Article taken from Yahoo! ...
Years ago the conventional wisdom was that leaving your computer on all the time would allow it to last longer before a crash.
The culprit: Your hard drive.
Frequent starts and stops would cause your hard drive mechanism to wear out much faster than if the drive never spun down.
~An old saying (possibly apocryphal) was that stopping and restarting a hard drive was the same as eight hours of regular running time.~
The writer talked to the good folks at Seagate to find out if things had changed. According to the company, starting and stopping is not a huge problem with drives any more, and they can be safely shut off and on in order to save power. According to Seagate, you can expect a drive to last for three to five years of running time before dying, though obviously many drives last longer.
What's the big factor that causes drives to die early? Heat!, says Seagate. Ensuring your computer stays cool through the proper use of fans is far and away the best thing you can do to keep your drive healthy. Shutting it down when not in use will only help. Naturally, shutting down your computer will also conserve electricity, so unless there's a compelling reason to leave it on (as with a server), you should probably shut down at night.
~ Don't blow your hair next to your laptop.
~ Don't cook near your laptop.
~ Don't smoke next to your laptop.
~ Don't get angry when you are using your laptop.
~ Buy an air-conditioner!!!
Years ago the conventional wisdom was that leaving your computer on all the time would allow it to last longer before a crash.
The culprit: Your hard drive.
Frequent starts and stops would cause your hard drive mechanism to wear out much faster than if the drive never spun down.
~An old saying (possibly apocryphal) was that stopping and restarting a hard drive was the same as eight hours of regular running time.~
The writer talked to the good folks at Seagate to find out if things had changed. According to the company, starting and stopping is not a huge problem with drives any more, and they can be safely shut off and on in order to save power. According to Seagate, you can expect a drive to last for three to five years of running time before dying, though obviously many drives last longer.
What's the big factor that causes drives to die early? Heat!, says Seagate. Ensuring your computer stays cool through the proper use of fans is far and away the best thing you can do to keep your drive healthy. Shutting it down when not in use will only help. Naturally, shutting down your computer will also conserve electricity, so unless there's a compelling reason to leave it on (as with a server), you should probably shut down at night.
~ Don't blow your hair next to your laptop.
~ Don't cook near your laptop.
~ Don't smoke next to your laptop.
~ Don't get angry when you are using your laptop.
~ Buy an air-conditioner!!!
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