External 4TB HDD does it need running up occasionally

Hi

i have an External 4TB HDD, it’s. A few years old, I use it to keep all my backup data on, although that’s backup 3 of a 3 HDD set....but when I connected it today, to synchronise, using FreeFileSync, there were many errors reported, couldn’t read files etc. So decided to delete individual folders and replace them from one of my other backups.

my question, is it necessary to occasionally power up this HDD, even if I have nothing new to add, will this keep it working healthier ? I keep this 4TB HDD in my car in a secure box. The idea being, of my PC was stolen, I would still have all my data and vice verse if my car was stolen.....may sound OTT, but gives me peace of mind.

Not sure if it would deteriorate being in the car in a box.....in the colder months I always leave it indoors overnight to warm up, before connecting it, or should I do that anyway ???

thanks

Agreed, temp swings of longish duration are not good. In the HDDs I've taken apart during their destruction showed only 2 moving parts, the spinners/platters with the sealed bearing/s as part of the motor and the part/spindle that holds the arms that have the read/write heads, called a Voice Coil that moves the arms.

Ok but back to his original question which I'm curious of an answer to as well. Would a external drive benefit from being plugged in/powered on often vs powering it on say once a month or so?

It may depend upon the drive itself as those offered for home/consumer use do get turned off more often than those in NAS adapters that are intended to run 24/7/356. An example would be with WDC and their offerings, would take some research into the types they offer, haven't checked other brands' offerings. Also involved with most computers is the hibernation and sleep mode settings.0

For the simplest answer, there is no simple/easy way to determine which is best as there are no 2 or more exactly identical computers and no 2 or more exactly identical methods of computing and their users.