tantuico@andromeda.rutgers.edu.rutgers.edu (Samuel B Tantuico) (07/24/89)
My friend says that it's better to leave a hard-drive on because it will cause less wear and tear. Okay, but he's got an IBM-PC. Does the same hold true for a Macintosh?... internal and external? -sAm Rutgers-Newark COSII -------------------- [] tantuico@andromeda.rutgers.edu [] tantuico@draco.rutgers.edu
tims@starfish.Convergent.COM (Tim Simmons) (07/25/89)
From article <Jul.23.19.59.42.1989.29681@galaxy.rutgers.edu>, by tantuico@andromeda.rutgers.edu.rutgers.edu (Samuel B Tantuico): > > My friend says that it's better to leave a hard-drive on because > it will cause less wear and tear. Okay, but he's got an IBM-PC. > Does the same hold true for a Macintosh?... internal and external? > Yes! it is usually better to leave a hard drive on, it makes no difference whether your system is an IBM a Mac or an Amiga, the drive technology is the same in all systems. The reason this is true is because ~85% of the wear and tear on a drive is caused by powering the drive on and off. During this process the read/write heads contact the recording media, thereby causing wear on both the heads and the disc. This assumes that you use your system every day. If you only use your system once a week or less you might be better off turning it off each time, because the drive motor also has a life expectancy (about 100,000 hours) leaving it on with such low use does not make up for the extended motor usage. But it would make up for it if you use your system a lot. -- ]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]] TIM SIMMONS (408)434-2843 Unisys Network Computing Group - San Jose CA tims@starfish.convergent.com
ben@tasis.utas.oz.au@munnari.oz (Ben Lian) (07/25/89)
In article <Jul.23.19.59.42.1989.29681@galaxy.rutgers.edu> tantuico@andromeda (Samuel B Tantuico) writes: > >My friend says that it's better to leave a hard-drive on because >it will cause less wear and tear. Okay, but he's got an IBM-PC. >Does the same hold true for a Macintosh?... internal and external? This hoary old chestnut again! I doubt that there was general consensus on what the better policy is the last time this was raised on the net. Rodime 140 Plus (and 1400RX HD assembly) users will have probably discovered that their drives like to be left ON. When my drive cools down, it has problems spinning up to speed when next switched on. Sometimes I have to turn the drive on and off several times (I counted 15 once!) before it spins up and unlocks the heads. (Once upon a time half the problem was with the old Mac Plus ROMS, but that has been fixed now. Thanks Apple Oz!) Once the drive is nice and warm, there is no problem---it will restart reliably every every time after being powered down. Obviously, the drive spindle is siezing up when cold. I have heard of drives that sieze up so badly that they won't even start spinning. In any case, I gather that having to kick start a drive like that can cause more spindle wear than leaving it on. What's more,the motor is going to get stressed more as it tries to get the reluctant platters going. Furthermore, I'm told that frequent warmup/cool down cycles don't do much good for electronic components. Then again, I'm not an EE so I'm probably talking through my hat.... -- bl ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Benjamin Y H Lian ACSnet: ben@tasis.utas.oz Dept. of EE & CS ARPA : ben%tasis.utas.oz.au@uunet.uu.net University of Tasmania BITnet: munnari!tasis.utas.oz!ben@ GPO Box 252C uunet.uu.net Hobart, Tasmania 7001 UUCP : {enea,hplabs,mcvax,uunet,ukc}! A U S T R A L I A munnari!tasis.utas.oz!ben Tel: +61-02-202380 Fax: +61-02-202713 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- "Fortunately the computer virus did no harm to our records. It was immediately devoured by all the bugs in our programming." -- Cartoon, CW Australia and can stress the drive motor
nino@hpcilzb.HP.COM (Nino Mateos) (07/28/89)
>My friend says that it's better to leave a hard-drive on because >it will cause less wear and tear. Okay, but he's got an IBM-PC. >Does the same hold true for a Macintosh?... internal and external? >>xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx When my drive cools down, it has problems >>spinning up to speed when next switched on. Sometimes I have to turn the >>drive on and off several times (I counted 15 once!) before it spins up and >>unlocks the heads. (Once upon a time half the problem was with the old Mac >>Plus ROMS, but that has been fixed now. Thanks Apple Oz!) Once the drive >>is nice and warm, there is no problem---it will restart reliably every >>every time after being powered down.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx I have this problem. I only use the Mac+ 2 or 3 times a month. Are the only solutions to leave it on or to kick start it? What does it take to fix it - short of a new drive? Nino Mateos nino@hpdtc.hp.com
Adam.Frix@f200.n226.z1.FIDONET.ORG (Adam Frix) (07/29/89)
---------------------- What's more,the motor is going to get stressed more as it tries to get the reluctant platters going. Furthermore, I'm told that frequent warmup/cool down cycles don't do much good for electronic components. ---------------------- And, I've also heard that a spinning platter gathers no dust, as it were, possibly reducing the probability of dirt-induced head crashes. --Adam-- -- Adam Frix via cmhGate - Net 226 fido<=>uucp gateway Col, OH UUCP: ...!osu-cis!n8emr!cmhgate!200!Adam.Frix INET: Adam.Frix@f200.n226.z1.FIDONET.ORG