WHY would you "Put hard drive to sleep whenever possible? Not How on MM2 Silicon?

[TuckerdogAVL]

"Put hard drive to sleep whenever possible" is still a choice in energy settings. Apple's explanation is to Put hard drive to sleep whenever possible choose Put hard drive to sleep whenever possible." My question is WHY not How. Is there any reason to choose this? There's no spinning disk. If I have the setting set to go to sleep due to inactivity isn't that the same thing?

 

[DeltaMac]

If you have a spinning drive (which can be external), then you can use that setting to spin down the drive.
"Sleep due to inactivity" can also spin down a hard drive, but would also sleep the system at that point.
So, not the same thing.
Some still use spinning hard drives. I have an 8TB external that I use for archival stuff, but it is not always attached or turned on.
Yes, I do use it with my m2 mini, and the spin down setting works. I don't use the "sleep due to inactivity", as I don't want it to sleep unless I choose to sleep the Mac.

 

[Satcomer]

Some externals are still old style plaster drive externals being sold still! Those drives need sleep once in. while still hence it still there!

 

[TuckerdogAVL]

Are you saying with Externals attached that have drives, that I should use "Put hard drive to sleep whenever possible?" to help those also sleep? I always put the computer to sleep when I'm done for the day. I didn't think about the externals. I assume they're sleeping unless I wake them up to use even if connected. Right? Wrong? It depends?

 

[DeltaMac]

hmm... Some manufacturers put sleep or spindown in the drive's firmware, and you don't really have control over when the drive powers down.
The time that you notice that, is the delay when you try to access the drive, and you get to wait for the drive to spin back up.
Doesn't happen one way or another with SSDs, sleep is a non-issue.
Any drive tends to power down when you put your Mac to sleep, although some self-powered externals will continue to run as long as they have power. You would then depend on whatever commands the manufacturer put in firmware inside the drive enclosure.That would be outside of your Mac's control.
Finally, if you don't have any spinning hard drives in your externals, then it's also a non-issue for you. Ignore the setting, it's obsolete (for you) Move on.

 

[Satcomer]

Are you saying with Externals attached that have drives, that I should use "Put hard drive to sleep whenever possible?" to help those also sleep? I always put the computer to sleep when I'm done for the day. I didn't think about the externals. I assume they're sleeping unless I wake them up to use even if connected. Right? Wrong? It depends?

Depends on the maker of Hard drive! some consumer old hard drives for consumers have only 2-3 year life cycle because the modern thing inside it and to save energy they expect to sleep from time to time! IMHO the last hard Drive s made the old way are NAS 5400 drives to use NAS machines that never sleep! Hence Apple keeps that setting because especially amateur video /music guys still use externals hard drives so they can still survive sleep!