Do we turn the computer off overnight?

[jeremyroberts]

For 20 years, I've left my computers running 24/7 except for vacations or when I know the machine won't be in use for days.

Considering I lost an HD Core card to what could have been an overheating situation, and of course, my G5 required replacement -- would it be a bad idea to power down when I go home?

I know there are benefits to not power cycling hard drives (in fact most of my hard drive failures over the years have been at spin-up)

My G5 is in an iso-rax and I open both doors when not in session.. the case is well ventilated and I'm not concerned about short-term heat buildup - but I am concerned about possible long-term (cumulative) heat damage to the cards and computer.

What do you guys do re: powering down at night?

[Tony Shepperd]

I power down my studio every night. I figured it's already been running between 8 to 14 hours a day, about 6 days a week.

I believe in the MTBF concept. Mean-Time-Between-Failure.

I have a dedicated HVAC vent that pumps cold air directly to the back of my racks outside of my control room and I still shut it down and the end of the night. I have never lost a drive in my studio in 5 years. (knock on wood). Now I'm sure that there are people who will tell you that it could be a fluke, but the people I know who don't shut down are constantly having quirky unexplained problems with their systems.

FWIW... Try shutting it down over the next 5 months until 2006 and see if it makes a difference.

[Lee Blaske]

Definitely shut things down overnight. This is not a problem for modern equipment.

Baking your equipment in a hot box will cause it to be less reliable. One of the first casualties will be the electrolytic capacitors which will dry out faster. A cap failure can bring down many other components. If you're concerned about reliability, you need to keep your computer equipment in a cool, clean environment. Anything else is a compromise.

Lee Blaske

[georgia]

I've run datacenters, switching systems for citys, many uncountable computer systems and international networks... and I maintian bunches of PCs and MAC with my team.

so. here's the scoop.
1. If you are going to use the system within 24 to 48 hours kepp it running.
2. If you are NOT going to use the systems in the next 24 to 48 hours turn it off if you wish.
NOTE: this will increase your electric bill, so that is a concern.

Keeping gear running will extend the life span of your equipment an exceptional amount and reduce failure situtations. ALL electronics HATE power up and power down, due to power surge at startup, power spikes at shutdown, heating and cooling, therefore expansion and contraction of physical cards and components.

If you follow this rule, your gear will thank you. I've run disks for 5 years with 1 or 2 hard shutdowns... I've got 4 drives that have been running non-stop for 9 years with a shutdown only for room reconfiguration or the occassional move.

NOW the CATCH.
You need clean power.... CLEAN POWER, whether or not you do this... You NEED clean power... Spikes, low voltage, over voltage will do BAD things to the operation of your gear... Let alone the digital audio.... get a power conditioner.

Second Catch: The , KEEP IT RUNNING, rule is NOT valid for tape drives, ( audio, video, computer ), and CRTs.... Shut them down when you are not using them.
ADDITIONALLY, this does not hold true for new computer CPUs... The new ( starting in the 80's) operating systems truly SUCK!!! when it comes to quality of the coding...too many changes, too many lines of code, too many 3rd party systems to test with, and too much pressure to deliver "fun" stuff to the suffering of the quality of code... This means that you need to reboot often to clear buffers, resource allocations, and other items that build up over time such as memory leaks.

I leave all my gear in the studio running 24/7 with the exception of CRTs and the actual MAC and PC CPUs... ( i keep my drives runing 24/7 )

Also Lee is right... Keep your gear COOL.
cheers
geo

[studiojimi]

i power down.

my advise is don't sweat the puter fatigue

who has the brain ram for focusing on that when there so many other much more relevant things to be bringing forth with consciousness.

TRUTH.
by the time you are ready for a new mother board or power supply

your computer will be in need or replacing anyway at the least UPGRADE.

this does not take a poindexter type or a rocket scientist to understand

but i can't say enough about apple care protection plan for us MAC macks.

i have had 3 mother boards thru that program and i'm not even sure i needed them for real when i got them.

they just come to the studio and swap out...takes 15 minutes and you are good to go.

also the hard drive was replaced once

at this point....if my puter went down now that i am off of applecare as it ran out now

i'd replace the parts at my own expense thru DT&T up in fremont CA and hopefully upgrade the processor if that's doable

G5 won't work for me as I have HD4 and i need that extra slot

great deals..good service. they have a lot of parts for macs new and old.

[Lee Blaske]

Georgia wrote:

Keeping gear running will extend the life span of your equipment an exceptional amount and reduce failure situtations. ALL electronics HATE power up and power down, due to power surge at startup, power spikes at shutdown, heating and cooling, therefore expansion and contraction of physical cards and components.

If we were talking about 20+ year old equipment, I'd agree with you. Back when I had a large format console, I kept it on 24/7, because the heating/cooling would work the old-style chips out of their sockets. It just doesn't seem to be an issue these days, though. Electronics manufacture has come a long way. For average facilities that don't have unfiltered air, the amount of dust sucked into equipment left on 24/7 would most likely be more hazardous to the equipment's life.

A room full of computers uses a lot of electrictiy (and double that if you're also running A/C to removed the heat that's being produced). With no clear benefit to equipment, it's foolish to waste so much energy. I've got seven computers in my studio rack with a LOT of hard drives, and power them down when I'm finished at night. Over the past 20 years, I've lost a total of one power supply and one hard drive (and the drive that failed was not a very high-quality unit that I would have chosen myself). If you buy quality equipment, keep it cool and clean, it's very robust. For an extra measure of safety, treat all connectors and card edges with a contact stabilant like Caig Pro-Gold, and open up gear and blow the dust out of it with something like an electric leaf blower on a regular basis.

Lee Blaske

[studiojimi]

lee stated:

If we were talking about 20+ year old equipment, I'd agree with you. Back when I had a large format console, I kept it on 24/7, because the heating/cooling would work the old-style chips out of their sockets. It just doesn't seem to be an issue these days, though. Electronics manufacture has come a long way. For average facilities that don't have unfiltered air, the amount of dust sucked into equipment left on 24/7 would most likely be more hazardous to the equipment's life.

A room full of computers uses a lot of electrictiy (and double that if you're also running A/C to removed the heat that's being produced). With no clear benefit to equipment, it's foolish to waste so much energy. I've got seven computers in my studio rack with a LOT of hard drives, and power them down when I'm finished at night. Over the past 20 years, I've lost a total of one power supply and one hard drive (and the drive that failed was not a very high-quality unit that I would have chosen myself). If you buy quality equipment, keep it cool and clean, it's very robust. For an extra measure of safety, treat all connectors and card edges with a contact stabilant like Caig Pro-Gold, and open up gear and blow the dust out of it with something like an electric leaf blower on a regular basis.

Lee Blaske

spot on!

most of us don't remember to do all of this

in regards to the old style chips

i recently had my vintage linn 9000 over temp sensitive chips hard wired and it is expected to be way more consistant

this rig always has had temp issues from day one in 1986

forat.com does this mod now and if you are still a 9000 man like me

baruz forat now does his new modification .... and it's well worth it

thanks lee for clarity as always

studiojimi