On Mon, 02 Mar 2009 19:32:02 +0000 Gavin Hamill <gdh@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > On Mon, 2009-03-02 at 19:15 +0000, Tony Houghton wrote: > > On Mon, 02 Mar 2009 19:30:55 +0200 > > Rene Hertell <linuxtv@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > > > > > Tony Houghton wrote: > > > > On Mon, 2 Mar 2009 08:50:42 -0800 > > > > But I wonder, does writing to the HD really shorten its life > > > > significantly compared to constant spinning or frequently being spun up > > > > and down? > > > > > > Yes, i guess it does, cause it writes to the hdd:s surface constantly in > > > large amounts... > > > > But there's no physical contact, the surface just has its magnetic > > polarity changed (or something like that). Is there a limit to how many > > times it can survive those changes? Or perhaps the head moving mechanism > > can wear out? > > I thought the driving force for having HDs power down was to reduce > power, noise and heat? Yes, avoiding disc access to keep it spun down is a good idea, but it's difficult to keep one spun down in Linux because of logging activity etc. Even if you manage to solve that problem I think the drive would still need to be used often enough to make it a good idea only if it's something like a laptop drive, designed to be spun up and down more frequently than a desktop one. -- TH * http://www.realh.co.uk _______________________________________________ vdr mailing list vdr@xxxxxxxxxxx http://www.linuxtv.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/vdr
