Take the 2-minute tour ×  I am using 12.04. Would my laptop
battery last longer if I copy my .mp3 files to a USB memory
stick, then play them from there rather than from the HDD?
Thanks, Dennis  share|improve this question  closed as not a
real question by Uri Herrera, jokerdino, hbdgaf, Amith KK,
ajmitch Aug 19 '12 at 21:48   Why would that help your battery?
You're using more power getting info from USB than getting from
the hard drive locally. And again, why would you assume this'd
help your battery power? –  Thomas W. Jun 12 '12 at 17:56  2
Answers 2  up vote 1 down vote accepted  This could potentially
drain the battery slower if it results in the hard disk being
spun down, and staying spun down more often.  Compared to the
amount of power it takes to run even a laptop hard drive's
motor, it seems unlikely that the difference in power
consumption between SATA and USB is significant. So I think the
idea that accessing data via USB will drain the battery faster
is probably not relevant to your situation.