Author Topic: sleeping mac  (Read 1678 times)

Offline goodear

  • Super Poster
  • ***
  • Posts: 210
    • View Profile
    • http://DavidRubinstein.net
sleeping mac
« on: October 24, 2006, 10:57:20 PM »
What's the best way of saving wear and tear on the hard drive- putting the mac to sleep or shutting down?

Offline krissel

  • Administrator
  • TS Addict
  • *****
  • Posts: 14735
    • View Profile
sleeping mac
« Reply #1 on: October 25, 2006, 04:42:27 AM »
Oh my. If I had a nickel for everytime this subject is discussed...

You will hear people say sleeping is easier on the drives and the computer since supposedly the most strain is during the startup cycle. However the drive spins up anyway from sleep so there isn't much difference. It is obviously faster to get back to work from sleep.

Note that unless you have the computer connected to good power protection (UPS) your sleeping Mac risks lightning strikes and possible power interruption that could cause data damage.

Apple recommends with laptops that you shut down if you aren’t going to use your MacBook for a day or two. Some things you also should consider is whether your computer is able to go into deep sleep or regular sleep. Most older computers can't do deep sleep so some components are still 'awake'. Personally I shut down if I'm going to be away for 12 hours or more.
« Last Edit: October 25, 2006, 04:43:01 AM by krissel »


A Techsurvivors founder

Offline Gregg

  • TS Addict
  • *****
  • Posts: 11748
    • View Profile
    • http://
sleeping mac
« Reply #2 on: October 25, 2006, 07:29:40 AM »
Yeah, I think the overwhelming conclusion is that both are better. wink.gif
Ya gotta applaud those bunnies for sacrificing their hearing just so some guy in Cupertino can have better TV reception.

Offline susato

  • Poster Child
  • *
  • Posts: 14
    • View Profile
sleeping mac
« Reply #3 on: October 25, 2006, 01:27:29 PM »
QUOTE(Gregg @ Oct 25 2006, 08:29 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
Yeah, I think the overwhelming conclusion is that both are better. wink.gif


I never let my machines sleep - they're either busy continuously (see sig) or turned off entirely.  I have the hard drive set to "never sleep" on all of them.  Since my first original Mac in 1984 I have had only one hard drive fail - one of the Maxtor 40 Gb ones from 2001 that suffered the dreaded "double-beep" failure mode.
What does your computer do in its spare time?  
Mine folds for Team MacOS X in the
Folding@Home distributed computing project...
3,322 work units of cancer and Alzheimer's research completed since October 2003

Offline Parker

  • TS Addict
  • *****
  • Posts: 1286
    • View Profile
    • http://www.nyparty.net
sleeping mac
« Reply #4 on: October 25, 2006, 06:38:30 PM »
i prefer sleep mode.
When a mac is put into sleep mode, it's technically in what pc users would call "hibernation"
which means the computer's basically shut down.
or as they call it... "deep sleep?"


QUOTE
Note that unless you have the computer connected to good power protection (UPS) your sleeping Mac risks lightning strikes and possible power interruption that could cause data damage.

Your computer is at risk for damage whenever it is plugged in to power
on or off
This account isn't hacked...
I'm actually back from hiatus (and its about darn time too)!