tanveer 59 Report post Posted December 3, 2006 I have a desktop and an unlimited internet connection, which i use/ abuse almost 24x7. Her are a few queries 1. Is there a max time for which a PC should run before being given rest? 2. If yes what is it? 3. If so how much rest should be given? 4. Should the system be rebooted in case intermittently in case its running continuously long hours? 5. What are the ways to save power in such situations ( switch off the monitor and speakers at night) 6. Off topic, but is it ok to seed a torrent through a CD/ DVD? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
hritik123 4 Report post Posted December 3, 2006 give it a break after every 2 hrs for half hour, so that u dont have headache Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tanveer 59 Report post Posted December 3, 2006 I am not asking for my healths sake but for PC s health. I dont sit on it whole day Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
prathod 3 Report post Posted December 3, 2006 (edited) you can keep the pc on for weeks or months as long as it has proper ventilation and cool surroundings,but rebooting the system once in a day is preferable to reset memory.to save power you can adjust the power properties to switch off the monitor and harddisk etc in the control panel as per your requirement. Edited December 3, 2006 by prathod Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
linuxguy 0 Report post Posted December 3, 2006 1. Is there a max time for which a PC should run before being given rest? No, if there is proper cooling / ventillation and the temperature and moisture level is stable then it can be run 24x7. 2. If yes what is it? n/a 3. If so how much rest should be given? n/a 4. Should the system be rebooted in case intermittently in case its running continuously long hours? With windoze you might require to keep rebooting it cuz some apps have terrible memory leaks. One such app is Windoze itself! But with Linux, you can run it as long as you wish without any qalms. No reboots strictly 5. What are the ways to save power in such situations ( switch off the monitor and speakers at night) Yup, make sure you have alteast a Gig of RAM. Turn off the monitor. Incase you have Intel Pentium 4 or Core 2 series processor, they have something called as (Enhanced) speedstep technology which is specifically built for saving power. I dunno if WinXP can take advantage of this feature on desktops but Linux surely does it. Next is, harddrive spin down time. Set it to as low as you wish ( 5 mins should be ok ). But do it ONLY IF YOU HAVE A LARGE AMOUNT OF RAM ( 1Gig ) minimum. Otherwise your drive will keep on cycling down and up which is bad for it. 6. Off topic, but is it ok to seed a torrent through a CD/ DVD? No. It's not. You're CD / DVD drive will go bust in a few days Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
abhay 0 Report post Posted December 3, 2006 (edited) 1) no shutdown/reboot required what-so-ever BUT BUT i would always recommend you to switch off the monitor when not in use <it saves ur monitor and lots of energy 2) about seeding torrents from cd/dvd :- don't take it personally but it would be stupid to do that coz a) ur cd/dvd would be blocked for the whole time B ) would consume lots of power (well more than it would have consumed when seeding from hdd) c) ur cd would get lots of scraches Edited December 3, 2006 by abhay Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
nilay 0 Report post Posted December 3, 2006 Since one and hailf my office pc running no problem. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
compenn 0 Report post Posted December 3, 2006 The question that Tanveer has asked originally I would like to know the same for laptop.... Like how long should a laptop be run continously...?? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
prathod 3 Report post Posted December 3, 2006 The answer is same as given by linuxguy,but incase you are using your laptop for a longer time it should be connected to ac power using the adapter and battery removed,as there is a chance for the battery to wear off quickly when on mains for a long time,also the laptop battery's life is affected by too much heat produced by the cpu when used for a longer period. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Honest 836 Report post Posted December 4, 2006 @tanveer My dear friend in countries like America PC's runs continuosly for years around. I agree with Linuxguy, Prathod and Abhay's response. You need not to worry about your PC health if you consider suggestions given by them. Regards. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
amtrag 20 Report post Posted December 4, 2006 I've heard (or rather read) that unless you have lots of RAM (1 Gb or so), the page file on the hdd becomes fragmented, so it is good to reboot the system once a while. Coming to power saving, if you are sure your pc is going to be idle for few hours or even mins, its better to hibernate it to save power, rather than keep it running...when you restart it, it gives the same effect as if it was running throughout..and power consumption is also absolutely nil for that period. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
linuxguy 0 Report post Posted December 4, 2006 amtrag, the swap file does become fragmented incase of FAT16/32 systems. I dont think NTFS or EXT3 / ReiserFS / XFS ever get fragmented. Am sure about the Linux FSs but not about Windoze's NTFS. And hibernation isn't the best option for him cuz he wants to download / seed torrents using his PC. For laptops, I woudn't recommend keeping them going for such a long time as they aren't meant for long uptimes. Tanveer, I would recommend buying a new PC for such things. Don't jeopardize your work PC. You can buy a cheap sempron / VIA / Celeron based PC. They come quite cheap. I would personally recommend buying a VIA cuz they are very power efficient and run cool. Load Linux or windows whatever you prefer. I would recommend Linux cuz its meant for high uptimes and being controlled remotely. Windoze will just hog up resources. I personally wanted to build a new server but my main desktop is dead and it'll cost me a bomb to fix it. I can't get a new HDD for my old Pentium 1 which used to be my server so alas I am stuck with my trusty laptop! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
prathod 3 Report post Posted December 4, 2006 @linuxguy you are right that laptops are not for long uptimes and desktops should be used for extended use,but I have been using a hp pavilion and have been keeping it on most of the time,sometimes for days and this laptop has not given me any problem for the last 2 years.The only thing I have done is removed the battery. What I mean here is you can use laptops for prolong periods also thou not recommended. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
linuxguy 0 Report post Posted December 5, 2006 (edited) prathod, yup you're right you can use them for prolonged periods but it depends highly on your laptop. Some are tough and rugged and others are not so tough... Besides, it will cost you much less to repair a desktop than a branded laptop. So desktops are recommended over laptops! Edited December 5, 2006 by linuxguy Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
amtrag 20 Report post Posted December 5, 2006 amtrag, the swap file does become fragmented incase of FAT16/32 systems. I dont think NTFS or EXT3 / ReiserFS / XFS ever get fragmented. Am sure about the Linux FSs but not about Windoze's NTFS....... Thanx linuxguy, I also thought that NTFS does not get fragmented...but alas...it is a myth...yes a MYTH! Proof is my own workstation...a P4 with 256 mb ram, 40 GB hdd with Win XP...as of today, it has a file fragmentation of 42%... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
prathod 3 Report post Posted December 5, 2006 Totally agree with you linuxguy Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
linuxguy 0 Report post Posted December 5, 2006 Thanx linuxguy,I also thought that NTFS does not get fragmented...but alas...it is a myth...yes a MYTH! Proof is my own workstation...a P4 with 256 mb ram, 40 GB hdd with Win XP...as of today, it has a file fragmentation of 42%... hmm...my 120GB HDD on EXT3 FS. Only 4-5% is non-contiguous Running fedora core 2 for past 2 years Fedora Core 5 on my laptop i guess 1-2% non-contiguous Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
