Turn off hard disks?

[KingOfHearts]

There is that option under the power management tools that allows you to turn off your hard disks after a certain amount of time. Is it a good idea to use this feature? If so, what time setting should you use? (20 mins, 1 or 2 hours)?

 

[Addis]

Its really up to you. Whether you should always leave your computer running or not is debatable. It won't really do your HD any harm if you leave it on always, some people say that constantly spinning up your disk may reduce its lifespan. But theres the factor of having power spikes etc which could damage a computer still running without surge protectors but these are uncommon.
I wouldn't enable it since any work you've done will be lost if you leave it running for too long without activity. If you want to, I'd enable it for 1 or 2 hours.

 

[Big B]

It's perfectly safe to use. I'd set it for 20 minutes, but that depends on the machine and what it's being used for. It doesn't make that much of a difference waking up and it saves power. I set mine for 20 minutes, because if I'm not using it after that long, I'm either asleep or out. It's just a personal preference, and there's really no guide to how long you should set it for.

 

[Addis]

I don't use it but does it put your cmputer into hibernate when it powers off?