[TishTash]

which would better in this situation; standby or unplugging?

I was under the impression that standby shut down hard drive activity unless there was a recording taking place. (I certainly hear no hard disk activity when I put a TiVo into standby.)

 

[TishTash]

In standby, only the video output is shut off. The max power save mode will turn off everything and will not even turn on by itself for recordings.

Well, it may not "turn on" but the recordings proceed nonetheless.