Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!uunet!pallas!kabra437 From: kabra437@pallas.athenanet.com (Ken Abrams) Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.misc Subject: Re: leaving PC on Message-ID: <400@pallas.athenanet.com> Date: 8 Aug 90 19:16:57 GMT References: <52972@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu> Reply-To: kabra437@pallas.UUCP (Ken Abrams) Distribution: na Organization: Athenanet, Inc., Springfield, Illinois Lines: 37 In article hart@blackjack.dt.navy.mil (Michael Hart) writes: > >>>I have an PC-XT clone w/20meg hard drive which I leave on 24 hrs a >>>day. I feel that this is not harmful to the PC itself, but what about >>>the hard drive? Any opinions, out there? > [Quotes and quoted quotes deleted] > >I refer you to the "light bulb law". That law being: When do light bulbs >burn out?? _when you turn them on_ There is a large surge of current through Even though most of the components in a PC are NOT light bulbs ( and don't behave like one either), I would agree with you that leaving it on is best if the ONLY consideration was hardware reliability (and it is connected to a stable power source). As I see it, however, hardware reliability is not the only issue and a case can be made for the theory that a properly designed disk drive will wear out from heat and friction and dirt before it will suffer any electrical damage from being started and stopped once a day. I think that all the energy wasted by millions of PCs left on 128 hours a week when they are not being used is a bigger and more important issue than whether or not it will extend your repair cycle from 3 years to 5 years. There is also a small extra potential for a fire in a running device. I have been in the computer industry for close to 25 years, mostly as a technician. I have weighed all the arguments and I have decided to turn MY machines off when they will not be needed for 6 hours or more. I even turn the Xenix box off over the weekends. Like a lot of other things in modern life, this is not strictly a technical call but it has some moral undertones too. Make your own call but don't overlook part of the factors in the process. -- ======================================================== Ken Abrams uunet!pallas!kabra437 Illinois Bell kabra437@athenanet.com Springfield (voice) 217-753-7965