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


I  now own a Lumin X1 streamer/dac.
I have a 8TB Hard Drive connected to it. The Lumin is set to go to sleep after 15 minutes of inactivity.
But, though the Lumin appears to go to sleep the external hard drive continues to blink.

Does this mean the hard drive never goes to sleep? Or should I manually shut down the hard drive when not is use?

ozzy
128x128ozzy
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
@ozzy seems like unplugging and plugging back in for playback sessions would be the same as spinning down and spinning up for playback sessions, and therefore not reduce any risk if your concern is with mechanical degradation causing a failure. Keeping the disk spinning non-stop is the way to avoid that (only to suddenly be surprised by a head crash the first time you spin down and back up).

Unless what you're seeing is that even when the Lumin is sleeping, the hard disk is constantly spinning down and up again.

I guess I probably wouldn't worry about it too much, especially if you have a backup. I'm not sure there is any hard data on what sort of sleep/idle vs. spin duty cycle is optimal but hard drive controllers and disks should handle music playing activity cycles very well. Also don't let it get too hot.
nekoaudio,
Thank you. I think for the night I will unplug the hard drive. Just to be safe.

ozzy
Ozzy, you're imagining a problem where one doesn't exist.  You've backed up your data and you've backed up your backup, so stop worrying about whether the light is on.  If the light really bothers you -- put some dark tape over it.
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