[mythtv-users] USB Hard Drive Lifespans and power usage question

Marc Randolph mrand at pobox.com
Mon Aug 4 19:38:12 UTC 2008


On Mon, Aug 4, 2008 at 1:24 PM, Steve Peters - Priority Electronics
<steve at priorityelectronics.com> wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I have 6 hard drives for my mythbox. It does a lot more than just myth, so I
> do need them all. I have 3 of them internal, and 3 of them in usb
> enclosures.
>
> My questions is: Will linux spindown all the drives when they're idle, thus
> saving power, and hopefully saving the lifespan of the drives?
>
> Also, will a drive in a usb enclosure last any shorter or longer than an
> internal drive? It's definetly warmer in the mythbox because the drives are
> all next to each other.

Howdy Steve,

A comment on the last point: do you have temperature numbers for the
drives in the mythbox vs. temps of the USB enclosure (I assume you can
get temp's across USB)?  Getting rid of heat in situations like this
is about air-movement, and the drives in the USB enclosure likely have
none.  I'm wondering how their temperature compares to the ones in the
mythbox with the extra heat from the other devices.

   Marc


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