Path: utzoo!utgpu!utstat!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ncar!tank!eecae!netnews.upenn.edu!mscf!ross
From: ross@mscf.med.upenn.edu
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: POWER ON, POWER OFF...what's best?????
Message-ID: <165@mscf.med.upenn.edu>
Date: 15 Nov 89 08:57:45 GMT
Organization: University of Pennsylvania, Med School Computer Facility
Lines: 30


I am currently managing a PC with an 80 meg hard drive that is used as
a file server.  This machine is generally in use for about 7 hrs per day.
The machine is a PC clone.

The question is:  Is it best to leave this machine on constantly or is it
  better to park the diskheads at the end of the workday and power the 
  machine off.

  What are some advantages and disadvantages.  I would suspect that if the
  machine is left on, the disk is still spinning with the heads positioned
  in the position of last access (probably that valuable database file
  that everybody accesses all the time).

  I ask because this machine has never been powered down and after only
  4 months of use has experienced some major hard disk problems which
  required complete reformatting.
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  Also, does anybody know if the hard drive heads move periodically on
  the IBM PS/2.  I notice that about every 15 minutes if I am not using
  the hard drive, the light goes on and the drive is doing something
  (but what?)

  Thanks for your assistance.
-- 

			--- Andy Ross ---
                    University of Pennsylvania
		 Medical School Computer Facility