What's the point of "put hard disk to sleep when possible"?

[Aniej]

While I understand the obvious fact that it puts it to sleep whenever possible, what's the point of this and why is it an aspect of better performance and not better energy savings in system prefs?

 

[Quicksilver867]

Yeah, I don't get how putting the hard disks to sleep would yield better performance. When I had my iMac set to do that, it always took forever to wake from sleep.

 

[Sherman Homan]

I think that the word "performance" in this case has to do with laptops, not desktops. Performance means better battery life, less chance of running out of juice. It is funny that from the perspective of a desktop machine it is illogical.

 

[Aniej]

I think that the word "performance" in this case has to do with laptops, not desktops. Performance means better battery life, less chance of running out of juice. It is funny that from the perspective of a desktop machine it is illogical.

I totally agree! Ironic also, that 85% of the time my MBP is, in effect, a desktop since it is power corded tethered most of the day.

 

[Sherman Homan]

I totally agree! Ironic also, that 85% of the time my MBP is, in effect, a desktop since it is power corded tethered most of the day.

My laptop is almost always plugged in, too. And I have a desktop on the other side of the house that has a wireless connection. Apple needs to re-think some of their terminology!