External hard drives and Studio Display

Many thanks, but the USB C port is still hot and the external drives are receiving power as evidenced by the power light on the drive being illuminated. And that was the original question; will keeping an external drive powered continuously cause premature failure even if it's not being accessed by a computer? I have noticed, however, that even though the power light is illuminated, the platters in the spinners don't seem to be spinning. I can't feel any vibration.

Thanks again. I agree and I disconnected the external drives from both the Studio Displays in the house. It would have been very convenient for us to keep the drives connected at all time, but it's probably a bad idea. I sure wish I could control those USB ports...

The problem is that it does work. The USB C ports on the back are always hot as long as the display is plugged in.

You can test it yourself. Unplug your laptop and the display will go dark. Then plug your iPhone into the back and it will charge.