Leave on, turn off, standby, hibernate,

[roadrelics]

I use my computer throughout the day, morning, lunch, evening....Is it best
to shut down, leave on,hibernate, or go into standby...it seems when i leave
it in standby, the power goes off & when i hit power button my desktop comes
up instantly....i like this feature however now that does not work......i'm
afraid if i leave the computer on 24/7 i will wear out hard drive, burn out
power source, or do other damage.....thanks in advance for the help.....Darryl

 

[Big_Al]

I use my computer throughout the day, morning, lunch, evening....Is it best
to shut down, leave on,hibernate, or go into standby...it seems when i leave
it in standby, the power goes off & when i hit power button my desktop comes
up instantly....i like this feature however now that does not work......i'm
afraid if i leave the computer on 24/7 i will wear out hard drive, burn out
power source, or do other damage.....thanks in advance for the help.....Darryl

Hardware techs argue that the power surge blows components faster than
leaving them on. Lightbulbs blow when you first turn them on, more
often due to the power and heat/cold issue. Granted the HD has a ###
hours between failures.
I suspect if you're going to be off for a short period, then leave it
on, else turn it off. We leave our PC's on most of Saturday but turn
them off about 7 after dinner when we settle down for the evening prime
time TV etc. My laptop standby works great, so I use it for 1/2 hour
or more absence.

Course this is just my observations.

 

[Twayne]

I use my computer throughout the day, morning, lunch, evening....Is

it best
to shut down, leave on,hibernate, or go into standby...it seems when
i leave it in standby, the power goes off & when i hit power button
my desktop comes up instantly....i like this feature however now that
does not work......i'm afraid if i leave the computer on 24/7 i will
wear out hard drive, burn out power source, or do other
damage.....thanks in advance for the help.....Darryl

That's really an area of preference, IMO. I've seldom had a computer
long enough for it to wear anything out in the past, but this current
one is just reaching its 5 year point and still running well. I run it
24/7 unless I know I'm not going to be using it for a few days or go out
of town, whatever, in which case I do shut it down and unplug everything
from the wall and the phone line,, but mostly to protect it from any
outside influences (spikes, lightning, etc) than for the sake of the
computer.

I had an internal drive go down completely early this fall and replaced
it with a better, bigger one for a very low price - theyv'e gotten
pretty cheap now. But it wasn't a physical problem; it was an electrical
problem that killed it.
Also, three weeks ago I had to change the CMOS battery on the Mother
board. That's a pretty good life for a CMOS battery in my experience,
but it was OK since I'd decided it was time to open the case, vacuum out
the dust & clean the fans anyway, plus I installed a PCI USB card I had
around at the same time. I've lost power strips, a power center,
printers, a scanner and a mouse or two along the way but nothing else on
this computer.

IMO, if:
Internal temps of the drives, PSU, cpu, etc. are all on the low side,
which is the norm most of the time, 24/7 is OK. Plus I hate waiting for
bootups anyway.
If things get hot inside I might give consideration to shutting it
down, just to let grease in moving parts (drives) redistribute, things
like that.
Another thing I usually do since I have a few defunct machines
sitting around is add one more fan to the case to help exhaust hot air.
I have three other, non-XP non_Vista compatibles sitting around that
are fully working and get used for various thigns, but those only get
turned on when I need to use them. The win98 machine is on 24/7 and is
used for backups, in addition to an external USB drive.

Most of the arguements pro/con are valid, but not overwhelmingly
convincing that one way is better than the other. Always on presents
one set of perceived problems, on only long enough to use it, another
set of perceived problems.

The only actual, verified physical damage to a disk drive I had was back
when a whopping 10 Meg drive, more storage space than it seemed anyone
could ever want, started refusing to spin. But it limped along for
another year just by laying it outside the case where I could
finger-push the motor spindle to get it spinning<g>. I've known others
who had drives fail in a couple years too, but they seem to be in the
minority.

So, IMO, it boils down to: Do what YOU think is best<g>. A lot of drive
vendors have some pretty good information on things like longevity,
obviously shaded toward themselves, but still good data if you feel like
researching. I suspect you'll get a lot of opinons here, too.

HTH

Twayne

 

[roadrelics]

thanks much for the info guys, i appreiate it..Darryl

 

[N. Miller]

I use my computer throughout the day, morning, lunch, evening....Is it best
to shut down, leave on,hibernate, or go into standby...it seems when i leave
it in standby, the power goes off & when i hit power button my desktop comes
up instantly....i like this feature however now that does not work......i'm
afraid if i leave the computer on 24/7 i will wear out hard drive, burn out
power source, or do other damage.....thanks in advance for the help.....Darryl

Probably your attitude toward the environment is more important than
anything else; or your wallet. Leaving the computer on 24/7 consumes more
electricity, which will have an impact on both the environment, and your
wallet. Hibernation eases those concerns. Technically, it makes no
difference.

 

[westom1]

Hardware techs argue that the powersurgeblows components faster than
leaving them on.    Lightbulbs blow when you first turn them on, more
often due to the power and heat/cold issue.    Granted the HD has a ###
hours between failures.

This reasons are based in popular myth. Take the light bulb, for
example. If the conclusions were based in science principles, then
light bulbs are not destroyed by power cycling. The industry is quite
blunt about this; even provides formulas for light bulb life
expectancy. Bulbs burn out after so many hours at so much voltage.
Why do bulbs sometimes fail when powered on? Damage to the filament
is so great that even the gentle shock from power on destroys them.

IOW, basic science principles were contradicted. First, a
hypothesis based in the known science is established. Second, an
experiment confirmed that hypothesis. Only then is a fact known. The
light bulb damage was based only in observation without any valid
hypothesis based in known science. A fact only based in observation
is called junk science.

Now for the computer. Power cycling is destructive. Then we add
something not provided in junk science reasoning. The numbers. For
example, one disk drive with an especially poor life expectancy was
rated for 30,000 power cycles. That is power cycling a computer seven
times every day for ... 11 years.

Yes, power cycling is destructive. Then we add numbers to also ask,
"Who cares?" 11 years was for a drive with poor life expectancy.

Too many will answer this question without first learning the
underlying principles. Reason for light bulb failure being a perfect
example. Observation without first learning the underlying science
results in junk science.

When done, hibernate it or shutdown. Power cycle a laptop just as
you might any other electronic appliance - TV, radio, etc.

 

[John Doe]

This reasons are based in popular myth.

Says a guy who for some strange reason searches the USENET archive
for terms like "surge protector" and "power supply" so he can jump
into the group to spread his odd and potentially hazardous advice. The
best example of Tom's zealous ignorance is his unrelenting claim that
surge suppressors don't work. If it matters, see his most recent alias
"w_tom".

 

[yeti]

I'm the same as Twayne. My 'testing' PC is a dell dimension 4800. The only
time I shut it down is if I will be out of town, other wise it is always on.
It has been 3 years with same HD. I try to shut it down if there is
lightning/power outages...I forget sometimes...but it seems the power supply
stopped the energy surge...ya...I bought 2 so far..haha.