Does the T61 Hard Disk Spin Down when Logged Off WinXP?

[eecon]

When logged off from WinXP (but not powered off), will my power settings still spin down the T61 hard drive after idling the 30 minutes that I've set in my WinXP power manager settings? The HD is so quiet when spinning that my old age ears can't hear it spinning regardless of whether the laptop is powered up or not

I'm always docked with power feeding the advanced mini-dock from a surge protected outlet and my T61 battery's charge thresholds are set between 45% and 55%. I do a full cycle charge every couple of months or so when I undock it for an occassional overnight business trip.

I am also using an external monitor, keyboard and mouse when docked .... and the T61 lid is always closed with it's screen blank or off.

Is it better to simply log off every evening overnight, or go to standby, or fully shutdown?

I am the only user with admin rights (but have setup a backup profile just in case). I have turned off the guest account and can log on only as myself or as "administrator" or my backup profile user name (if ever needed). No one else has access to the unit at home (I live alone). Resuming from standby requires my password. Logging back on also requires I re-type in my user name because I have set WinXP not to display the "last user" when the classical logon screen comes up.

Also, powering up from a full shutdown requires both a system PW and a HD PW before it begins to load WinXP, however, these PWs are not required during a reboot.

Ideally, I'd like to simply log on once in the morning and log off one in the evening like the desktops we use at work (no power S/D), but I'm not sure if that will shorten the life span of my T61 which so far has been behaving very well. Although mine stays on for 15 to 16 hours a day, I only use it 2 or 3 times during that period for an hour or so each time (2 to 3 hours total daily use while docked). The rest of the time it is idle.

Thanks.

[truk]

From my experience with other thinkpads, they should spin down just as they normally do. If it's life that you're concerned about, I wouldn't worry. I find it's good practice to fully shut down once a week so that windows has a chance to clear out some of it's junk, but hardware wise it shouldn't matter unless your laptop is emitting excess heat or is dying, having errors, or malfunctioning after leaving it on (at which point you are most likely still on warranty). I now run at least one of my computers like this all the time, and I've not experienced any shortening in lifetime, excluding cheap hardware (last I checked, Thinkpads were not included in that category.)

Hope this helps!
Truk