OT: Hardware question - Should I remove my extra HD?

[JTG51]

I bought a new computer a few months ago. I stuck the hard drive from my old computer in to transfer a bunch of files. The old hard drive is now empty and never gets used. I don't anticipate using it in the near future.

For some reason I never thought of this until today. Should I take it out? Does it draw power and add heat to the system if it's connected but not being used?

[CountDuckula]

It shouldn't have a great effect on your system, in terms of power and heat. If you have no other use for it, I'd recommend using it for daily backups. If you ever lost your main drive, it would make recovery 1000 times easier; you could pick up a new drive, install your OS on it from your system CD, then restore everything else from the backup.

-Mike

[kurosh]

It draws very little power if it's not being used. Don't worry about it. Store your extra porn on there.

[JTG51]

nm

[SamJack]

[ QUOTE ]
I bought a new computer a few months ago. I stuck the hard drive from my old computer in to transfer a bunch of files. The old hard drive is now empty and never gets used. I don't anticipate using it in the near future.

For some reason I never thought of this until today. Should I take it out? Does it draw power and add heat to the system if it's connected but not being used?

[/ QUOTE ]

I would personally use it to back-up critical files. e.g. pokertracker DB, etc.