[dba-Tech] Always On Notebook

Helmut,
I do have a different opinion based on my experience and MTBF data.

- as for the HDs, you can expect 3 to 5 years with 24/7 usage. then they 
start to fail.
your friend may just have been lucky. And I believe today its the bearings 
that fail first, provided you have your power filtered.

- Integrated Circuits can fail among others for electromigration, i.e., 
Aluminum atoms are transported by current flow, which decreases the width of 
the conductor until it fails (open). Electromigration increases with current 
and temperature. Since laptops usually get pretty warm, this is a critical 
point.

- cooling fans in my experience fail after 3 to 4 years when run under 24/7 
conditions.

I did run my PCs (desktop) 24/7 and did have failures every 3 to 4 years. 
Now I turn them off over night and have no failures since about 6 years.

Lembit

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Helmut Kotsch" <hkotsch at arcor.de>
To: "Discussion of Hardware and Software issues" 
<dba-tech at databaseadvisors.com>
Sent: Tuesday, August 26, 2008 4:16 AM
Subject: Re: [dba-Tech] Always On Notebook


> $15/mo/computer seams to be pretty high. But I don't know your electric
> rates, what is it per Kilowatt-Hour (kWhr). The ongoing heat might 
> depending
> on the design degrade the plastic parts. It is actually the inrush current
> that kills the most electronic parts during power on. The bearings of the
> hard drives shouldn't represent a problem it is a more likely problem that
> the read/write heads stick to the disk during power off which get damaged
> during power on. I have 5 desktop PC's running at my friends company for
> over 11 years 24/7/365 without any problems. I bet you, that if they would
> have switched them of every day they all would have gone broke for one or
> the other reason mostly for electronic failure due to the inrush current.
>
> Helmut
>
> -----Ursprungliche Nachricht-----
> Von: dba-tech-bounces at databaseadvisors.com
> [mailto:dba-tech-bounces at databaseadvisors.com]Im Auftrag von Rocky
> Smolin at Beach Access Software
> Gesendet: Montag, 25. August 2008 23:45
> An: 'Discussion of Hardware and Software issues'
> Betreff: Re: [dba-Tech] Always On Notebook
>
>
> Perennial question - is most of the wear on your machine due to the heat
> that degrades the components over time until one of them fails?   Or is 
> the
> most wear due to the surge of power when you turn it on and the stress on
> the bearings on the hard drive?
>
> I turn off my computers at night (actually go to standby so they start
> faster).  I once figured it saved about $15/mo/computer to turn them off a
> night but San Diego has pretty high electric rates.
>
>
> Rocky Smolin
> Beach Access Software
> 858-259-4334
> www.e-z-mrp.com
> www.bchacc.com
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: dba-tech-bounces at databaseadvisors.com
> [mailto:dba-tech-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Arthur Fuller
> Sent: Monday, August 25, 2008 10:07 AM
> To: Discussion of Hardware and Software issues
> Subject: [dba-Tech] Always On Notebook
>
> I've grown into the habit of leaving my notebook on 24/7. It's using the
> power supply, of course, not the battery. Is there a down side to this? 
> will
> the machine wear out more quickly because of this? Even though it's a
> notebook, I rarely move it, so I just leave it running.
>
> TIA,
> Arthur
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