Does your hard drive ever spin down?

[Drovotto]

I've noticed something over the last two weeks. The hard drive in my new Apple TV never spins down. In fact, it seems to run 24/7 in standby mode. I can hear and feel it running. Is this normal?

[usarcher]

That is normal, unfortunately Going into standby the only thing that is different is the little LED is off and it cuts the video signal to black.

[Drovotto]

Thanks for the reply. I wasn't sure if it was the fan or the hard drive at first. I thought it might be the fan running to help control all the heat this thing produces. It's a shame to put wear and tear on the hard drive like that when it's not being used. Especially considering how well the spin down feature works through Energy Saver in OS X. I wonder if the hard drive ever spins down in the Time Capsule? I think that would change my mind about buying one.

[usarcher]

I really hope that Apple will one day update the AppleTV software to allow a true sleep mode. I really don't see why it wasn't there from the start.

As far as the Time Capsule, not sure, I don't have one. But you would probably be better off getting the Airport Extreme, or something with a usb port for pugging in an external hard drive. $500 for 1 TB and $300 for 500GB is steep for todays storage pricing. $180 for the extreme plus a 1TB Seagate FreeAgent Desk for $110, or 1.5TB for $150, gives you 1 TB networked hard drive for $290 or 1.5 TB for $330.

[g5g5]

I don't know, but I would recommend buying AppleCare for your Apple TV. This takes your warranty out another year for $49 bucks. In fact, two years is about the time it took for my first Apple TV to fail. And I honestly believe that the lack of a true sleep mode and excessive heat cause the failure. That being said, it wasn't the hard drive that actually failed. It was the internal power supply.
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Apple TV 2
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