I haven't been able to get a definitive answer to what happens with an Internal and an External Hard Drive when one select "Stand By" - or what happens when we put the computer in the "Hibernate" mode. I want them to stop turning in order to prolong their lives.

"Help" tells us the difference between the two regarding saved data, but it doesn't     answer my question. I hope one of you good folks can.

Thanx, JohnN

I think what you want is under Power Options in the Control Panel.
Under Power Schemes, you can set the monitor and hard disks to shut down after periods of inactivity ranging from 3 minutes to never.
You can also set the system to go into standby or hibernate over the same time ranges.

   Just to clarify what dlwolff0 said, there actually is a setting in Power Schemes (see Power Options in the Control Panel) just for the hard drives.  It allows you to have the hard drives shut down after a certain amount of time.
   To answer your question, even if the hard drives are set to never turn off, they will turn off when your computer enters hibernate or standby.  So both in hibernate and standby the drives stop spinning and are not used or operated.
   Hard drives make a whining noise when they are spinning.  It is obvious when they are not spinning because there is no noise.

Thanks Guys, That's exactly what I wanted to know, particularly regarding the 'Hibernate/Standby'. I didn't want to utilize the "Power Schemes" time options.

John