[LINK] Leave on, or turn off?

Stewart Fist stewart_fist at optusnet.com.au
Thu Nov 30 15:27:27 AEDT 2006


Thanks to all for the rash of anecdotes -- they have helped me clarify the
question, although I'm still dubious about many of the answers.

Do people accept that a manufacturer's MTBF is something devised by rigorous
testing rather than a figure invented by the only mathematically-literate
spin-doctor in the PR department.

Turning off the monitor (especially CRT) is obviously a good thing.  I'm not
sure how much of the monitor electronics are active during sleep mode.

Also for home computers, especially when users are at work, the risk of
leaving the machines linked to powerlines during thunderstorms must be a
major consideration.  In pure monetary terms, this probably outweighs any
concern about hard-disk bearing wear.

A couple of other sub-questions:

1. If a PC goes into sleep mode, turns down its hard-disk, and cuts power to
its monitor, wouldn't it suffer pretty-much the same thermal shock when it
powers up ?

Doesn't that kill the thermal-shock argument?  Although, as Ivan points out,
most modern machinery is designed to accommodate this.

2. How do servers stand up against desktop PCs in terms of long-term
reliability?  Are differences just due to more attention to cooling or
better components, or is there some other factor involved ?

3 Do hard-disks wear out faster when they are constantly accessed ?  Or is
the life-span set purely by running time, irrespective of actual usage.


-- 
Stewart Fist, writer, journalist, film-maker
70 Middle Harbour Road, LINDFIELD, 2070, NSW, Australia
Ph +61 (2) 9416 7458




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