Computer Guru's, Does my external Hard Drive go to sleep if its still blinking?

I ended up installing an inline switch on the hard drive power cord. I switch the drive off when it is not in use.

ozzy

onhwy61,
Thanks for your information.

ozzy

onhwy61,
It’s not the light, its whether or not it shortens the hard drive lifespan.
The hard drive costs close to $200. And, though I have other back ups, if one of them needs to be put into action, I would need to buy another HD and copy the files for back up duty. (which takes quite some time). After all I have 4TB+ of HR music on a 8TB HD.

ozzy

nekoaudio,
Thank you. I think for the night I will unplug the hard drive. Just to be safe.

ozzy

Its a Western Digital drive. I have tried to contact them, no luck.
I do have 2 additional back ups but it would be nice to know if I need to deplug when not in use.

ozzy

What I have noticed is that when the Lumin is powered off manually the hard drive light goes off completely even though it is still plugged into AC.

So, when the Lumin is in sleep mode the hard drive light blinks which is telling me it is the usb connection to the Lumin that makes the hard drive still appear active.

If the hard drive blinking light is just a blinking light showing connection that might be ok. But I don't know, that is why I am asking the question.
I guess I do not want the hard to be running 24/7 for chance of early failure.

Thank you oldhvymec,
I have about 4TB of high rez music on the 8TB hard drive. It would be impossible to copy that much info and in HR on a CDR.

ozzy

Ok, when the Lumin went into sleep mode the hard drive was not vibrating.
So, does that mean it is ok to leave the hard drive connected full time?

ozzy

noromance,

You know while the Lumin is running I can feel vibrations in the hard drive. I actually placed some f-Q2 under it.

I'm going to check if the hard drive still vibrates when the Lumin is in sleep mode. Good idea!
If it doesn't, does that mean what nekopaudio stated that it may just be indicating it is receiving power?

ozzy

nekoaudio,
Thank you. I thought about a raid system. But I like just being able to plug the hard drive in to the back of the Lumin. Just simple and easy, to this computer challenged old man.

ozzy

noromance, thanks,

When I touch  the hard drive after the Lumin has been off for hours, the hard drive doesn't seem to be warm.

Do you think the HD internal disc keeps on spinning?

ozzy

yyzsantabarbara Thanks, I did contact the dealer and he said the hard drive would stay on but that he has his attached now for years with no problems.
Still , I am concerned about the hard drive. I have a heck of a lot of music on it.  (But I do have everything backed up on a couple identical hard drives).

I'll try the Audioshark web site too!

ozzy