Does drive wear if unmounted but still plugged in to power

[tbcatch22]

Does a sata drive, or any drive for that matter, wear if unmounted - or - can I increase the drive longevity if I unmounted it, but still have it plugged in to power?

Details...
Running kubuntu 12.04. I have a sata drive, not a raid, used solely for backups. This is an internal drive.

I want to increase the longevity of this drive as much as possible. Does it increase the drive longevity / decrease the wear and tear on the drive if the drive is only mounted when A backup is performed?

 

[rolli59]

The main thing is write read cycles so you will mostly wear during operations. Excess handling is just as likely to kill the drive as leaving it connected.

 

[tbcatch22]

Thanks.
So - is sounds like I can leave the drive mounted. If its not doing being written to, such as during a backup operation, then there is little wear and tear on the device to be concerned about, correct?

(to clarify: when I say "unmount the drive", i mean issuing the umount command. Not physically removing the drive from the computer)

 

[eggbrook]

If the drive isn't being used, IE: reading/writing anything, it will shut off and not move. This will dramatically increase the life span of the drive.

 

[tbcatch22]

Best answer selected by tbcatch22.