'Turn Off hard Disk' option safe for deskstops?

# 1 31-01-2009 , 02:23 PM

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Join Date: Feb 2004

Location: Oneonta, NY

Posts: 185

'Turn Off hard Disk' option safe for deskstops?

Ive never messed around with my power options, only to have the monitor turn off after 15 mins of idle. But now with a growing electricity bill I'm thinking about having my harddisk turn off when not in use (especialy overnight!). Is that safe to do and actually worth it? Will it really make much of a difference how much power is used? I hear that the wear and tear on the harddisk may not be worth it, is that true?

Thanks.

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# 2 31-01-2009 , 05:39 PM

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Join Date: May 2005

Location: Manchester Uk

Posts: 6,300

Why dont you just switch the computer off when your not using it?

Seems a bit mad that your looking at saving power when your not using your PC, just by letting it go on standby, if your not using it just swith it off, it will save you more money.

"No pressure, no diamonds" Thomas Carlyle

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# 3 31-01-2009 , 06:52 PM

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Join Date: Jan 2009

Location: india

Posts: 12

shut down ur comp if not in use... the only best option u have.... comp needs a 2-3 hours rest if u work or render it for long time...

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# 4 01-02-2009 , 07:50 AM

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Join Date: Aug 2006

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Posts: 891

The only issue I have with putting the hard drive to standby is that sometimes just as it goes to sleep and the motor spins down, it is needed again and the drive spins up before it has compltely stopped. This is not good for your drive!

I have no figures about how this will affect the drive's life, but I am pretty sure if you do it repeatly (like in a lab environment) it will break eventually.

gster123 is right, just turn off the box when not in use. Hard drives don't use much power anyway, most use maybe 3 to 10 W (no figures, I deleted my collection of hard drive datasheets).

@reebapiya

Really? Don't the render farms just go on and on and on with no break for months at a time? I know that there was a computer (a server) that was going for 14 years non stop before the owners replaced it with a newer one...

C. P. U. Its not a big processor... Its a series of pipes!

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'Turn Off hard Disk' option safe for deskstops?

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