Periodically I am asked whether it’s “safe” to leave a computer on all the time. The answer is yes if it’s a desktop (meaning not a laptop).
Chances are if you’ve been using computers long enough you’ve encountered at least one instance where some type of hardware failure occurred right as you turned on the box – and I’m betting it had something to do with a part that continually rotates when active.
Continually rotating parts in a computer are fans and hard drives (on the inside), and the most “grunt” needed is when they spin up from an absolute stop. When spinning they don’t have to work as hard.
To note: A DVD drive does not continually rotate. This is because when not using it, it doesn’t spin at all whatsoever even when the box is on.
Concerning hard drives:
It’s a good bet if you’ve ever seen a hard drive failure, it probably happened from a “cold” start, then the infamous “disk not found” message appeared.
Concerning fans:
Fans accumulate dust whether you want them to or not. This adds weight to the fan blades and can also dry out the bearing(s). If the fans stay spinning they will continue to do so almost indefinitely. However if they’re old and clogged up with dirt (including the dirt you can’t see or clean out), one day they simply won’t spin up from a cold start at all.
Starting up a hard drive from an absolute stop requires the most effort from it just to get it spinning – and this follows suit with coolant fans.
I sincerely do subscribe to the theory that having the computer on all the time is safe and does make it last longer.
In the way I have my personal desktop box set up, I specifically set the hard drives to never “sleep” because it’s essentially the same as starting a drive cold.
I want to note this is my personal opinion on whether leaving a computer box on all the time is safe or not. Based on my personal experience, anything the moves in a computer is better off if you keep it moving and helps to prevent premature failure.
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21 thoughts on “Is It Safe To Leave A Computer On All The Time?”
Well, just wanted to say that I liked being privy to the conversations on this page.
Hibernation is the best compromise between a full shut down, and a quick boot. And of course it is recommended to do a restart now and then because when Hibernation occurs, sometimes drivers have to be restarted to work properly.
With a desktop I still recommend rebooting it every day or two as this seems to help with stability.
If you still want your PC to do something useful while it’s idle, get it to run one of the many apps out there like ClimatePrediction, [email protected], World Community Grid programs, etc. You can set them to use as little or as much CPU power as you want, and your results will benefit all mankind!
p.s. You have an awesome template . Where did you find it?
I own a computer repair business so run into this issue a lot with people. We work on name brand computers as well as build custom boxes. It never fails to amaze me when people think leaving a mechanical/electrical device on all the time is good for it.
1. “Continually rotating parts in a computer are fans and hard drives (on the inside), and the most “grunt” needed is when they spin up from an absolute stop. When spinning they don’t have to work as hard.” and “It’s a good bet if you’ve ever seen a hard drive failure, it probably happened from a “cold” start, then the infamous “disk not found” message appeared.”
While this is true most people do not start their computers up very many times a day. In my experience “disk not found” is as likely to happen on a reboot as it is on a cold boot.
2. “Fans accumulate dust whether you want them to or not. This adds weight to the fan blades and can also dry out the bearing(s). If the fans stay spinning they will continue to do so almost indefinitely. However if they’re old and clogged up with dirt (including the dirt you can’t see or clean out), one day they simply won’t spin up from a cold start at all.”
Fans accumulate dust because they are used. The more you have them on the most dust builds up on them and the more dust the pull into the computer through vents and cracks. Combat this with filters and blow the dust out of the case once in a while.
Pretty much the only thing I can agree with in this article is that optical drives don’t spin while the computer is on unless they are being used. Otherwise … the primary reason all mechanical and electrical parts wear out is because they are used. So the more they are on the more wear and tear they get and the sooner they break. I have seen many identical machines where the only difference between them is how much they are left on. The computers that are turned off at night when they are not needed to perform a task always out last the ones left on all the time.
If you really disagree try this. Buy or build two identical computers. Run one of them all the time and the other in the manor I suggest. When you replace the constantly left on computer you will change your mind.
Or … do it with two radios or TV’s or two small desk fans … or anything you can afford to replace. Heck .. try it with two cars. Moving parts break because they have been moving. Electronic parts break because they have had electrons running through them.
In general, I agree with the heat-and-moving-parts-kill machines view, given the following…
I manage @24 desktops for a multi-location retail business. Over 5 years’ time, I’d have to say it’s a moot point, if only because:
–often, function drives practice. Our main server HAS to run 24/7, so we gave it RAID 5 and daily cartridge backups, on the assumption that some key part WILL eventually fail. As my network wizard said, “A server is a five-year plan.” It gets taken down once a quarter for cleaning, once a year for firmware and other upgrades.
–we have machines that are maintained and updated by suppliers, often in the wee hours. They run 24/7, but we tear them down every 2-3 months, blow out the heat sinks, and vacuum dust out of fans and power supplies.
–we treat office and point-of-sale computers like you would a TV at home. You don’t turn it off when you run to the bathroom, but you don’t leave it on when you go to bed at night. I don’t turn my desktop off if I go out to lunch (though I do lock the terminal), but I shut it off at closing time. I like the daily reboot to reset everything, and I figure the power we save on 16 non-critical machines will cover the one unit and the few drives that fail before their 5+-year plan is up. They get opened and PM’d on the same more-or-less quarterly basis.
All the best in the new year,
Peter
One thing I can say is that I probably only need to reboot it every 3-4 weeks, as I just put it into stand-by all the time. I never have significant problems at all by doing this either.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metal_migration
There are other examples of computer fires if you Google it.
Is there a Guiness Book of world records for longest running servers, desktops or laptops?
Good post
Bob in Pennsylvania
My computer is 5 years old. The reason why it has not given up on me yet is because, I open it up and do my own cleaning. I frequently clean up parts on the motherboard and even remove the power plugs to check on the pins. The only problem I have is that my floppy drive and my cd writer no longer works. I have not added a new part ever since. The only changes I made are the accessories like mouse and sound system.
If you want to leave a laptop on 24/7, consider a docking station or port replicator.
http://www.google.com/search?q=laptop%20docking%20station
If that doesn’t suit or you don’t feel like buying one, set the laptop to hibernate when the lid is shut. Yes it will take longer for it to “wake up” when turning it on afteward but it will extend the life of the unit.
If you don’t feel like doing that, at bare minimum have the laptop monitor turn OFF after 10 minutes of idling.
When powering things back up the bearings in those SCSI drives would scream for 30 minutes until the temps stabilized. I once had a less than 10gb Maxtor drive that went up in flames during a power on. The controller chip on the bottom of the drive lost all its smoke. It did not like to be power cycled. Fan and drive bearings were my biggest problems. I once built an inexpensive tower for my wife based on a $30 case/power supply combo. The power supply smoked during a power on sequence. It was good news for me, gave me an excuse to put a decent supply in that machine that did not throw RFI across all the ham radio bands. So I agree with you Rich. I also had a couple of HV circuits smoke in CRT displays. We don’t have to worry about that today.
http://bbslist.textfiles.com/860/
(Look for “The Frosted Side”, that was mine.)
Just sayin’. 🙂
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