Ask A Scientist© Computer Science Archive

Index Key:   COM035
Author:      wildman jackson
Subject:     Hard drives  --  on/off.
Is it better to leave computers with hard drives on all the time (if I were
looking for maximum life of the hard drive/machine)?  I have heard that is
it, because the hard drive floats on a cushion of air when turned on, and
when turned off settles into place.  What is the theory behind hard drives?

Response #:  1 of 1
Author:      asmith
Basically there is a trade-off between how much you use the machine and the
best way to make things last, which is to keep everything turned off and
stuck in a box somewhere... As long as you are using the computer basically
every day, it is probably better to leave it turned on.  If you are going
out of town for a week or two, you probably want to turn it off (this also
reduces the likelihood of lightning damage, etc while you are gone).  But
there is really no hard data on what the best trade-off is... this is
basically just hearsay from other computer operators.  In other words, it
does not make all that much difference either way, but there is always some
chance of something going wrong.