I need some advice on BIG external storage units

[Bart Silverstrim]

Steve Lamb wrote:
> On Fri, May 9, 2008 2:01 pm, Tom Rausner wrote:
>> fre, 09 05 2008 kl. 21:54 +0100, skrev Chris G:
> 
>>> What interface?
> 
>> My original idea was USB, and it looks like a good choice, from your
>> answer.
> 
>     I'd say stay away from USB or, at best, be very cautious of it.  I got
> an external USB drive, only 120Gb, and figured it would be a nice place
> to store all of my low-turnover, high-space files (OGG/FLAC of my CDs
> for example).  Hooked it up to my Debian box, got it formatted for ext3
> and then found out that if it is not in constant use it spins down. 
> Once spun down it would not reactivate prior to Linux timing out on the
> operation.  Pretty worthless if I can only read/write to it within
> minutes of plugging it in.

My WD externals are USB (250 gig, 2 of them) and they spin down. 
There's a slight delay before they're spun back up again, but no problem 
with that...just a slight delay.

If your drives are timing out before being usable again, there is either 
something wrong with those model drives or something else is going on. 
I think 99% of external (and internal) drives spin down if they're not 
in use now to save on power and wear. It's not a USB thing.

-Bart