Desktops: "turning off PC" = Good/Bad
Re:it's the HARD DRIVE life that will be shortened
by lundbye - 4/19/04 1:43 AM In reply to: it's the HARD DRIVE life that will be shortened by viper7189Yes, and a car engine also last longer (in hours) when you leave it running allways 
But the lifetime of a disk is about 50.000 hours. So you can decide if you will have it runnig all the time and maybe get an extra year, or swithch it off when not needed and get extra 15 years lifetime. Power for xtra 16h and about 90 watt a day in Denmark costs about 100$. You can buy a new harddrive every year for the money you save :-D
Re:Re:it's the HARD DRIVE life that will be shortened
by jscott - 4/19/04 5:19 AM In reply to: Re:it's the HARD DRIVE life that will be shortened by lundbyeAs a former mechanic, I'll just point out that a car engine has considerably more moving parts than a computer. Friction is an engine's worst enemy. And what's the most "stressful" time for an engine? Starting it after it has sat for several hours. Why? Because the oil has drained into the pan (at the bottom of the engine) leaving the engine's moving parts to wear against each other until the oil gets flowing and fully coats things.
Re:Re:Re:it's the HARD DRIVE life that will be shortened
by Waterjockey - 4/19/04 6:58 PM In reply to: Re:Re:it's the HARD DRIVE life that will be shortened by jscottGranted a car does have more "moving" parts...but computers do not require lubrication. The voltage required to keep a computer running varies depending upon many variables. Lights, hard drives, processor, processes running and the type of OS. This combined makes the "simple" computer a far more interesting machine as well as less expensive if you want to go the motor route. With todays gas prices the cost of keeping a motor running is a lot more expensive than a computer run by electricity. The only thing that will shorten the life of any piece of hardware, just like a car, is if it is installed improperly or outright defective out of the box. Look at your Motherboard...there are over 1000 circuits on it..any chance one of them is defective?? Yes...any chance one of your 4 to 8 cylinders on a car is? Doubt it. This On vs. Off argument has been going on for more than 20 years. I like On...what you do is up to your own individual taste.
Re:it's the HARD DRIVE life that will be shortened
by beef_wellington - 4/20/04 10:02 AM In reply to: it's the HARD DRIVE life that will be shortened by viper7189Hard dives are usually guranteed for at least 50,000 start/stop cycles. More damage is done during an abrupt stoppage rather than a controlled power down. An abrupt stoppage could be hitting the power button, pulling the plug, power outage, etc. A ups could save you a lot of agravation.
Amen.
by dcamus - 4/19/04 6:12 AM In reply to: The reason computers have a power switch is so they can be turned on and off. Don't waste electricity. by Michael GeistIt's absolutely disheartening how infrequently this line of thinking appears in this discussion. Sigh. No wonder our planet is filthy.
Power use vs. hardware wear
by rscrvc - 4/19/04 9:28 AM In reply to: The reason computers have a power switch is so they can be turned on and off. Don't waste electricity. by Michael GeistAt any given time I have 600+ machines under my care, being used 24/7 by CS students. In some labs the machines get powered down repeatedly daily. In others, they only get powered off for maintenance.
The only real downside to this has been that the power switches get broken from repeated use in the labs where they get turned off, but the other hardware doesn't seem to be at a loss from the up/down activity.
The machines that get left on 24/7 *do* seem to have a much higher rate of hard drive failure, despite climate control in each lab, so I am left to attribute this discrepancy to the constant rpm's.
We shut labs down over spring break and had a 20% loss at restart in the 24/7's, vs. 100% functionality in the labs that get cycled daily. That's a pretty strong argument for regular disuse for us. Now we've implemented procedures to alter our 24/7 lab behavior to benefit our power consumption and hardware loss mitigation, despite the possibility that we may have to replace some power buttons.
The point about solder joints is fair, but it isn't really a problem in machines that sit around- failure in solder or 'cold solder joints' generally happen in things that get moved about a bit (we teach EE here, too) and I've *never* had that type of failure.
It simply doesn't make sense to waste all of that power when it's clearly just wear and tear on the hdd. I can't guarantee that I'll never have to shut them down, and it's the cold start after running for long periods that seems to be the problem, not after normal use. I used to be a proponent of the 24/7 side, but not now.
Re:Power use vs. hardware wear
by lucky1 - 4/19/04 7:37 PM In reply to: Power use vs. hardware wear by rscrvcAll I know is the more the computer is used the higher my electric bill. I turn the computer off 99+ % of the time and had no hardware failures in 9 years.
That's like saying car's have airbags so they can be crashed. Don't waste the safety feature.
by xfloggingkylex - 4/19/04 2:56 PM In reply to: The reason computers have a power switch is so they can be turned on and off. Don't waste electricity. by Michael GeistThink
Re:That's like saying car's have airbags so they can be crashed. Don't waste the safety feature.
by lucky1 - 4/19/04 8:54 PM In reply to: That's like saying car's have airbags so they can be crashed. Don't waste the safety feature. by xfloggingkylexI think a better analogy is would be compared to leaving your electric lights on 24/7, unless we should all be concerned about wearing out the switch and the wiring.
Re:The reason computers have a power switch is so they can be turned on and off. Don't waste electricity.
by flaco_72 - 4/22/04 11:18 AM In reply to: The reason computers have a power switch is so they can be turned on and off. Don't waste electricity. by Michael GeistNo one has mentioned anything about electrical leakage. does anyone know the difference between power consumption during hibernation/stand-by and power leakage while the computer is off. I am a tech and ive heard numerous people talk about computers and other electrical appliances leaking power when turned off... if anyone has any info on this please let us know
Re:Re:The reason computers have a power switch is so they can be turned on and off. Don't waste electricity.
by thewebmachine - 4/23/04 8:40 AM In reply to: Re:The reason computers have a power switch is so they can be turned on and off. Don't waste electricity. by flaco_72Computers use the least amount of electricity of most any appliance in your home. You can leave your computer tower on for 30 days straight (not counting the monitor, of course) and it will use about as much electricty as a 60 watt lightbulb left on for the same amount of time (a 300 watt power supply does NOT constantly use 300 watts...that rating is the peak amount of current it can use). You use just as much electricity in 30 seconds of use of a standard wattage microwave or about 18 seconds of use of a standard wattage hair dryer! As far as the electrical leakage is concerned, every electrical device has a small amount of leakage when it is off. This includes every light switch and every device in your home. Even the circuit breakers in your home leak a residual amount of electricity in their off state. This is a natural effect of electricity and it is nothing to be concerned about.
Re:The reason computers have a power switch is so they can be turned on and off. Don't waste electricity.
by Braindude - 4/30/04 8:50 AM In reply to: The reason computers have a power switch is so they can be turned on and off. Don't waste electricity. by Michael GeistI don't agree. Cars don't have ignition keys so you can shut them off at every red light. In the 60's computers were designed to be 24/7. Also, if the monitor is off, componants run on 12VDC. Not a big energy drain. But, honestly, I don't know what is better. Some nights I shut mine down and others I leave it on to complete tasks like backing up hard drives.
Re:The reason computers have a power switch is so they can b
by tonyfarris - 8/21/04 1:59 PM In reply to: Re:The reason computers have a power switch is so they can be turned on and off. Don't waste electricity. by Braindudehybrids do and they are the most energy efficient to date
Re: The reason computers have a power switch is so they can
by geneven - 11/26/04 7:11 AM In reply to: The reason computers have a power switch is so they can be turned on and off. Don't waste electricity. by Michael GeistI guess that means that the power switch to my house should be turned off on a daily basis too?
Re: The reason computers have a power switch is so they can
by prizmeye - 11/27/04 3:59 PM In reply to: Re: The reason computers have a power switch is so they can by genevenIf your house, unlike the rest of ours, is an electronic component, yes.
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