Opinion Please? Can a 2.5" External Be Used 24x7

[ArtShapiro]

I gave a good friend a homebuilt 3.5" external backup device a while back, and it appears that the actual disk (a Hitachi "Deathstar") has failed as confirmed by the Hitachi Drive Fitness Test. Of course I'm happy to replace the drive, while being disappointed in the failure, but it occurs to me that this fairly big enclosure occupies a lot of space in her office. It's a nice Bytecc enclosure with fan - a quite troublefree and solid unit.

I'd thought about just giving her one of my 2.5" external units, but just have an intuitive worry about leaving such a device on 24x7. The speed or capacity is irrelevant; she has remarkably little disk usage and daily backups are small, and in the middle of the night anyway.

Is there any downside to this idea?

Art

[TTY]

Hitachi sells Travelstar EA (Enhanced Availability) 2.5" hard drives, which have been designed for 24 x 7 use. The third letter in these drives' model numbers is an "E".

[ArtShapiro]

Hitachi sells Travelstar EA (Enhanced Availability) 2.5" hard drives, which have been designed for 24 x 7 use. T

Very interesting (and fairly expensive). Thanks! Doing a little bit of poking around on the web, these "E" guys apparently never spin down.

That seems not to be a desirable quality for something used a few minutes a day for backup purposes.

It occurs to me that I have no idea how to tell whether or not the disks are spinning in my own set of 2.5 and 3.5 external drives. They might be throwing off a little bit of heat, but how in the world do I know if they're spinning???

Art