Do all external hard-drives have lengthly spin-up times after periods

[Mateo1041]

Do all external hard-drives have lengthly spin-up times after periods of inactivity?

Hi all,

I have three external hard-drives:

* 3-year old Seagate (250 GB)

* 1-year old SimpleTech (250 GB)

* New Western Digital (750 GB)

However, both the Seagate and WD have really lengthy spin-up times. If I'm not actively using the hard-drive, it generally takes 7 seconds or so to spin up so that I can use it again. What's worse is that it does it even when I'm just clearing the Recycle Bin.

My SimpleTech does just fine and never has any wait whatsoever. I'm bummed because the entire reason for me purchasing the WD was to avoid the lengthy spin-up time of the older Seagate.

1) Does anyone have any suggestions on how to reduce spin-up time?

2) Why do some hard-drives do this and others not?

3) How do I know if an external hard-drive does this before I buy it?

It's just really frustrating.

Thanks,

- Matt

[Mateo1041]

Thanks, bugmenott. That's a good idea too. I ended up purchasing a Maxtor as I found their Maxtor Manager software enables me to disable sleep mode. So I'm now good to go. For anyone interested, Seagate and Maxtor are basically one and the same and Seagate also now offers this same software.

[Hb_Kai]

What's "spin up"?

[andsome]

I have never bothered to worry about how long my external drives take to spin up. I can spare seven seconds, I am not in that much of a hurry. Aren't you worrying too much about something which is not all that important? :D :D

[Boris]

What's "spin up"?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spin-up :)

[Hb_Kai]

Was quite useful. Ta :)

[Mateo1041]

I have never bothered to worry about how long my external drives take to spin up. I can spare seven seconds, I am not in that much of a hurry. Aren't you worrying too much about something which is not all that important? :D :D

When your computer freezes for 7 seconds when you empty the recycle bin or perform other tasks, it's a big issue. :-)