HD powering down option

[sam]

can somone explain the pros/cons of enabling hard drive power down in my bios. i run UD on my machines but i also use one for surfin , gamin ect... i read in the DC artical that using this option can save a few pennies on the my electric bill. i leave my computer on 24/7 and have had no problems. my question is how does this effect my computer . the option is -diasble ,1 min to 7 min dose anyone use this option on a daily use computer? i go back and forth on and off this computer . and all i do now is turn off the monitor when not in use. is this more or less strain on the HDD's
thanks for any info.

IAMTHESAM

[peterwilkes]

Powering down a HDD when you are going to make it start and stop does put a lot of extra strain on the HDD drive (the actual moving parts like the motor and head) If you are going to be using the PC on and off, I would leave the HDD running all the time.

As for saving money, a HDD drive takes about 8 watts of power so if electricity costs 7p (£0.07 GBP) per 1000 wats / hour (1kw/hr) having the HDD on all the time (24/7/256) would cost about £4.90 so having the HDD off half the time would save about £2.50 per year For this, it is not worth messing about and doing un-nessacary changes to the hdd.

The option is mainly used for people who use a notebook PC and want max battery life.

Hope this helps!

Peter