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From: HOWGREJ@YaleVM.YCC.Yale.Edu
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Leaving PC on - Hard disk
Message-ID: <90123.034406HOWGREJ@YaleVM.YCC.Yale.Edu>
Date: 3 May 90 08:44:06 GMT
Article-I.D.: YaleVM.90123.034406HOWGREJ
Organization: Yale University
Lines: 21

With regard to the postings a few days ago about leaving the system on,
someone said that for a few hours or so, it should be left on since powerdown/
powerup is so stressful.  The problem I have with this is the hard drive.
What I'm really wondering is if its possible to install a switch to turn off
the hard drive, leaving the rest of the system on, when it won't be in use for
a while.  For example, if I won't be doing anything major for a while, but
maybe easy calculations or quick notes, I should not need to have the HD
churning all this time, particulary if I can get away with using a RAMdrive
for most simple stuff.  Is this feasible?  Is it too stressful on the HD?  My
HD is a middling-junky Seagate and I don't want to leave it on for extended
periods if I can help it (particularly seeing as how HD lives are rated by
power-on hours).  I think that leaving the system on and the HD off for many
applications is, at first glance, a good way to run a system.  Anyone have any
experience with this sort of thing?  Can I ust shut off the HD, or do I need
to set a lot of lines first (I doubt this, otherwise how culd I just kill the
power.  Still, the PC probably needs certain lines reading certain levels).
 
Any info or discussion would be appreciated...
 
What she said: "I smoke 'cos I'm            |  Greg Howard
hoping for an early death" - The Smiths     |  HOWGREJ@YALEVM