mwm%ucbopal@BERKELEY.EDU@caip.RUTGERS.EDU (02/02/86)
From: Mike (I'll be mellow when I'm dead) Meyer <mwm%ucbopal@BERKELEY.EDU> Given the time it takes to get an Amiga up from power-off, I'm tempted to leave it on all the time. This should be good for the electronic parts of the box (power-on surge being the worst part of normal wear), and not good for the monitor (so I turn it off). However, I'm pretty sure that the drivers continually checking for disks in the floppy drives is *not* good for them. The clunk-clunk of the check is pretty annoying, too. I'm tempted to put disks in the drive, and leave them there. However, I don't know how this will be for either the drive or the disk. I know doing that with 8" drives does awful things to them both. Someone want to tell me what leaving disks in a power-ed on Amiga for long periods (say, 24-48 hours without use, worst case) will do to the disk and the drive? Anything wrong with the basic idea of leaving the Amiga on with the monitor off? Thanx, <mike mwm@ucbvax
neil@amiga.UUCP (Neil Katin) (02/03/86)
In article <1156@caip.RUTGERS.EDU> mwm%ucbopal@BERKELEY.EDU writes: >From: Mike (I'll be mellow when I'm dead) Meyer <mwm%ucbopal@BERKELEY.EDU> > >Given the time it takes to get an Amiga up from power-off, I'm tempted to >leave it on all the time. This should be good for the electronic parts of >the box (power-on surge being the worst part of normal wear), and not good >for the monitor (so I turn it off). > >However, I'm pretty sure that the drivers continually checking for disks in >the floppy drives is *not* good for them. The clunk-clunk of the check is >pretty annoying, too. I'm tempted to put disks in the drive, and leave them >there. However, I don't know how this will be for either the drive or the >disk. I know doing that with 8" drives does awful things to them both. > >Someone want to tell me what leaving disks in a power-ed on Amiga for long >periods (say, 24-48 hours without use, worst case) will do to the disk and >the drive? Anything wrong with the basic idea of leaving the Amiga on with >the monitor off? > > Thanx, > <mike > mwm@ucbvax The amiga was designed for constant "power-on" usage. This means that the power supply is capable of continous operation, and that the box will not overhead if it is always on. Leaving a disk in the drive will stop the "clicking" of the disk. The heads will not step if there is a diskette in them. This will extend the life of your drives (but the drives are good for several years even if there is no diskette in them and they step every 2.5 seconds). Neil Katin Commodore-Amiga Inc.
hmm@unido.UUCP (02/03/86)
It's certainly a good idea to leave the amiga switched on all the time. We don't have amiga's but atari 520ST's, and one of them is now running for about 2 weeks continuously. The monitor is not switched off but the intensity is turned low. I think that the wear of the phosphor is mostly shortening the lifetime of a monitor, so this should be sufficient. If someone knows better, please correct me. I cannot help you about the disks, because the atari does not access the disk when idle. Maybe you can turn off the disk drive, too, but I don't know if that's possible with the amiga hardware and OS. Surely accessing the disk every few seconds will do harm to them if you let it run for a week. Hoping you don't ruin the machine, Hans-Martin Mosner <hmm@unido.uucp>, <hmm@unido.bitnet> University of Dortmund
DEC.BANKS@MARLBORO.DEC.COM@caip.RUTGERS.EDU (02/03/86)
From: Dawn Banks <DEC.BANKS@MARLBORO.DEC.COM> We've left the power turned on on our Amiga ever since we got it several months ago. Yes, we leave disks in all the drives to eliminate the clunk noises. We've yet to lose any data out of the deal. The cooling fans, on the other hand, are starting to sound a bit ragged. --------
keithd@cadovax.UUCP (Keith Doyle) (02/05/86)
> >Someone want to tell me what leaving disks in a power-ed on Amiga for long >periods (say, 24-48 hours without use, worst case) will do to the disk and >the drive? Anything wrong with the basic idea of leaving the Amiga on with >the monitor off? > <mike It shouldn't hurt the drive to leave a disk in, and if you are worried about the disk, just save the first BAD disk you get and use it to keep the software happy so it won't keep accessing the drive. Keith Doyle # {ucbvax,ihnp4,decvax}!trwrb!cadovax!keithd # cadovax!keithd@ucla-locus.arpa
hamilton@uiucuxc.CSO.UIUC.EDU (02/06/86)
>Given the time it takes to get an Amiga up from power-off, I'm tempted to >leave it on all the time. speaking of which, how can i get the boot to look for workbench on df1:, so i can just load 2 disks and go take a coffee break while everything comes up? wayne hamilton U of Il and US Army Corps of Engineers CERL UUCP: {ihnp4,pur-ee,convex}!uiucdcs!uiucuxc!hamilton ARPA: hamilton%uiucuxc@a.cs.uiuc.edu USMail: Box 476, Urbana, IL 61801 CSNET: hamilton%uiucuxc@uiuc.csnet Phone: (217)333-8703