Leave Dell 4600 PC Always On?

[Filipo]

I'm using a brand new Dell 4600 PC as a home network server. It gets
accessed only about 2 hours every night, except on weekends where it
is on 24/7. I noticed that everytime I power it down, its drive letter
designation disappears from the other 3 computers that share its
drive. So everytime I turn it on, I have to re-map the network drive
all over again at each of the 3 computers.

Wouldn't it be better to just leave it on all the time, but just turn
off the LCD monitor that came with it? Is there a power management
setting that will put the PC and its drives/memory to sleep when not
in use? What are the risks of doing this, and do the advantages (not
having to remap the drives) outweigh the disadvantages (risk of fire,
hardware failure, etc.)?

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[JK]

It is a toss up. Some people think PCs should be left on all the time,
while others like to power them down if they won't be used for four hours
or more.
Every time the pc is powered up there is extra stress on the components.
Having a PC run many more hours than necessary is also stressful. Keeping
it on all the time consumes plenty of power. I personally usually power
down my system twice a day. Others keep theirs running all the time. If
you do keep
it running all the time, you might find out that you need to reboot the
system at
least once a week(or perhaps even much more often) to keep Windows working

smoothly.

 

[daytripper]

I'm using a brand new Dell 4600 PC as a home network server. It gets
accessed only about 2 hours every night, except on weekends where it
is on 24/7. I noticed that everytime I power it down, its drive letter
designation disappears from the other 3 computers that share its
drive. So everytime I turn it on, I have to re-map the network drive
all over again at each of the 3 computers.

Wouldn't it be better to just leave it on all the time, but just turn
off the LCD monitor that came with it? Is there a power management
setting that will put the PC and its drives/memory to sleep when not
in use? What are the risks of doing this, and do the advantages (not
having to remap the drives) outweigh the disadvantages (risk of fire,
hardware failure, etc.)?

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

It's amazing what people will call "servers" these days...

 

[Johannes H Andersen]

It's amazing what people will call "servers" these days...

My P1 233MMX is a useful internet & backup fileserver for my other computers.

 

[daytripper]

My P1 233MMX is a useful internet & backup fileserver for my other computers.

Ah, I could count on at least one person to miss the point.

fwiw, here is the point: do you actually keep your "server" available to your
other computers when *they* are on line? Or do you shut down your "server"
even when its "clients" are on line?

 

[keith]

Ah, I could count on at least one person to miss the point.

fwiw, here is the point: do you actually keep your "server" available to your
other computers when *they* are on line? Or do you shut down your "server"
even when its "clients" are on line?

Gee, being powered on 24/7 for another computer that *might* be on, makes
it a server? ;-)

BTW, I do know a few who keep a minimal system (in one case a K6, or was
it an M2?) powered on 24/7 as a firewall server. Does that fit your
definition of a server 'tripper? ;-) I know you make 'em a tad more
capable, but...

 

[daytripper]

Gee, being powered on 24/7 for another computer that *might* be on, makes
it a server? ;-)

BTW, I do know a few who keep a minimal system (in one case a K6, or was
it an M2?) powered on 24/7 as a firewall server. Does that fit your
definition of a server 'tripper? ;-) I know you make 'em a tad more
capable, but...

Calling a random system a "server" when it isn't available *whenever* its
"clients" are on the air kinda weakens the meaning, yes...

/daytripper
(And yeah - five+ nines availability goes way in the opposite direction ;-)