mjkobb@mit-amt.MEDIA.MIT.EDU (Michael J Kobb) (02/28/90)
Greetings, I was just thinking (boy did that hurt) about that sentence in the Mac manual that says something like "while the computer is designed to be left on perpetually, the hard disk will eventually wear out." So, how come more hard disks aren't like the Portable's: spin down after x minutes/hours of inactivity. I'm hardly a mechanical engineer, so I don't know what kind of evil stresses are induced by spinup of a motor, but it would seem to make sense to have the HD spin down after some time (which should be determined by a function relating wear&tear of remaining on to wear&tear of spinup). If I leave for classes in the morning and I don't come back for six hours, wouldn't it make sense for the IIx's HD to have spun down after about an hour? Then, just like my screen, when I nudge the mouse, it comes back to life. So, how come nobody does that? Just musing, --Mike
gbrown@tybalt.caltech.edu (Glenn C. Brown) (03/01/90)
mjkobb@mit-amt.MEDIA.MIT.EDU (Michael J Kobb) writes: > ... If I >leave for classes in the morning and I don't come back for six hours, wouldn't >it make sense for the IIx's HD to have spun down after about an hour? Then, >just like my screen, when I nudge the mouse, it comes back to life. > So, how come nobody does that? Well, for one, It costs a little to add that feature. And in a market where consumers are just realizing that they want this feature, it hasn't been a competitive feature to add.... maybe. I really don't think that anyone's thought about it much 'til now. (Bravo, mjkobb). In the past, HD's were the exclusive realm of mainframes, which were used around the clock... No need for that feature there. Maybe it took the Mac Portable to make us realize what simple improvements could be added to all PC's. Yeah, that's it... Just like the Shuttle and Tang! That's how Apple can justify the Mac Portable's price: The Spinoff Technologies! --Glenn
isr@rodan.acs.syr.edu ( ISR group account) (03/02/90)
This just brings us into the eternal war over whether it's better to leave the hard disk on and wear the bearings out or spin it down and back up, thus wearing the motor and stressing the bearings... The portable does it simply for power savings, that's it. -- Mike Schechter, Computer Engineer,Institute Sensory Research, Syracuse Univ. InterNet: isr@rodan.acs.syr.edu Bitnet: SENSORY@SUNRISE
gat@gator.cacs.usl.edu (Gary Thompson) (03/06/90)
In article <1990Mar1.075451.11357@spectre.ccsf.caltech.edu> gbrown@tybalt.caltech.edu (Glenn C. Brown) writes: >mjkobb@mit-amt.MEDIA.MIT.EDU (Michael J Kobb) writes: > >> ... If I leave >>for classes in the morning and I don't come back for six hours, wouldn't >>it make sense for the IIx's HD to have spun down after about an hour? Then, ^^^^^^^^^ [...stuff deleted...] >be added to all PC's. Yeah, that's it... Just like the Shuttle and Tang! >That's how Apple can justify the Mac Portable's price: >The Spinoff Technologies! ^^^^^^^ Ooooooh! That's bad :-) ...or it's the best unintentional pun I've seen in long time! Gary Thompson gat@gator.cacs.usl.edu