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[Nickolaidas]

What the title says.

I have Windows, my games and all of my apps on my NvMe(s). I only have my HDDs for music files, documents, movie MPEGs, etc.

My brother told me that simply having an HDD connected to the motherboard causes the PC to slow down because every now and then the motherboard does 'checks' on the storage which is connected to it. I thought that was hyperbolic of him, but I would like to be sure.

Thoughts? Should I get rid of my HDDs altogether - even if I use them for files which are mainly mp3s and mpegs?

 

[V1LÆM]

No

As long as you have your OS, games, and programs which need the performance on your SSD then you’re fine. No issues at all with having a HDD attached for storage. Actually, if you have a lot of stuff then HDD makes more sense since it’s cheaper than SSD.

I had a HDD for all my files but the only reason i moved them to SSD was because I had a spare SSD. Everything else is on my SSD (OS, games, apps).

Also, HDDs will “turn off” if they aren’t used for a certain amount of time (like 20 mins is default I think).

 

[Reizo Ryuu]

Nope

 

[Kataploom]

It only effects the stuff you have in the HDD, but I guess you could get less performance if you also have the OS in the HDD instead of in an SSD

 

[V1LÆM]

It only effects the stuff you have in the HDD, but I guess you could get less performance if you also have the OS in the HDD instead of in an SSD

You shouldn’t really be running an OS on HDDs anymore. Maybe Linux would be OK.

 

[Kataploom]

You shouldn’t really be running an OS on HDDs anymore. Maybe Linux would be OK.

Yeah, just making an edge case, I wouldn't go back to HDD anymore and I've actually been a SSD worshipper for people that ask me advice on getting a laptop... There are still laptops out there with HDD for some reason

 

[Antwix]

this will only happen if/when you open up file explorer or go to save a file (or something similar) and the HDDs are in "view" in explorer since they need to spin up again.

 

[ManaByte]

As long as you have the wireless power firmware installed, no.

 

[Larxia]

It shouldn't, be quite often I see weird stuff on mine.
For example, sometimes I will try to empty the recycle bin, and it's not immediat, I can hear my hdd (which was sleeping) starting up, and then I can empty the recycle bin, even if nothing from the HDD was in the recycle bin.
I never understood why. Sometimes it will start to spin for no reason, when I'm not using it.

 

[Nickolaidas]

As long as you have the wireless power firmware installed, no.

What is that, exactly?

 

[adamsapple]

Unless you also install software you use like Chrome/Firefox etc on the slower drive, no, you wouldn't notice a slowdown in average usage.

 

[Nickolaidas]

I never understood why. Sometimes it will start to spin for no reason, when I'm not using it.

Maybe it's that 'pulse' my brother told me about that the motherboard sends to the HDD in a way of saying, 'hey mate - haven't heard from you in a while now. You alive?'

 

[Nickolaidas]

Unless you also install software you use like Chrome/Firefox etc on the slower drive, no, you wouldn't notice a slowdown in average usage.

No, every single app I have is on the NvMes. I only use HDD to store movies and music and the occasional document.

 

[Guilty_AI]

Maybe it's that 'pulse' my brother told me about that the motherboard sends to the HDD in a way of saying, 'hey mate - haven't heard from you in a while now. You alive?'

The OS will do occasional checks on the storage devices. I more or less understand the logic your brother is using but this kind of stuff hardly affects performance, it's just bean-counting territory at this point.

 

[Antwix]

It shouldn't, be quite often I see weird stuff on mine.
For example, sometimes I will try to empty the recycle bin, and it's not immediat, I can hear my hdd (which was sleeping) starting up, and then I can empty the recycle bin, even if nothing from the HDD was in the recycle bin.
I never understood why. Sometimes it will start to spin for no reason, when I'm not using it.

yeah same. i have like 4 hdds in my desktop along with my nvme but same here, even when the file(s) that are going to the recycle bin originate from the nvme, it's still like 15 seconds to empty it lol. strange indeed. probably some weird coding with windows explorer or something.

 

[Melon Husk]

What the title says.

I have Windows, my games and all of my apps on my NvMe(s). I only have my HDDs for music files, documents, movie MPEGs, etc.

My brother told me that simply having an HDD connected to the motherboard causes the PC to slow down because every now and then the motherboard does 'checks' on the storage which is connected to it. I thought that was hyperbolic of him, but I would like to be sure.

Thoughts? Should I get rid of my HDDs altogether - even if I use them for files which are mainly mp3s and mpegs?

Yes, it's Windows' fault. Whether that bothers you is up to you. If you don't notice a slowdown then don't.

 

[cinnamonandgravy]

The OS will do occasional checks on the storage devices. I more or less understand the logic your brother is using but this kind of stuff hardly affects performance, it's just bean-counting territory at this point.

when a HDD needs to spin up, it can cause stutters or even the system to hang for a couple seconds (depending on the process accessing the HDD).

if a HDD isnt being used for a while, itll stop spinning, and no data can be read from it.
to read from it, the HDD needs to spin up, which takes multiple seconds.

when playing a game and stuff, 99.9% of the time this isnt an issue... but sometimes a background program/process pings the HDD and boom, you feel it for a moment.

personally, i dont use internal HDDs anymore.

 

[Three]

What the title says.

I have Windows, my games and all of my apps on my NvMe(s). I only have my HDDs for music files, documents, movie MPEGs, etc.

My brother told me that simply having an HDD connected to the motherboard causes the PC to slow down because every now and then the motherboard does 'checks' on the storage which is connected to it. I thought that was hyperbolic of him, but I would like to be sure.

Thoughts? Should I get rid of my HDDs altogether - even if I use them for files which are mainly mp3s and mpegs?

Windows often auto defrags hdds in the background which slows down the system. Perhaps this is what your brother is referring to.

 

[Guilty_AI]

when a HDD needs to spin up, it can cause stutters or even the system to hang for a couple seconds (depending on the process accessing the HDD).

if a HDD isnt being used for a while, itll stop spinning, and no data can be read from it.
to read from it, the HDD needs to spin up, which takes multiple seconds.

when playing a game and stuff, 99.9% of the time this isnt an issue... but sometimes a background program/process pings the HDD and boom, you feel it for a moment.

personally, i dont use internal HDDs anymore.

That's why i called it bean-counting territory. If you really really want that 0,01% it's easier to just disable the HDD when you don't plan to use it than to abandon HDDs altogether, considering its great cheap storage for goblin porn miscellaneous stuff.

 

[Self_Destructive]

Yes, it absolutely does slow down Windows. Your brother is right. When you open file explorer, sometimes it will access the HDD and basically hang until it's done. It's precisely the reason why I bought some cheap SATA SSDs to replace my large 8TF HDD.

So yes, you absolutely should get rid of your HDD. Or at the very least buy an external bay for it so that you can store whatever you want on it and only connect it through USB when you want to use it.

 

[Three]

It's precisely the reason why I bought some cheap SATA SSDs to replace my large 8TF HDD.

Shit, even HDDs have more power than Switch 2.

 

[BlackTron]

I think the super technical answer is yes, but the real world practical answer is no.

 

[Windle Poons]

Never affects me.

 

[ReBurn]

The OS is going to poll those ports whether you have something connected or not. There could be some overhead if there are a lot of files on the drive and Windows search wants to index them, but that's going to be a low priority task that should take a backseat to anything you're doing and you can tell Windows to not do it.

 

[StereoVsn]

I recommend moving off bulk media to a NAS of some sort, homemade or bought.

And otherwise use SATA SSDs if you need more space if NVME is too much. Windows and HDDs gets weird sometimes.

 

[Futaleufu]

No, but always try to keep free space on your drives above 10%

 

[Magic Carpet]

You could always Yoink it out of your system to see if it improves your FPS.

 

[nkarafo]

I have 9 drives, 1 NVMe, 3 SSDs and 5 HDDs (4 of them 2.5 inch). For a total of 12TB.

I think this setup slows down the PC initialization a bit when i power it up. But i don't think it slows down the PC while operating.

 

[A.Romero]

As long as the files your game or application uses are not on the HDD it shouldn't. Usually by default the HDD will turn off to save power and will only be spinned up when an application tries to pull a file or write on it. If you are running Windows 10 or 11 (probably even earlier too) you can monitor the performance of several components through the Task Manager real time, including your disk drives (both SSD and HDD).

 

[Self_Destructive]

Shit, even HDDs have more power than Switch 2.

More than Series S too

 

[winjer]

Go to Power Options. Then Edit Power Plan.
Change Advanced Power Plan Settings.
In the Option Turn off hard Drive, set it to one minute. This will save power and make the system quieter.
This will make Windows power down the drive, if it's not used for one minute.
If any application or the user tries to use access the HDD, Windows will power it up.
It's a good way to also know if any application is constantly accessing the HDD.

 

[Ev1L AuRoN]

I don't think an HDD will affect your performance if you are not using them. But I would advise you to replace your hard drives for SSDs gradually, I DIY a NAS using SATA SSDs just for my family photos and videos, now I have copies in 3 places, in my computer, my NAS and a cloud service. Better safe than sorry, The only hard drive I still have is the one containing my PS4 collection attached to my PS5, A holdup from the last gen that I didn't bother to replace, since I can re-download its entirety if needed I care too much about its reliability.