Can one spin down HDDs with Power Management settings

In regards to computer power management, what's the difference between "sleep", "hybernate" and "hybrid sleep" in terms of spinning down the hard disks? I'm offered all three options by Control Panel "Power Management" applet but there's no relevant documentation from Microsoft or the manufacturer on my system. I read a bunch of posts in the appropriate Microsoft Forum and although they discussed extensively what the differences are as relates to RAM and the hyberfil.sys file, there was no mention of whether any of these schemes change the functioning of the disks themselves. I'd like to configure my system to spin down the hard drives after a period of inactivity, but not necessarily save power. (I'm assuming, perhaps unjustifiably, that this is possible) Also, is there a difference between the three schemes in terms of installed programs being able to wake the system from these sleep modes? I'd like it if my scheduled apps were able to wake the system in order to run.

I'm running Windows 7 (sp1) 64-bit on a Hewlett-Packard p6774y.
Wasn't sure what tech stats people need for this query but here's some info about my system:

Tweaking.com - System Information v1.0.2
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1. Computer System
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Bootup State: Normal boot
Part Of Domain: False
Domain Role: 0 - Standalone Workstation
Manufacturer: Hewlett-Packard
Model: p6774y
Number Of Logical Processors: 4
Number Of Processors: 1
Status: OK
System Type: x64-based PC
User Name: owner-HP\owner
-----------------------------------------
2. CPU
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Architecture: 9
Caption: AMD64 Family 16 Model 10 Stepping 0
Current Clock Speed: 2900
Current Voltage: 1.5
Description: AMD64 Family 16 Model 10 Stepping 0
Device ID: CPU0
Family: 1
L2CacheSize: 2048
L3CacheSize: 6144
Manufacturer: AuthenticAMD
MaxClockSpeed: 2900
Name: AMD Phenom(tm) II X4 840T Processor
NumberOfCores: 4
NumberOfLogicalProcessors: 4
-----------------------------------------
3. Drives
-----------------------------------------
Caption: Hitachi HDS721010CLA332 SATA Disk Device
Description: Disk drive
InterfaceType: IDE
Manufacturer: (Standard disk drives)
Model: Hitachi HDS721010CLA332 SATA Disk Device
Partitions: 3
Size: 931.51 GB
-----------------------------------------
Caption: ioSafe G3 USB Device
Description: Disk drive
InterfaceType: USB
Manufacturer: (Standard disk drives)
Model: ioSafe G3 USB Device
Partitions: 1
Size: 2.73 TB
-----------------------------------------
Caption: Seagate Backup+ Desk USB Device
Description: Disk drive
InterfaceType: USB
Manufacturer: (Standard disk drives)
Model: Seagate Backup+ Desk USB Device
Partitions: 1
Size: 2.73 TB
-----------------------------------------
4. Hardware
-----------------------------------------
Caption:
Device ID: ROOT\SCANNER\0000
Manufacturer:
Service:
Status: Error
-----------------------------------------
Caption: 802.11n Wireless LAN Card
Device ID: PCI\VEN_1814&DEV_3090&SUBSYS_663211AD&REV_00\4&125A0B80&0&0028
Manufacturer: Ralink Technology, Corp.
Service: netr28x
Status: Error
-----------------------------------------
Caption: ACPI Fixed Feature Button
Device ID: ACPI\FIXEDBUTTON\2&DABA3FF&2
Manufacturer: (Standard system devices)
Service:
Status: OK
-----------------------------------------
Caption: ACPI Power Button
Device ID: ACPI\PNP0C0C\AA
Manufacturer: (Standard system devices)
Service:
Status: OK
-----------------------------------------
Caption: ACPI x64-based PC
Device ID: ROOT\ACPI_HAL\0000
Manufacturer: (Standard computers)
Service: \Driver\ACPI_HAL
Status: OK
-----------------------------------------
5. Memory (Ram)
-----------------------------------------
(Installed Physical Memory Modules)
BANK1 - Size 2.00 GB
BANK2 - Size 2.00 GB
BANK3 - Size 2.00 GB
-----------------------------------------
(Page File Info)
Name: C:\pagefile.sys
Allocated Size: 5887 MB
Current Usage: 1253 MB
Peak Usage: 3002 MB
Temp Page File: False
-----------------------------------------
(Memory Stats)
Memory Total: 5.75 GB
Memory Used:: 3.19 GB
Memory Available: 2.56 GB
Process Count: 115

Should you need more detailed tech stats, I'd be happy to submit them in an attachment.