Laptop Users: Close the Cover
Wed Jan 24, 2007 11:06AM EST
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I'm guilty of leaving my notebook PC running endlessly. Perhaps you are too. I've had I've had two separate hard disk crashes this year on two separate notebook PCs. And my husband's small company just had a drive failure on a laptop, too. All of the laptops in question were between two and three years old.
The bottom line seems to be that after two or three years, hard disk failure in laptops is pretty common, at least based on my small sample.
So here's what I'd strongly recommend for all laptop users. Close the cover of your machine when you're not using it. This will put it into hibernate, sleep, or shutdown mode depending on how you've set up those options on your PC. Closing the cover stops the disk from spinning constantly. Even heavy laptop users probably only use their machines 30-50 hours a week. But there are 168 hours in a week, so if your PC is shut and the hard drive is not spinning when not in use, you should see at least three times the lifetime from your hard disk. Over time that could be the difference between failure after three years and failure after nine years!
Think my math is overly optimistic? Let me know if you've seen the same type of failures and successes. Seems like a big payoff for doing something as simple as closing the cover, doesn't it?
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7 Posted by hsueh010 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:21PM EDT Report Abuse
Hmmm. I would think laptop drives wear out faster because of the on-off cycle and the energy conservation to spin down the drive and spin up the drive frequently. I mean most people don't continueously access the hard drive once the program is in memory. I would think the on-off cycling would be more hazardious to the drive.
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8 Posted by ryan_lorentzen on Thu Sep 3, 2009 8:57PM EDT Report Abuse
I have gateway laptop that I've had for about 2 and a half years and it crashed about a week ago and it was due to leaving it on constantly, I would leave my laptop on for weeks at a time. So I agree with the putting your laptop into hibernation, it takes maybe 3 seconds to start back up. If you are willing to risk everything on your computer to stay on AIM, then go ahead. Also laptops are a fairly new technology, give the tech guys a break, they can only make so many advances in such little time. Another reason my laptop crashed because it was dirty inside, it had a buildup of dust making it overheat which also caused damage to the hard drive. So I would clean them every few months.
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9 Posted by abbogus on Thu Sep 3, 2009 2:43PM EDT Report Abuse
I am 100% behind keaahr's comment. The heat factors within a laptop are astounding. The laptop my wife uses is very hot - you can almost keep tea warm from the fan exhaust! We added a laptop chill pad to her laptop (after I got one for my laptop) and it's amazing. The thing is, even when powered up by a plug, the fans are thermostatically controlled, they are prone to not coming on until needed. Which might be too late. Laptop harddrives are disposable. Let's be honest here. A new one is cheap. The real fix is to have a good backup at all times. Our laptops are both backed up to my desktop (the server, for the lack of a better term). From there, I can back up to dual layer DVD. If you live in a high risk disaster area (we live in SoCal), keeping a copy of a backup in a safe deposit box is cheap insurance. The real lesson here is backup, backup, backup. Get a jump drive and keep things there, and transfer them to another machine, or use a CD/DVD to store things more perminantly.
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10 Posted by ut_dragon on Thu Sep 3, 2009 10:30PM EDT Report Abuse
I closed my laptop each time I was done, but both of my died between 2 and 3 years anyway. Dang HPs and Compaqs.
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11 Posted by fun_n_thasun on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:04PM EDT Report Abuse
I have a Dell laptop that I purchased in 2001. I consistently close the top or power down when it is not in use. I have not had one problem with the hard drive in these five years of use. Granted in the last couple of years I've not used it as much as I did when I initially purchased it, but I still use it quite frequently. Therefore, I'm a firm believer in closing or shutting down when not in use. -Keith
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12 Posted by ba2rd4 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:01PM EDT Report Abuse
I don't have a comment for this article, however I am trying to find someone who knows about laptop parts. I have a Toshiba Satellite and I recently replaced the power jack, but it still doesn't work properly. Next to the power jack there are two tiny parts labeled PC1 and PC2. I think I am missing PC2. Can anyone help? Email me. THANKS!!
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13 Posted by douj2284 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:47PM EDT Report Abuse
My Apple laptop crashed just a few days ago. I've had it for about 3 years now so I understand what you mean. However, I've always closed the cover whenever I wasn't using it and it still crashed.
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14 Posted by smillermail on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:28PM EDT Report Abuse
I use the laptop to watch movies in the evening. At this point I rarely use it for work, so it is off and closed most days. Please let me know what you think.
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15 Posted by avti2002 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:00PM EDT Report Abuse
If you put milk in a glass, and the phone rings, and you have to leave, and knew you were not going to drink it for lets say 4 to 5 hours, you would put in the ice box. Why would you not do the same for your lap top??? You say your not online for VPN or IM Guess what YOUR NOT. I have had my laptop from NOV 02 with heavy daily usage, only when I'm in front of it like 5 to 8 hours daily and I hibernate constanly, i recomend it.
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16 Posted by theguy522 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 10:04PM EDT Report Abuse
in 9 years any laptop you have will be obsolete
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17 Posted by jerzeesprplaya on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:33PM EDT Report Abuse
This goes with any hard drive.... destop, laptop, whatever. On the average machine a HD spins about 7200 rpm. Think of it like a tire on ur car, u only get so many revolutions b4 u have to replace it,
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18 Posted by mydreams2be on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:31PM EDT Report Abuse
I've got to say, I close the lid every time I'm done using my laptop..it does go into a sleep mode..but I've had my laptop for 6 yrs now, with only a few minor problems, so I really do beleive you can extend the life of your laptop by just keeping it cool, and not running all the time.
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19 Posted by osc_esp on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:46PM EDT Report Abuse
Buck, IT guy with no spell-check?
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20 Posted by troublecrash on Thu Sep 3, 2009 10:21PM EDT Report Abuse
My husband and I each have a laptop, and both are set to turn off the moniter 5 minutes after the lid is closed, and turn of the hard drive after 10 minutes. We are truck drivers, and by having it set this way we can have bring up directions before we get to an area, then everything is already on the screen with the push of a button when we need it. And as some of the others have said, we update every couple of years because we want to, not because we have to.
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21 Posted by geomilli@snet.net on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:07PM EDT Report Abuse
Well, I'm no expert, but laptops in general are designed to conserve power. This is the problem with your hard drive failures. A laptop hard drive, by design and programming, spins down when there is inactivity. Basically, when your even typing a letter your are only storing key strokes into memory. Until you save or request something does the hard drive need to react. If you type and type for a long enough period, your laptop will spin down the drive to conserve power. Listen to your laptop. Do you hear a whirr and pop? That would be your hard drive spinning back up! And that my friends is what shortens the life span of the hard drive. Starting and stopping.
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22 Posted by rpcv83 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 8:53PM EDT Report Abuse
I have killed my fair share of laptops. Since deciding to be kind to the computer and keep him cool I have not had any issues (insert knock on wood here :)) I bought a cool pad with a fan that keeps it much cooler and since I also have hot flashes, it works on me too!! Save the world....save the laptop! judy
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23 Posted by dtom15 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:49PM EDT Report Abuse
I have had a Sony Vaio since 2001. It has ran for days/weeks at a time, I have not had any problems with it. I just blow it out from time to time, I am currently using it right now. I have a new work laptop that is a Dell and my wife has a new Dell Desktop, but my computer of choice is my old Sony, not a junkie Dell. People's problems is not run time on laptops, it's the quality of merchandise.
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24 Posted by buck2239 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:15PM EDT Report Abuse
Well first off, I dont use spell check. If you want perfect spelling goto a publisher not a chat forum. All hard drives do not spin at 7200 RPMs. It depends on the set max for your drive. Saying people's run time does not effect your hardware, you need to get out more. Example would be take your car engine, would you go out and bury your foot on the pedal every time you drove it? No, you would burn out your engine. Less wear and tear means longer life in general. So if you put strain on the laptop hard drive or any. Yes you will wear it out fast. Just a fact of any hardware. And if you have one that has last. Tip my hat to you because you lucked out. In general they do die in 2 to 3 years. In closing on typos and spell check. Well must be nice to be so perfect. I am quite sure you are not. And no not everyone in IT uses it. To be human is to error.
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25 Posted by annaosipova53 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 2:55PM EDT Report Abuse
I've got my laptop set to turn off into hibernate after its been idle for 45 minutes. I rarely turn it off myself. I just sold my three year old laptop, and I'm willing to bet that as reliable as it is, it wouldn't have lasted me much longer. I don't know it its necessarily not turning it off, but laptops become outdated extraordinarily quick.
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6 Posted by keaahr on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:48PM EDT Report Abuse
As a dabbler in PC repair(no formal training, I just build my own so I know what usually works) I have an additional suggestion. As well as closing the laptop, buy a laptop chiller pad, or lapdesk. These items add the the laptops own fans to help cool it, and they keep the laptops fans from getting blocked by the things people set them on. So your friends can't IM you for a while? Hello, thats what email, blogs, and half a dozen other things are for. If its that important that someone contact you, why don't they just call? That excuse sounds like someone who needs to turn off the system anyway. I usually shut down my laptop when I am not actively using it. As for the second comment....invest in a good desktop and a synch cable. If you have the laptop docked to make it a desktop, then you may as well use a desktop. I hope we see more hints like this one on saving money by keeping things going.