Help: network hard drive

nhlisa · Joined: Dec 05, 2002 Posts: 72

I forgot to ask something before. We've been shutting the NAS off at night. I figured there was no reason to leave it running at night wheni it's not in use. Is this ok to do? I figured it would save on electricity.....but I don't want to end up having problems because of turning it on & off daily. I should note that as we get into the hotter summer weather, this part of this part of the apartment does get warmer than the rest....which means the unit will be warmer. Don't know if that matters or not. We just have one duct going the length of the apartment so the living room is coolest, this is the middle bedroom which does get warmer and the back bedroom gets the warmest.
Lisa

BudDurland · Joined: Dec 05, 2002 Posts: 475

Whether or not to shut down computer equipment is an old debate. Basically, it's wear and tear during power up vs. wear and tear for constant running. The NAS can be programmed to power down the disks when not in use. That probably conserves the bulk of the power consumed; the draw from the electronics is minimal. You can also program it to send you an e-mail, and shut down if the system temperature exceeds a set number (mine's at 140F)

As far as powering down when not in use, my advice is -- do whichever appeals to you. If the disk power down interval is set, and the thermal shutdown is configured, there's no real clear advantage either way.

nhlisa · Joined: Dec 05, 2002 Posts: 72

Hi Bud,

Yep, that debate is definately an old one. I do believe it is setup to power down the drives after 5 minutes of non use. I don't however have it setup to e-mail me when it gets too hot. I'll keep that in mind. I guess since it doesn't matter either way, I won't worry about it. If my husband shuts it off at night so be it. He's been shutting it off when he shuts off his laptop for the night as it's on his desk.

Lisa