Are we talking about cars, hehe? Great my specialty! As far as a car having most of its wear at startup, yes this is somewhat true. But is most of the wear to an engine because of all the times you start it up, no! Most of an engines wear is because of the repeated up and down motion of the piston in the cylinder bore (most done while the motors running). Pistons have what's called piston rings on them and these are continually contacting the walls of the bore at all times. Oil is then sprayed up to these rings and this acts as a lubricant to reduce wear.
Engines now can supply oil to the piston rings within seconds of you cranking it over (and some will supply oil while cranking it over). Also new advances have been made to reduce the amount of wear onto the cylinder walls and other parts. For example some motors using a Molybdenum coated piston skirt and a tetra-methyl lead coated crank for reduced wear. So the point being, having a car running nonstop will actually reduce the life of the motor many times faster than turning it off and starting it back up when needed. The only wear you would reduce is the starter running it nonstop. Jake 94 Hybrid Civic HB List Owner and Head Tech http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HondaAcura [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote........> Kyle, I hear where you're coming from, but there can be good reasons for sleeping (and idling, for that matter). > Restarting is not the answer. Like Scott and Clark said, restarting can solve some stupid problems attributable to other things beside the memory that gets cleared. This morning we printed one page. This afternoon we wanted to print another page. Page sent to printer, printer did nothing. Page dutifully showed in the print queue, but no action. A restart fixed it. > I personally shut my macs off every night when I go to sleep and turn them > back on again when I need them. I think this is the best way to ensure satisfactory computing, especially when work is either critical or your tolerance for having to possibly wait for a frozen Mac and a restart is low. That's why my Mac at work is always shut down at night. We have some proprietary software that's crap, and it likes to corrupt the memory whenever it can. This is also good whenever someone uses their Mac for a only a little while each day, or once every few days. No need to keep things going. > I do no believe in "sleeping" a computer. If you turn your Mac off and > unplug it, it is safe. If you sleep it, it may fall victim to electrical > spikes and surges, power outages or earthquakes. But you better believe my main Mac at home always stays on. I'm at it on and off several times a day, at all hours. No way am I gonna shut down when I'm coming back in a few hours. The occasional glitch (see printing above) is rare, and the benefits of sleep far outweigh needing to reboot every week or so. I have a good UPS to absorb line spikes, and an equipment guarantee that came with the UPS that covers everything else. > I ask you this: "would you leave your car idling in the driveway all day?" No, but I do whenever I can if I'm somewhere safe. Also, if I've been somewhere in one car earlier in the day, I try to take that car again if I'm leaving again. No reason to make both cars warm up. Starting a car is where most of the engine wear comes from. Ever notice pizza delivery vehicles always have the engines going? Not great for the environment, but great for the car. -David -- PCI-PowerMacs is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... Small Dog Electronics http://www.smalldog.com | Refurbished Drives | -- Sonnet & PowerLogix Upgrades - start at $169 | & CDRWs on Sale! | SPECIAL LIST PRICES - Apple PCI Video Cards from $19.99, MacOS 8.5 CD $79.99 Replacement Parts IN STOCK, Apple CDROMs from $19.99 <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> PCI-PowerMacs list info: <http://lowendmac.com/lists/pci-powermacs.shtml> Send list messages to: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive:<http://www.mail-archive.com/pci-powermacs%40mail.maclaunch.com/> Using a Mac? Free email & more at Applelinks! http://www.applelinks.com
