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

[westom]

Power-cycling many times a day will surely reduce the life of a drive. Once a day or so, is definitely not hurting the drives.

So put numbers to it. Power cycling a drive 10 times a day for every day (including holidays) means the drive fails maybe ... 27 years later. So yes, it will fail sooner. Otherwise the drive might last 230 years. Nobody cares. A failure after 27 years or 230 years is no failure due to power cycling.

A useful answer includes perspective. That means numbers. Power cycling was destructive only when subjective claims (junk science) were considered. There never was a controversy about power cycling. There was, unfortunately, too many consumers who give credibility to hearsay. Subjective claims. Answers based only in wild speculation or observation. Those answers are quickly identified and disposed. No numbers means little credibility.

 

[Layback Bear]

I'm layed back and simple. Years ago when hard drives clanged and banged doing their/there job to a degree their/there was a concern with all the charts and grafts and how you used your hard drive. I don't believe that todays hard drives have that concern. Use your system as you see fit. If the hard drive fail it will not be because of the way your use it. Hard drive life span is controlled by the quality and standards it was made by.

 

[MilesAhead]

Power-cycling many times a day will surely reduce the life of a drive. Once a day or so, is definitely not hurting the drives.

So put numbers to it. Power cycling a drive 10 times a day for every day (including holidays) means the drive fails maybe ... 27 years later. So yes, it will fail sooner. Otherwise the drive might last 230 years. Nobody cares. A failure after 27 years or 230 years is no failure due to power cycling.

A useful answer includes perspective. That means numbers. Power cycling was destructive only when subjective claims (junk science) were considered. There never was a controversy about power cycling. There was, unfortunately, too many consumers who give credibility to hearsay. Subjective claims. Answers based only in wild speculation or observation. Those answers are quickly identified and disposed. No numbers means little credibility.

I think the numbers are not relevant unless you save every drive from every machine you ever owned. For the average user who puts the PC to the curb when it's too slow to use anymore, it doesn't matter. The machine becomes obsolete before the HW fails unless you're so unlucky you got a dud component that escaped QC testing.

Seems like this argument is obsolete too, to be honest.

 

[kbrady1979]

I'm layed back and simple. Years ago when hard drives clanged and banged doing their/there job to a degree their/there was a concern with all the charts and grafts and how you used your hard drive. I don't believe that todays hard drives have that concern. Use your system as you see fit. If the hard drive fail it will not be because of the way your use it. Hard drive life span is controlled by the quality and standards it was made by.

This sums up what I believe to be the answer to the question at hand. Short of dropping it, submerging it in water, or scooting your feet across the carpet and zapping it, nothing you do to a HDD will be cause for concern. If it is bricked when you get it, it slipped through quality checks. If it works for a week and then dies, there was a manufacturing issue. If it runs for 20 years and then locks up, get over it. Just run one however you see fit, that's what they are built for.

Server/Enterprise grade HDD's are designed from the ground up to run 24/7, 365 days a year with as few interruptions as possible. They are more expensive though, and occasionally they do send one out that is bricked, or one that goes bad in a week. Nothing is immune to Murphy's Law.

 

[DanRex]

Yeah, Interesting topic. For me, my computer is turned off for about 5 hours a day, to save electricity costs when I'm not using it.
(Yeah, I'm Scrooge McDuck )

 

[Victor S]

Yeah, Interesting topic. For me, my computer is turned off for about 5 hours a day, to save electricity costs when I'm not using it.
(Yeah, I'm Scrooge McDuck )

Nobody know what toll cycling takes on a HD.
The general view I've seen by those I trust is that heat cycling is not good for electronic components. But that doesn't stop PC's that are turned off and on for years from running flawlessly for years.
I turn off lights when I won't be in a room for a while too.
Why waste power? You can get an estimate of power use for your PC, but 60-200 watts is typical. Even at idle most cpu's use 60 watts or so.
So would you leave a 60 watt bulb on for days at a time?
If yes, then leave your PC on.
I turn mine off if I know I won't be using it for a couple hours.
And I never leave the house with it running.
Power supplies sometimes fail, and shoot flames. Never happened to me, but I've read of it happening more than once when looking at PS reviews.
Best to keep papers and other flammable stuff away from the PC if you're leaving it running unattended.
I'd rather turn off the PC than rearrange my desk.

 

[bobafetthotmail]

I actually saw some home servers that were run by less-than-optimal admins and some of the bunch were so full of dust that did actually catch fire and burn a bit. They managed to melt themselves and little more (they were in the basement of a brick house), but was pretty fun to arrive at the "disaster scene" with all that smoke to see if there was something left to save in their HDDs.

But that was an obvious human error, professional server farms don't have the habit of burning down every once in a while even if they run 24/7.

 

[Britton30]

Seems like this argument is obsolete too, to be honest.

I leave mine on 24/7.

 

[vaLium10]

As long there is no bumps in the CPU while the hard disk is working,better hard disk cooling,etc there is nothing to worry about leaving your PC on for 24/7.

 

[DeaconFrost]

So put numbers to it. Power cycling a drive 10 times a day for every day (including holidays) means the drive fails maybe ... 27 years later. So yes, it will fail sooner. Otherwise the drive might last 230 years. Nobody cares. A failure after 27 years or 230 years is no failure due to power cycling.

I sincerely hope you are joking with this comment. If not, I'm not entirely sure what to say. HDDs are mechanical parts, and the more wear and tear you put on them, the more you increase their chances of failure. Start your car several times a day, and you will increase your chances of a failure there, too. Common sense, basic principles. The numbers you are choosing to throw around are outlandish, at best, suiting only to make an argument where there is none.

 

[Britton30]

No, I believe he believes what he says Deacon.:sarc:

 

[Wrend]

I've only had one of my HDDs fail. It saw about 10 years of use with the computer being turned on and off daily, sometimes left off for a few days, and sometimes turned on and off a few times a day.

I've seen other computers where their HDD failed after two years.

I turn off my PC when not it use to save power, to not build up as much dust inside the case, and so the fans last longer. Just a guess here, but I probably save enough on power usage over the course of the life of the HDD to pay for it.

Either way, it isn't something to worry about unless you're running a server, or something.

 

[westom]

I sincerely hope you are joking with this comment. If not, I'm not entirely sure what to say.

Start by learning manufacturer spec numbers; not using feelings. Starting and stopping cause so much stress as to cause failures after ... 39 years. Did you read those numbers? Conclusions from subjective logic make one his own worst enemey. Numbers were obvious. Massive stress from power cycling causes damage ... maybe 39 years later.

 

[DeaconFrost]

Start by learning manufacturer spec numbers; not using feelings. Starting and stopping cause so much stress as to cause failures after ... 39 years. Did you read those numbers? Conclusions from subjective logic make one his own worst enemey. Numbers were obvious. Massive stress from power cycling causes damage ... maybe 39 years later.

No, I believe he believes what he says Deacon.:sarc:

I think you're right. Scary. Anyway, I can't wait to come back here in 39 years with ALL of my drives still functioning and working properly to tell him he's correct. Only a matter of time before the manufacturer's start offering 25 year warranties on their drives.

 

[Goji73]

Came back to this thread and I'm surprised at how many people responded to it.

Anyways for anyone who was looking for anything specific. Here are some photos I took of the problem that would occur with my computer before the old hard drive bit the dust:

Whenever I would turn on my computer, this screen would appear right after the "ACER" logo disappeared:

When the problem first came, this was the error message that appeared. When the computer was rebooted the first time, they appeared again. Whenever I would turn my computer back on, it would freeze to a stop and this screen would appear without anyway of unfreezing it unless you shutting it off (by actually pressing and holding the power button on the computer itself:

Hope this helps anyone as this is the reason why I asked the question

 

[DeaconFrost]

It would be possible that the drive died due to being powered on an off several times a day (assuming this was how you used your system). HDDs are mechanical devices, meaning they can have issues over time and die. I see the POST screen telling you the S.M.A.R.T. status of the drive as bad, and then an accompanying Windows screen confirming it.

Truth is, there's no way to know for sure what caused the issue, or if it "just happened". However, to answer your main question, there are two schools of thought, and neither are wrong. Today's systems can handle being on 24x7, especially with various sleep/suspend modes and SSD drives. Others, like me, choose not to run our systems all the time. I would suggest picking one of the two. If you find yourself powering the computer on several times a day, I would consider leaving it on all the time. If you don't use it that often, then there's no harm shutting it down, especially at night.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Anyways for anyone who was looking for anything specific. Here are some photos I took of the problem that would occur with my computer before the old hard drive bit the dust:

Nothing unusual there. The drive appears to be failing for reasons unknown, with no known correlation to how often you shut down. I wouldn't draw any conclusions.

 

[MilesAhead]

Only correlation I can see detrimental to HD life and running 24/7 would be heat dissipation. I don't recall the PC manufacturer but a few years back there was a particular model kept killing hard drives. Turns out the turbulence inside the case or the proximity of the HD to the power supply resulted in heat from the power supply being channeled directly onto the drive. But in that case you'd probably notice due to replacing a HD every 3 months.

 

[Goji73]

Others, like me, choose not to run our systems all the time. I would suggest picking one of the two. If you find yourself powering the computer on several times a day, I would consider leaving it on all the time. If you don't use it that often, then there's no harm shutting it down, especially at night.

This is what I do too. Usually I turn on my computer once a day and leave it on all day until I have to go to sleep, which is then that I turn off my computer.

 

[intel 4004]

What about forcing it to be off by holding the power button? Will it shortens my hard drive life?