PREDICTIVE POWER SAVING METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR A DEVICE BASED ON COMPUTED AMOUNT OF POWER SAVING AND TIME AT WHICH THE DEVICE SHOULD TRANSITION FROM FIRST STATE TO SECOND STATE

A system which reduces power dissipation in a data storage device having a normal operating mode and at least one power saving mode by computing a predicted amount of power that would be saved by the device if the device makes a transition from the normal operating mode to the power saving mode; computing a time at which the device should transition from the normal operating mode to the power saving mode, based on at least one predicted amount of power to be saved; and transitioning the device from the normal operating mode to the power saving mode.