I'm thinking of getting a Pi to use as a file and webserver for personal apps and data backup. I heard the Pi consume little power even when running 24/7.
If I attach a laptop HDD to the Pi for data backups, would it increase notable power consumption? Most of the tasks can be done on the SD card, the hard drive is only used twice a month for data backup and occasionally for file access.
When there's no reading/writing activity to the drive, does it consume notable power or is it better to use a huge SD card instead?