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kcourt · Jun 24, 2004, 04:11 PM

I plan to get a new G5 soon and have a question - is it better to shut down the computer cpmpletely at night or just put it to sleep? I know there is some type of maintenance that goes on in the wee small hours, but is that necessary every night?

Your comments are appreciated.

Kathy

D'Espice · Jun 24, 2004, 04:15 PM

Doesn't matter at all. Basically, it's everybody's fancy. Putting it to sleep results in fast startup. Shutting it down results in less consumed power.

GoGoReggieXPowars · Jun 24, 2004, 07:11 PM

I generally only shut down for cleaning the dust out or other hardware changes, and put it to sleep when I'm not using it. It's nice to be able to instantly come back to what you were doing instantly.

metfoo · Jun 24, 2004, 07:16 PM

i prefer to sleep, instead of shutdown. Ideally, it should run 24-7 due to unix cron jobs, but there are utilities like mac janitor that will allow you to execute them manually with teh aide of a GUI.

kcourt · Jun 24, 2004, 08:17 PM

GUI?

Kathy

blakespot · Jun 24, 2004, 08:21 PM

For the love of god. An extremely powerful UNIX machine like the G5 wants to run 24/7, as all UNIX machines do.

Do not force it into slumber.

blakespot

hyperb0le · Jun 24, 2004, 09:17 PM

Originally posted by kcourt:
GUI?

Kathy

GUI - Graphical User Interface

UNIX-based operating systems perform routine maintenance tasks in the wee hours of the morning. MacJanitor allows you to change the time these tasks are executed simply by opening the program and changing the numbers. Otherwise, you would have to use the command line.

Eriamjh · Jun 24, 2004, 09:20 PM

Command-Option-Eject

Thorzdad · Jun 24, 2004, 10:56 PM

Keep in mind that, when your Mac is in sleep mode, those cron routines don't get run. Your Mac must be up an running for the cron jobs to run.

tooki · Jun 25, 2004, 03:14 AM

A G5 in deep sleep* uses scarcely more power than when it's off, and essentially all the hardware is turned off. So just use sleep.

tooki

*Some PCI cards prevent deep sleep. In that case, the computer will run in "light" sleep, which is basically on, but with the screen dimmed.

xe0 · Jun 25, 2004, 06:03 AM

I shut down my G5 whenever Im not using it.

Basically I only use it during the evening and over weekends. Im surprised to see so many people use the sleep option. I do use sleep if Im going out for a few hours and I know I'll be back to use it however.

Maybe I've used Windows too long

D'Espice · Jun 25, 2004, 06:10 AM

Originally posted by blakespot:
For the love of god. An extremely powerful UNIX machine like the G5 wants to run 24/7, as all UNIX machines do.

Do not force it into slumber.

blakespot

Say what?

MaxGuru · Jun 25, 2004, 08:03 AM

I always use sleep when I am away from the computer for any length of time. I see it as an energy conservation action. I run a utility once a month to take care of the cron activities (MacJanitor is one).

One of the great things about OS X is how quickly it goes to sleep and wakes up. Try using sleep on a Windows machine and you may or may not ever wake up. The Mac does it flawlessly.

I do quit my Entourage mail program because it sometimes starts looking for the mail servers on Wake just before my Internet connection is reestablished. This results in "server not found" errors by Entourage.

blakespot · Jun 25, 2004, 02:45 PM

I do not want the wear and tear of frequently cycling the drive power on my drives - it shortens their lives. Better to leave them running constantly. Also I never know when I might want to pull audio via Rendezvous off my G4 (soon to be G5) from the iBook or when I might need to access the machine from work. My machine stays on 24/7. I'm surprised so few of you do the same.

blakespot

gururafiki · Jun 25, 2004, 05:13 PM

Originally posted by tooki:
*Some PCI cards prevent deep sleep. In that case, the computer will run in "light" sleep, which is basically on, but with the screen dimmed.

Do you know which ones?

D'Espice · Jun 27, 2004, 02:50 AM

Originally posted by blakespot:
I do not want the wear and tear of frequently cycling the drive power on my drives - it shortens their lives. Better to leave them running constantly. Also I never know when I might want to pull audio via Rendezvous off my G4 (soon to be G5) from the iBook or when I might need to access the machine from work. My machine stays on 24/7. I'm surprised so few of you do the same.

blakespot

That makes more sense than saying "It's Unix, it is supposed to run 24/7"

And to answer your question why so few of us do so, there are two reasons: First, why waste power and money? And Second, not all of us need constant access to our computers. I turn all my computers off as soon as I don't need'em anymore and decide to do something else.

Big Mac · Jun 27, 2004, 05:14 AM

Originally posted by blakespot:
I do not want the wear and tear of frequently cycling the drive power on my drives - it shortens their lives. Better to leave them running constantly. Also I never know when I might want to pull audio via Rendezvous off my G4 (soon to be G5) from the iBook or when I might need to access the machine from work. My machine stays on 24/7. I'm surprised so few of you do the same.

I don't know if anyone has ever done truly scientific research on the question of drive wear and tear from spin-downs and spin-ups. For some time I reasoned like you do and had my 8600's drive set to never spin down. But then I reasoned that it was probably worse to have the driving spinning all the time than it was to have it spin down when not needed.