Is leaving your computer on all the time (24/7) better for hard drive?

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  1. Posts : 5,795
    Windows 7 Ultimate x64 SP1
       #51

    bobafetthotmail said:
    Every operation the device does it suffers some minimal damage, that accumulates and eventually causes a failure.
    Yes, and powering on a drive is the most amount of strain and stress put on it. So that's why you'd want to minimize the amount of times you put the drive through that process.
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  2. Posts : 5,092
    Windows 7 32 bit
       #52

    Hmm, I'm starting to feel I should be on the look-out for the old Mount Vertical vs Mount Horizontal argument!! This here discussion is civilized!! But I advise staying away from vert. v. horiz. as it tends to get nasty fast!!! One side won't stand for what the other proposes, and the opponents refuse to lay down no matter how much logic they are hit with!!

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  3. Posts : 104
    XP
       #53

    DeaconFrost said:
    No one said damage. That was injected by you to further your eWang Competition. It can shorten the life of any electronic component. Try it with two identical light bulbs if you don't want to believe in the science and fact that you love to tout.
    Power cycling does not affect light bulb life expectancy. Life expectancy - also called damage or failure - is well defined by facts with numbers. Even published in an IES Handbook. The light bulb industry's 'bible'.

    Power cycling does not appear in a list for life expectancy. Damage is caused by hours of operation and temperature (voltage). But many will speculate wildly. Will assume power cycling must be destructive.

    That is the point. Knowledge means first learning perspective - the numbers. And by ignoring speculation. Only wild speculation says power cycling causes damage - shortens bulb life expectancy. If you know otherwise, then do not post your emotions. Post facts with numbers.

    Power cycling is irrelevant to drive life expectancy. Numbers make that obvious ... 39 years even for drives of 20 years ago. Obsolecence is a more significant number.

    bobafetthotmail - a switch speced for 10,000 cycles is cheap. Most switches are rated at least 100,000 cycles. Therefore many specifications no longer list that number. Curious they would even mentioned it.
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  4. Posts : 104
    XP
       #54

    DeaconFrost said:
    Yes, and powering on a drive is the most amount of strain and stress put on it.
    Most strain and stress occurs with each head seek. Even that number is no longer specified because it is so large and now irrelevant.
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  5. Posts : 1,711
    Win 7 Pro 64-bit 7601
       #55

    DeaconFrost said:
    bobafetthotmail said:
    Every operation the device does it suffers some minimal damage, that accumulates and eventually causes a failure.
    Yes, and powering on a drive is the most amount of strain and stress put on it. So that's why you'd want to minimize the amount of times you put the drive through that process.
    The point here is that it's rated for (i.e. designed to endure) so much uses that it won't fail because of that accumulation of damage within its expected operational life, so why waste electricity?

    If it's a lemon (defective) I want it to fail fast so I can RMA it while still under warranty.

    I have shelves full of used 40-and-less GB hdds that were power cycled daily or more, work fine but are basically obsolete.
    Really, this seems to me much more like superstition than anything else.
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  6. Posts : 5,795
    Windows 7 Ultimate x64 SP1
       #56

    You seem to think I'm suggesting that a person leave their computer on 24x7 to avoid any "damage" by shutting down and then powering up. That certainly isn't the case. I have shelves of drives too, going back to some very small capacity IDE and SCSI drives, and they are all in working order. That's hardly a large enough sample size to prove anything one way or another, so all your insisting upon doing is arguing hypothetical concepts...which serves no one and will never reach a solution.
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  7. Posts : 24,479
    Windows 7 Ultimate X64 SP1
       #57

    westom said:
    Britton30 said:
    So why even bring up stuff from 10-15-50 years ago that has no bearing today?
    Power cycling damage to drives is a number that says why power cycling causes virtually no damage. Your question should be directed at others who make damage claims by ignoring perspective (numbers).

    You are expected to learn from history - stuff from 10-15-50 years ago. Junk science exists by ignoring perspective (numbers). Only victims and fools ignore stuff even known 10-15-50 years ago.

    If you don't care, then why post? Oh. You do care. How much?
    By the way, the Earth is round. I'm not a victim nor a fool. I just hate to see people like you posting so much info that is just wrong and irrelevant while pulling the long experience and "quantitative reasoning" card. It is entertaining though.
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  8. Posts : 86
    Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit
       #58

    All this talking is confusing me lol
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  9. Posts : 5,795
    Windows 7 Ultimate x64 SP1
       #59

    intel 4004 said:
    All this talking is confusing me lol
    Because certain people want to derail the actual topic by making attempts to prove their intelligence to a bunch of strangers on an internet forum. That's what the eWang comment refers to.

    The bottom line, to answer the topic at hand, is that it really doesn't matter. The choices given by the OP were to run their computer 24x7, or shut it down when not in use. Plenty of people chimed in on either side, and it really comes down to your own personal usage. If you use your computer at scattered times throughout the day, off and on, you might as well leave it run. If not, like me, where you use it for a session, and then probably not again until the next day, or a few days later, then shut it off. Pick the one that suits your usage patterns.
      My Computer


  10. Posts : 24,479
    Windows 7 Ultimate X64 SP1
       #60

    DeaconFrost said:
    Because certain people want to derail the actual topic by making attempts to prove their intelligence to a bunch of strangers on an internet forum. That's what the eWang comment refers to.

    The bottom line, to answer the topic at hand, is that it really doesn't matter. The choices given by the OP were to run their computer 24x7, or shut it down when not in use. Plenty of people chimed in on either side, and it really comes down to your own personal usage. If you use your computer at scattered times throughout the day, off and on, you might as well leave it run. If not, like me, where you use it for a session, and then probably not again until the next day, or a few days later, then shut it off. Pick the one that suits your usage patterns.
    Big 10-4 good buddy.
      My Computer


 
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