go to sleep at any second.

    I have had the worst time with my PB for about a month now. It all began when my hard drive crashed. I Replaced the HD.
    Reloaded and updated the OS and all software.
    Then, after about a week of everything running like it should, I began to have problems brought on by encrypting my data. My PB began to freeze. I spent about - and I'm not exaggerating - 3 1/2 hours on the phone with Apple Care. Finally had to zero out my hard drive and - once again - reload EVERYTHING.
    Everthing was fine for about a week and then, out of the blue, my PB would go into sleep mode - while I was typing.
    I spent another 2 hours on the phone with Apple Care. Finally had to zero out my hard drive and reload everything - AGAIN!!!!!!!!
    Imagine the frustration when - after I reloaded everything which takes at least 3-4 hours (after downloading upgrades and all) within 15 minutes it went back into sleep mode while I was typing!!!
    At this point I was just about ready to throw it out the window.
    Instead, I brought it to the Genius Bar.
    They took it in and replaced the mother board (the error log stated something about a printer error though it wasn't on line with the printer).
    I got the PB back the next morning and began to check my email when - guess what happens - yep, it went to sleep while I was typing!!!
    Each time it went to sleep I was able to wake it up after about 10 seconds by pressing a key. It would stay on for about 7 - 10 seconds before it would die again. After going through this cycle about 10 times it wouldn't wake up until I removed the battery. When I turned it on this last time I went immediately to the error log to see what was happening and this time it said "excessive temperature".
    Okay, so I went back to the Genius bar (amazingly, no blood was shed), and this time they sent it somewhere to be fixed.
    I'm waiting for it to come back. Though with all the problems I've been having with it I'm actually quite afraid of getting it back and having this or something else happen.
    I've got to say - through all this - the only reason I'm still sane is that everyone that has assisted me, whether on the phone with Apple Care or at the Genius Bar, has been absolutely fantastic! I love those guys! And, I love my PowerBook - I just want it back - the way it was - before all this started happening!
    I've been doing a lot of searching regarding this problem and - although Apple techs seem to have never heard of this problem before(???) - it has been happening to A LOT of people that have PowerBook G4's 15" and 17" built during 2005. It has to do with the TrackPad Sensor going haywire and the Topcase must be replaced - perhaps the motherboard as well.
    If you speak with an AppleCare tech tell him to read this: http://communitymx.com/search.cfm?searchtype=Basic&searchbox=PowerBook+Sleep&sub mit2=Search&shortLong=1&searchinside=0
    GOOD LUCK!

  • Not putting mbp to sleep when closing screen, possible?

    Dear All,
    I was wondering whether it is possible to close the screen without putting the MacBook Pro to sleep but instead having applications running or listening to music etc. Is it possible to adjust the settings for that? I haven't found anything in System Preferences, yet.
    I would appreciate your help,
    Jerome

    Ya my blue tooth mouse works well for waking it up into clamshell mode, even though that's not what I was shooting for. I just want to turn of the silly mouse...LOL
    The problem is with the clamshell, unless you have an external monitor attached you can not visually see anything to restart what ever application stopped when you closed the lid.

  • Every time I close my laptop (not turn it off, just put it to "sleep") when I open it again, I am no longer online & have to go to File & uncheck "work offline". How do I make sure my laptio stay connected & doesn't go offline? (I have wireless broadband)

    Firefox 3.67
    Win XP home
    Lenovo laptop

    You can try to create a new Boolean pref with the name network.manage-offline-status and set the value to false.
    You can right-click on the about:config page to open the right-click context menu and use "New > Boolean" to create a new Boolean pref.
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  • Put hard disk to sleep when possible

    Hi, is there any other reason to do this besides saving energy? Does it extend the life of the disk? Or shorten it for that matter with the extra spin-ups/downs?
    Thanks,
    Dave

    Hard drives have a recommended maximum number of Start/Stop Cycles. For the Raptor it's 20,000. Some other drives are rated at 50,000.

  • What does "when possible" mean when putting a drive to sleep?

    I was wanting to know about the various settings in "Energy Saver" so I checked out HELP and came across this statement:
    +To put the computer's hard disk to sleep whenever it's inactive, select the checkbox labeled "Put the hard disk(s) to sleep when possible."+
    Does anyone know what "when possible" means? Does it mean after 5 seconds of non use? Five minutes?

    Does it mean after 5 seconds of non use? Five minutes?
    Yes, at whatever idle time you have set in System Preferences.

  • Mavericks 10.9-10.9.1 bug/issue/problem: external drives connected through thunderbolt or firewire are not put to sleep when iMac goes to sleep

    Previous to Mavericks (10.9 - 10.9.1) I've had no issues with external firewire or thunderbolt connected drives to be put to sleep. However, since Mavericks all of my external drives are not put to sleep when my iMac, or Mac Pro go to sleep.
    How can a company such as Apple, pushing people to have external devices like hard drives, is not on top of fixing this issue? Apple pushed for firewire and thunderbolt, thus All external drives I've owned are firewire. Because of speed. I bought thunderbolt adapters for firewire, and before Mavericks all worked great. Now that we have 10.9.1 update, this is still an issue!
    I'm aware of the temporary solution of connecting the drive through USB to make it work, this is not a solution, but a hack.
    Please let Apple know that this is a known issue, and there should be a fix for it. Everyone's data depends on it! Not only current external backups, but also external sensitive hard drives we rely on. Currently, the following makes are experiencing this issue: Lacie, OWC (Elite Pro), WD, Promise, Seagate, Toshiba, G-Drive.
    Other Apple Support Communities related thread:
    https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5486167?start=60&tstart=0
    https://discussions.apple.com/message/23541363
    External References:
    http://blog.macsales.com/21004-upgrade-to-mavericks-drama-free-with-owc
    http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1659332&page=3
    If anyone finds how to solve this issue, please help by posting the steps or solution.

    Same 2 issues with 10.9.3:
    External FireWire drive WILL NOT spin down when Mac goes to sleep.
    also
    External FireWire drive WILL NOT spin down for inactivity despite “Put hard disks to sleep when possible” is checked in energy saver.
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