Using an external HD with an eSATA card

I have a music library on an external HD connected to an eSATA card that I access many hours a day. I notice the difference in responsiveness when compared to the same drive connected with FIrewire 800. But it is idle many hours a day. And I notice that using eSATA the drive never spins down the way it does using Firewire.
Am I shortening the life of the drive by leaving it on and spinning all day every day and shut down at night? I don't think the computer goes to sleep naturally when it is connected and spinning. Without it the computer sleeps normally in non use.
If it's not costing too much in energy or wear I will enjoy the advantage of eSATA. But if there is gain by being frugal connecting it with Firewire I may like to do that.
Any thoughts please? I don't know if all drives spin constantly with eSATA. Is it universal or does it depend on the card design? Does an internal 2nd HD spin down when not in use? Does the main HD?

Hi,
It is not unusual for hard disks connected via eSATA NOT to spin down when inactive. However, the Mac Pro should still support sleep mode. You may want to verify the energy settings in System Preferences. I would also use the sleep menu under the Apple to verify the Mac Pro will sleep and wake from sleep with the SATA controller card installed.
I dismount and turn off my external eSATA hard disks when they are not needed. The latest Silicon Image driver allows the eSATA HD to enter a low power mode when inactive if the energy saver settings are set to put the HD to sleep when inactive.
The power used by a single 3.5" hard disk is minimal (5-8W). Hibernation mode usually drops the HD energy use to 2-4W. To put this into perspective, upgrading the Mac Pro video card or adding a second video card will probably use 10-20x more power.
The eSATA HD will last the longest if never turned on. However, I am not sure that sleep mode by itself will significantly lengthen the life of the HD. From my experience, most of the HDs I use daily tend to have a life span of approximately 2->3 years. I also find that by year 3, they are usually technologically obsolete.
I prefer the external eSATA HD stay active when turned on. This avoids delays from waking from disk hibernation mode and seems to provide a more stable HD operating environment. I would not trade the speed of eSATA for a FireWire 800 connection.
Have fun!

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