Turn 'em off or leave 'em on
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If you don't need to use it, turn it off. Computer or otherwise. Unfortunately I need to leave my computer on overnight and at weekends because I never know when a support call will come in that requires me to log on to my office PC -- and remote desktop doesn't work when the machine is off. (I looked at Wake-on-LAN, but in practise it wasn't workable. I can't keep someone on hold for five minutes while my machine boots up if I need to give them an answer straight away.)
Ðavid Wulff What kind of music should programmers listen to?
Join the Code Project Last.fm group | dwulff
I'm so gangsta I eat cereal without the milk -
We're having a debate at my work about whether it is better to log off and leave the machines runnning at the end of the day or is it better to shut down the machine. One group says that it saves wear and tear on the HDD by leaving the machine on. I thought that the newer HDDs spin down when idle so this argument would be moot. Can any of you hardware geeks give me the skinny which it better? Thanks.
Learning is not a spectator sport. - D. Blocher
Well, in the old days I use to just leave them on. I changed that not too long ago and considered the energy savings to just have computer(s) sitting there, not used along with the heat generated. Yeah, in the winter you can think of them as expensive space heaters, but overall I think it is a hit on energy. Anyway, when I moved to Vista, I found that the power management system works really well (which it did not on earlier verions of Windows on my systems). Now, whenever I get up and plan to be gone more than a little while, I put the machines into sleep mode. When the day is over, I put them in Hibernate and then continue where I left off the next day. Works really slick!
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We're having a debate at my work about whether it is better to log off and leave the machines runnning at the end of the day or is it better to shut down the machine. One group says that it saves wear and tear on the HDD by leaving the machine on. I thought that the newer HDDs spin down when idle so this argument would be moot. Can any of you hardware geeks give me the skinny which it better? Thanks.
Learning is not a spectator sport. - D. Blocher
I always shutdown my home machines when I'm done using them, but never turn off my work machines since I need to be able to login from home. I do however turn off my work monitor when I leave.
Jerry Hammond wrote:
saves wear and tear on the HDD by leaving the machine on.
I would have to agree with this, since the MTBF on a hard disk is a pretty standard measure of its life expectancy. /ravi
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We're having a debate at my work about whether it is better to log off and leave the machines runnning at the end of the day or is it better to shut down the machine. One group says that it saves wear and tear on the HDD by leaving the machine on. I thought that the newer HDDs spin down when idle so this argument would be moot. Can any of you hardware geeks give me the skinny which it better? Thanks.
Learning is not a spectator sport. - D. Blocher
Turn them off every time. The energy and environmental savings are substantial: $217 million (£123 million) is wasted every year in the UK alone powering PCs[^] PC energy waste to cost £8.6m over Christmas in the UK[^] Microsoft estimates each idle computer costs $55 to $70 per year[^] At night I walk past numerous offices all closed for the evening - no workers in sight. Many have the lights off but insist on leaving rows and rows of PCs switched on - all sat waiting at a login prompt (usually they leave the monitors on as well!!! grrr!!!). It really does grate with me! I can see no reason to leave PCs switched on. Its just lazy. Obviously as you all know, PCs can be configured to shutdown when idle automatically. Many modern BIOSs even have scheduling capabilities to switch the PC on automatically at given times (say in the morning before workers arrive). And wake on LAN facilities allow them to be switched on remotely by IT guys who want to install security fixes or updates throughout the night. To leave them on is indefensible and inexcusable. A complete waste of energy for the environment. A complete waste of money for the business. I've heard arguments that leaving PCs on extends their life. I have not seen evidence either way but but to me the point is irrelevant - most PCs are replaced because of obsoletion long before they are replaced due to failure. As support to the argument, I often hear a light bulb left on continuously never blows, only whilst being switched on or off. Whilst this is true (they blow because of the extreme change in temperature between on/off) the same cannot be said of computers. Whilst on, the temperature of components fluctuates wildly depending upon activity. Unlike lightbulbs, computers also have moving parts (spinning hard drive platters, fans, etc). In my mind the more moving parts are used the more they wear out. To make matters worse, moder
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I don't know about the hardware perspective, but from a security perspective you can't compromise a computer when it's off.
Neil Van Eps "Staging servers are for compulsive bed-wetting types." - Chris Maunder
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We're having a debate at my work about whether it is better to log off and leave the machines runnning at the end of the day or is it better to shut down the machine. One group says that it saves wear and tear on the HDD by leaving the machine on. I thought that the newer HDDs spin down when idle so this argument would be moot. Can any of you hardware geeks give me the skinny which it better? Thanks.
Learning is not a spectator sport. - D. Blocher
I used to leave my old (home) one on the whole time and really only shut it down when I had to reboot or go away for any length of time. Since my new one is soooooo much faster I switch it off because it takes less time to boot now, unless it's doing a big batch job through the night. When I worked in the office I usually used to shut it down at night unless I would leave an install running or something. Occasionally I would leave it on over a weekend in case I had to remote in to try soemthing out (well that wasn't actually my machine, it was another one I was allocated which was hooked up to a £70,000 system which couldn't be moved very easily to my house, although it was on a couple of occasions).
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Turn them off every time. The energy and environmental savings are substantial: $217 million (£123 million) is wasted every year in the UK alone powering PCs[^] PC energy waste to cost £8.6m over Christmas in the UK[^] Microsoft estimates each idle computer costs $55 to $70 per year[^] At night I walk past numerous offices all closed for the evening - no workers in sight. Many have the lights off but insist on leaving rows and rows of PCs switched on - all sat waiting at a login prompt (usually they leave the monitors on as well!!! grrr!!!). It really does grate with me! I can see no reason to leave PCs switched on. Its just lazy. Obviously as you all know, PCs can be configured to shutdown when idle automatically. Many modern BIOSs even have scheduling capabilities to switch the PC on automatically at given times (say in the morning before workers arrive). And wake on LAN facilities allow them to be switched on remotely by IT guys who want to install security fixes or updates throughout the night. To leave them on is indefensible and inexcusable. A complete waste of energy for the environment. A complete waste of money for the business. I've heard arguments that leaving PCs on extends their life. I have not seen evidence either way but but to me the point is irrelevant - most PCs are replaced because of obsoletion long before they are replaced due to failure. As support to the argument, I often hear a light bulb left on continuously never blows, only whilst being switched on or off. Whilst this is true (they blow because of the extreme change in temperature between on/off) the same cannot be said of computers. Whilst on, the temperature of components fluctuates wildly depending upon activity. Unlike lightbulbs, computers also have moving parts (spinning hard drive platters, fans, etc). In my mind the more moving parts are used the more they wear out. To make matters worse, moder
Obliterator wrote:
Whilst this is true (they blow because of the extreme change in temperature between on/off) the same cannot be said of computers.
That may be slightly true however powering up your computer will cause a sudden power spike which can damage components such as microscopic transistors for which there are millions or billions.
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Obliterator wrote:
Whilst this is true (they blow because of the extreme change in temperature between on/off) the same cannot be said of computers.
That may be slightly true however powering up your computer will cause a sudden power spike which can damage components such as microscopic transistors for which there are millions or billions.
█▒▒▒▒▒██▒█▒██ █▒█████▒▒▒▒▒█ █▒██████▒█▒██ █▒█████▒▒▒▒▒█ █▒▒▒▒▒██▒█▒██
Agreed, but equally one could argue the more its left on the more likely it is to receive a power surge (unless filtered supply). Basically, I've yet to see any evidence of failure ratios for equipment left on vs otherwise. I don't even know of any anecdotal evidence. So, until I see evidence to the contrary, I don't believe there is any significant problem for the average business desktop PC. The energy and environmental savings far outweigh this arguable failure rate point.
-- The Obliterator
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If they want the answer straight away they should call back Monday 9am.
Brad Australian - Bradml on "MVP Status" If this was posted in a programming board please rate my answer
I wish such a world existed, but unfortunately we work for companies across virtually all the time zones and they want things done 9am their time. I don't mind, I bill more after 6pm.
Ðavid Wulff What kind of music should programmers listen to?
Join the Code Project Last.fm group | dwulff
I'm so gangsta I eat cereal without the milk -
That's what I do. Computers are like air planes, the take-offs and landings are the parts to be concerned with.:-D
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We're having a debate at my work about whether it is better to log off and leave the machines runnning at the end of the day or is it better to shut down the machine. One group says that it saves wear and tear on the HDD by leaving the machine on. I thought that the newer HDDs spin down when idle so this argument would be moot. Can any of you hardware geeks give me the skinny which it better? Thanks.
Learning is not a spectator sport. - D. Blocher
- The act of turning electronics on or off introduces a power spike (however small it might be). Power spikes in any form are not good for consumer-level electronics. 2) The repeated heating-up and cooling-down of electronics can introduce weaknesses in the solder points over time. It can also weaken the components themselves. Someone mentioned that a computer that isn't on cannot be comprimised. This is true from a remote perspective, but someone can always come in with a Linux boot CD and comprimise your machine that way simply by turning it on. If you're concerned about remote access, simply unplug the CAT-5. If you're concerned about local comprimise via boot CD, lock BIOS access with a password (available in pretty much every BIOS since - well - forever. HDD spin-down is a function of the power settings in your OS. I've never seen a HDD that had it's own built-in circuitry for doing this on its own. Where I work, they want us to keep our machines running (we logoff at the end of the day) so they can do updates at night.
"Why don't you tie a kerosene-soaked rag around your ankles so the ants won't climb up and eat your candy ass..." - Dale Earnhardt, 1997
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"...the staggering layers of obscenity in your statement make it a work of art on so many levels." - Jason Jystad, 10/26/2001 -
We're having a debate at my work about whether it is better to log off and leave the machines runnning at the end of the day or is it better to shut down the machine. One group says that it saves wear and tear on the HDD by leaving the machine on. I thought that the newer HDDs spin down when idle so this argument would be moot. Can any of you hardware geeks give me the skinny which it better? Thanks.
Learning is not a spectator sport. - D. Blocher
