Is it possible (or advisable) to turn off external driv when it is not

When I asked on the WD forum about the WD My Book I was using to back up the network drive acting up it was suggested that the problem could be related to it running all the time for years.

It became so unreliable that I replaced it with a new WD Elements Portable external drive last week.

The Elements Portable seems to be working perfectly so far but the light is always on (usually steady but it occasionally flashes) and it feels like the drive is always spinning. I asked WD support about turning it off when it isn't in us but they said there is no way to do that with their software and I should ask Windows support.

I would rather ask here: Is there a way for Windows to turn the drive off or put it into some sort of sleep mode when the computer doesn't need to access it (mostly when Karen's Replicator runs overnight)?
And is it advisable to do that or would it be better to just let it run all the time?

Hello, there are systems that utilise the PWDIS feature on HDDs. The old 3.3v drive issue where new hdds don't spin up due to 3.3v being applied to pin 3. That's a hardware thing. I have a NAS drive that's been on for close to decade, it's IDE! That's fine. Ultimately, the stress in turning devices on is the killer. If you use the drive regularity, I would just leave it on.