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From: guardian@laidbak.UUCP
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc,comp.misc
Subject: Re: Leaving AT on overnight (good/bad)
Message-ID: <1102@laidbak.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 14-Aug-87 09:12:15 EDT
Article-I.D.: laidbak.1102
Posted: Fri Aug 14 09:12:15 1987
Date-Received: Sat, 15-Aug-87 17:42:39 EDT
References: <1246@bloom-beacon.MIT.EDU> <768@custom.UUCP> <202@ttrdd.UUCP>
Reply-To: guardian@laidbak.UUCP (Harry Skelton(E))
Organization: LAI Chicago
Lines: 28
Keywords: down time crash boom pc at ibm
Xref: utgpu comp.sys.ibm.pc:5880 comp.misc:899
Summary: what I have seen

In article <202@ttrdd.UUCP> mellman@ttrdd.UUCP (Thomas Mellman) writes:
>In article <768@custom.UUCP>, boykin@custom.UUCP writes:
>> 
>> Without a doubt, leave the machine on.  Leave it on 24hours a day
>> 7 days a week.  The electronics will last significantly longer
>> that way.  Most computers die as they're being powered up or down.
>> ...
>> As for the bearings in the disk drive, they won't be any worse for
>> the wear either.
>
>I don't know about that.  My disk drive specs rate my drive's life at
>11,000 hours.  I guess I kind of hoped that I could expect more than
>1 and 1/4 years out of it.

I've seen the average life of an AT to be about two years before breakdown.
Most of the PC's I've installed have had hard disk falures or general problems
within about two to three years.  If you wish to build a unit that  will 
survive for a while, then I would get the specs on the hard disk (much as
boykin stated above) and also check to see how much heat the boards give off.

I've had my PC for about three years, running off-on for about 4-8 hours a
day (as I have needed it) and have had no problems.  I suspect though I 
should be seeing problems with it by the end of the year.  The hard disk
does not seem as quite as it was when I purchased it.


Harry Skelton
guardian@laidbak.UUCP