Desktops forum: What's the best for a PC life: Sleep, hibernate, or shutdown?

Andre,

For maximum life of your pc I would suggest a couple of things. Firstly, the most fragile part of your system in regards to shutdown/hibernate/sleep will be your motherboard and components connected directly to it (PCIe cards). These components are receiving an electrical charge while your pc is running and when you shutdown the pc the charge stops, and returns when you boot up again. This can result in power fluctuations that actually damage or shorten the lifespan of your components, especially when power surges or spikes occur. Typically, and especially with newer 'green' hard drives that are not continuously spinning, hard drives can last an extremely long time with the pc power either running or in any mode. Remember, hibernate will simply copy your ram into your hard drive temporarily so you can resume your session later, however, essentially shuts down power to your components in the same way as a system shutdown. Sleep will keep your ram powered, but will shut down power to other components. In short if you are concerned about all components lifespan I would suggest keeping the power on, however, adjusting your power/performance settings to your liking in windows settings. If you are mostly concerned with just RAM lifespan, you can put the pc in sleep mode and have no worries.

-Dan

Great point about the surge protector. I would also suggest a clean power producing and regulator UPS system or surge protector. The usb power on state while off is configurable in both bios and windows. Powering on and off is still the main cause of voltage regulation disruption in old and new motherboards. This is caused by the systematic charging and recharging of the capacitors located in the power supply and motherboard circuits. This should be checked by going into bios and viewing the specific voltage flow for 5v/7v/12v flowing through the motherboard, once these values have increased or decreased by .05 it is a strong sign that the power supply or motherboard will need replacement. The best way to avoid this and lengthen the life of your pc is to NOT turn your pc off. IMHO of course. hope this helps.

is the smart surge protectors. Some of them may do less "surge" protecting than power saving, but looking at the reviews on CNET or Amazon can help that determination.

"Smart" strips, can shutdown unnecessary power draw from periferal devices like power transformers and the like. This can addup to significant money savings at years end! I'm planning to use a combination of regular reputable surge protectors with one smart protector and one remote control power strip, to save money. The remote controlled strip Belkin makes can be programed into a Harmony remote, so having too many remotes isn't a problem.

I've always shut my systems off from the power strip when I'm done using them for the day. now that I'm retired I turn my main computer on at 7AM and let it run all day (goes into sleep mode after 15min) till I shut it off at night.

In 24 years I've lost one hard drive and one motherboard on the dozens of computers I've owned in that time. I am lucky that my power is pretty clean but I do believe in using surge protectors; i design my own and they do a much better job than those you buy at the local Walmart.

Thanks! I have had my HP since 2007 and I shutdown every night. It is still going strong.

When you shut down a computer you have to consider that you are actually only dealing with 3V, 5V, and 12V circuits as your 110v PSU transforms or reduces the power down to the converted voltage. So we aren't talking a huge surge of power when you turn one on.

In the normal lifespan of a computer, the amount of energy surge created from a cold boot or hard shut down compared to the energy impressed upon the system during normal usage for hours on hours in the Home User PC's life, well its simply trivial.

Your main worries are not the strain on circuitry components, but the strain on actual mechanical parts; power supply fans and case fans, hard drives spinning up and down, optical drives starting up during pOST (power on self/system test) and such. All of these are "mechanical components that will fail from the cold cool stress far more likely than the circuitry. What harms circuitry more than anything is the stress of temperature changes from a cold boot to a full running hot environment.

The CPU or processor runs the hottest naturally since it runs stable at common (between 42*C and 60*C).
If hard drives are mounted wisely and properly and have adequate air flow from case fans and routing of wires not impeding flow, then you have few worries to consider when concerned with drives.

The system bus is the most intricate and fragile of the circuits in a computer as compared to the far sturdier bus lines of graphics cards or pci card components slots , and little damage can be done to them even, unless you may have your computer in your barn to hide it from your Amish Parents and being in freezing temps, start with a very cold boot.

It is the general consensus though that a cold boot is harder on a computer and its components, than leaving a computer on at least through the day, and if you HAVE TOO, then shut it down just once daily, restarting it the next; ie: not turning it off and on frequently through the hours of a day.

So in the long run, your PSU or power supply will fail faster than anything most likely from cold boots since it is the only other hottest running item, plus mechanical due to a cooling fan spinning hour after continuous hour, yet at the same time you can purchase PSUs comparing their wattage AND their lifespan hours.

I leave my computer on ALL the time, even when sleeping simply because I feel the wear and tear savings doesn't justify over or above the cost of $5 or $6 added to my electric bill, to run one all the time. Though you are not worried about energy costs, its only and merely a slight difficulty to get an average dollar amount simply by adding up the wattage on components (a 95W or 125W processor, added to typical wattage for your video card(s) or motherboard Wattage if graphics are integrated, then figure per KiloWatt hour is all and at $.11 to .$.14 per KWH, you aren't going into the poor house for leaving your computer on 24/7.

You hours predicted for your spin life on a drive which isn't spinning unless your burning, or best example is the run time life of a power supply are the major components, and having to buy a power supply once every 6 years isn't a major price breaker of the deal.

Some have mentioned unplugging completely from the wall socket during thunderstorms, and although I think this is overkill, I won't take an opposing stand against the theology of the Demon Lighting Gods charging down to assail your computer on blackened wings in hordes and masses. Yet even in that scenario, a smart home pC owner would have a "surge protector" in between your power outlet and power supply cord rated at least at 4300 joules ($35 and up), and 6000 joules is far better but a bit pricier. Personally, I have twin Surge protectors piggy back'd for added protection just for the strength of that one millisecond of voltage in that area of surge that trips the switch internally, allowing two protectors to guard my ever precious system components. It has worked well for me over the last decade and I live in the tornado alley version of the Midwest with plenty of yearly storms.

So even though you might get allot of advice here, from those who seem admittedly stubborn about their opinions, you can see from this just some of the viewpoints to consider and yet alas then in the end, there's no set ground rules. You have to decide on your own what is best for you in your home environs, in your own personal scenario, and how you are affected by your own geographic locale.

Hope it helps even though its a bit confusing at times, you should be able to find a solution that will lessen the burden on your heart for good power planning and longevity for your system.

..."the theology of the Demon Lighting Gods charging down to assail your computer on blackened wings in hordes and masses." ??? Your publisher must be proud of you (eye roll and head shake).

Anyway, that mere five or six bucks you're throwing away every month would pay for a pretty decent power supply at the end of the year- EVERY year. It would make a lot more financial sense to put your PC to sleep at night, replace the PS every 3 years, and put the $125 you saved in your pocket.

Now, back to Earth and the person who asked the question.

I generally hang on to my PCs for five years, upgrading performance as needed. I put my PCs to sleep every night and in ten years and two computers have never had a HD or PS fail. Yes- as some have stated- the on/off cycle does cause a teeny bit of damage over the years. The problem is, they seem to have forgotten (or never knew) the other three enemies of electronics: power surges, heat and time. So, if you leave your system on all the time you avoid their on/ off problems, but now you're creating different and additional problems: constant heat, constant running time (which is using up the life span), and the added chance of power surges.

Put it to sleep at night, save money, and restart it once or twice a week to keep it fast (plus, some programs only check for updates during a fresh start). The odds are very good that you'll put it out to pasture before it dies on you.

I think it's better to shut down overnight, not sleep or hibernate. You asked about the hard drive, and that's an easy answer--the hard drive shuts down for all three options. Microsoft gives a good explanation of sleep vs. hibernate here: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/Sleep-and-hibernation-frequently-asked-questions

During the day, you might want to put your computer into "sleep" mode for times you will be away from the computer for more than a few minutes, but overnight, you are better to put it into shutdown and turn off the power bar, if you are using one. If you put it into sleep mode overnight, you waste some electricity, and if there is a lightning storm or power interruption, your computer would be better off turned completely off and not in sleep mode.

does any body know if soft power down realy turns off completely - USB and mouse still seem to have power so It seem to me that the power supply and MB still have power - maybe not completely but if hit by a surge you could still have a problem -

I have turned my PCs off overnight for years and have never had a problem with anything failing. I have,however, lost an HDTV to a lightning storm. The TV was turned off, but still plugged in. The surge apparently came through both the power line and the HDMI cable as both the HDMI port and the TV power supply were burned. The TV was plugged into a surge strip, but the HDMI cable was connected between the TV and the cable box. (I wonder if there is a surge suppressor for HDMI cables?).

The cable box, of course, was just fine.

So, my SOP now is to both turn everything off AND unplug anything connected to the devices so there is no way any surges can get into the gear. Sometimes unplugging overnight causes the cable box to lock and not work, so I have to call the Comcast and have it reset. The cable modem, which I own, doesn't seem to suffer this malaise and boots up right away when plugged in again -- usually with the same IP address.

Thanks for giving an answer that didn't require me to check the time when I was done reading it.

I have been using and fixing computers of one sort or another for 30 some years. There are two things in a computer that are going to fail eventually: the hard drive and the power supply.

The hard drive's life can be extended by allowing the computer to spin it down when it isn't being used, which sounds like most of the time. This does not remove power from it (which would be bad) but instead just turns off the spindle motor. For a computer like this you can set the hard drive timeout value to something like 1 hour and it will then be spinning only when it is being used and for a little while after that.

The other part that fails most often is the power supply. If you have the computer on a UPS so it is not affected by power surges and short interruptions, leaving the computer on all the time is probably best. If you do not have a UPS and given the small amount of time it is used sleep mode might be best - the computer will be able to ride out small interruptions by itself in that mode. Many power supplies will fail after 12-18 months if you turn the computer on and off every day.

Both of these parts are pretty easy to replace if you can use a screwdriver. However, if you do not have a backup then replacing a hard drive can be a disaster.

Recommendation is to at least have a surge suppressor outlet strip for the computer, if not a UPS. Both will protect the computer from nasty things that come in on the power line - which will affect the power supply life.

How do you set control to harddrive spindle?

As far as power supply not lasting more than 12-18 months if shut off daily, this is only a opinion, not a fact. I always advise my customers to turn off over night and I have not found any increased mortality rate. In fact I have probably a hundred customers who shut down at night and their computers are still running fine after many many years. This is an old rumour based on systems built tens years or more ago, they didn't like powering on and off. Modern equipment doesn't have that problem and it's more just bad luck if the power supply dies or foolishly running without a good spike protected power bar. People also run out and buy a cheap power bar because they think they don't need the $50-$60 units. Many power bars will only withstand a few surges and are not working after awhile. I recommend changing the unit after a couple of years. I really don't like extra exposure to voltage variations during sleep mode, so I advise my customers to only use sleep for computer being intermittently used during the day, but turn it off during long periods on non-use such as over night or extended absence. I have also had a few laptops which have been left in sleep mode for long periods of time with the lid closed and the heat from the internal electronics (which are still powered in sleep mode) has damaged the screen and left darker spots on the screen where the keytops haven't blocked the rising heat (you can actually see the outline of the keytops). I also have been doing service for over 30 years.

Regarding HDD failure - I have my Microsoft Security Essentials MSE) settings to do a full scan after installing the updates daily at 3:00 AM. Will this shorten the lifespan of my drives? If yes, then how often should I scan? MSE does a good job scanning flash drives but the daily scans *rarely* find anything. - CADJOCK44