Does frequent "sleeping" and "waking" cause extra HD wear?

[abr88]

Just got a new iMac (Yosemite) and am wondering -- if I'm walking away from the computer for an hour or 2 and then will return to it, will "sleeping" and then "waking" at the later time increase wear on the HD compared
to just leaving it on -- to any significant degree?

The name-brand HD in my previous computer (Dell, Windows 7-64) died suddenly after 3 YEARS!! so I'm a little PTSD about this -- any info would be much appreciated!

 

[keysofanxiety]

Nope, no significant (or even minor) wear that you need to worry about.

Due to how HDD technology works, drops and knocks can greatly affect the life of the HDD -- even general wear-and-tear over time can cause it to fail, once the platters/spinners start hiccuping and giving up the ghost. With an iMac it won't be lugged around that much, so even less cause for concern.

Best thing to do for future would be to make a Time Machine backup so that you've always got a full backup of your OS/data/applications, and as it's automated you don't have to really do anything to worry whether or not it's copying stuff. You can also restore a Time Machine backup directly to a fresh HDD, so you'll always have peace-of-mind that you won't run into any issues.

Furthermore you can keep half an eye on your HDD's SMART data through SMART Utility, so if it's even beginning to fail with so much as a single reallocated sector, you'll know well in advance. The free version of SU has 5 free launches so you would have to buy the full version for it to work indefinitely, though. However it's a great app!

As it's December 2nd, allow me to take this opportunity to express season's greetings and welcome you to the forums.

Best wishes!