For example, after booting Windows and everything else, when the computer is idle. No file copying or transferring, nor any activity like browsing websites. Does the HDD drive keep spinning continuously in this state?
Would the HDD just slow down the spinning speed and keep running? Or would it stop spinning at all until next user action?
When I close the screen to put the the laptop into Sleep mode, how long does it take for the mechanical HDD inside to spin down? in other words how long should I wait before it's safe to bring the laptop elsewhere?
Best Answer
Most Windows systems automatically power down HDDs after a period of inactivity. This saves power, and possibly reduces wear on the drive. The problem is that spinning a mechanical disk back up to full speed takes a few seconds, during which the drive is essentially unusable, so that can slow things down a bit when use of the system resumes.
To see what your PC's current settings regarding drive inactivity are, open "Power Settings" (on a desktop you can search for it from Start or in the Control Panel; on a laptop you should be able to right-click the battery/plug icon in the system tray). Click "Change Plan Settings" for your current power plan, then click "Change advanced power settings". One option near the top should be "Hard Disk". Expand that to see (and set) how long the HDD will wait between when it was last accessed and when it spins down to save power.
On a Win10 desktop, the default seems to be 10 minutes. That seems pretty good to me. I have an SSD that I boot off of, so the data disk isn't needed most of the time and can safely go idle and stop spinning.
Some HDDs might slow down to a lower speed rather than stopping entirely, but I think they generally stop spinning entirely once the idle threshold is reached.