"Vlad" bravely wrote to "All" (03 Apr 05 22:24:29)
--- on the heady topic of "Re: Switching Power of hard drives ON and Off"
This is an anecdote but my 1st year computer hardware teacher also
worked as a researcher for an industrial think-tank and I had to go to
his home once to deliver a late work assignment. While there he showed
me his workbench and to my amazement his pc was a rat's on a table
top. In front of it was a shelf of various harddrives with a switch
under each. When the pc had finished booting he would turn off the
particular HD switch and do whatever work or experiment. When he
needed to save something he would turn the drive back on. The pc was
still ON when he flipped the switch and the drive didn't miss a beat.
It was very eye-opening.
Vl> From: Vlad <
[email protected]>
Vl> Xref: aeinews sci.electronics.repair:44897
Vl> From the discussions we had I conclude that installing a switch that
Vl> powers ON and OFF the +5 and the +12 is a very safe way to operate,
Vl> provided the switches are only operated when power is OFF.
Vl> I have looked at my BIOS and I can't see any indication that will
Vl> allowe me to power OFF any of my hard drives.
Vl> Let's face it,computers are made as cheap as possible and reliability
Vl> is expensive.
Vl> A hard drive lasts longer if it isn't running.
Vl> Thanks
Vl> Vlad
.... That was a fascinating period of time for electronics