umirza85 Posted January 11, 2014 Share Posted January 11, 2014 I've dont quite a few searches but havent come back with anything related to Unraid. I was wondering if there are people who just leave their server on all the time. Is this bad for the longevity of the hard drives/server?? Quote Link to comment
interwebtech Posted January 11, 2014 Share Posted January 11, 2014 Only shut down long enough to swap or add disks. Otherwise 2 towers running 24/7 with most of that time all drives sleeping. Built to be green, the two use less power than the single Dell Windows server they replaced. Quote Link to comment
stchas Posted January 11, 2014 Share Posted January 11, 2014 I leave mine on all the time. Only time I shut it down is for configuration changes (install more/bigger drives), minor maintenance (re-seat connectors, blow out the dust), or when on vacation (reduce fire hazard or potential for lightening damage). Equipment reliability has been very good for over four (4) years. Kevin Quote Link to comment
nacat78 Posted January 11, 2014 Share Posted January 11, 2014 Same here, only shutdown to perform preventative maintenance ie.... hard drive swap/add/remove - software/hardware upgrade - or least favorite troubleshooting. Quote Link to comment
prostuff1 Posted January 11, 2014 Share Posted January 11, 2014 I only shut down when needed. I have 2 boxes and they were up near 6 months before we had a power outage of about an hour last week. Quote Link to comment
umirza85 Posted January 11, 2014 Author Share Posted January 11, 2014 Thanks for all the quick replies. I guess I shouldnt have an issue leaving my server on all the time as long as the drives go to sleep. Im wondering if this will affect my power usage a lot over the course of a month? I never realized people have no worries about leaving the server on all the time. Unraid doesnt support WOL on my motherboard unfortunately which is why I was asking. Quote Link to comment
garycase Posted January 11, 2014 Share Posted January 11, 2014 My main media server hasn't been shut down in ~ 6 years except for a few power failures that exceeded 5 minutes, which is the threshold I have the APC UPS package set to do an auto-shutdown. My second server hasn't been shut down since I built it a little over a year ago. My backup server is shutdown all the time except for once/month when it's turned on (via WOL) to automatically sync the data from my other two servers. Quote Link to comment
Harpz Posted January 11, 2014 Share Posted January 11, 2014 Mine just gets shut down when I upgrade something or change a disk, which isn't that often. Other then that it goes to sleep around 12.00 once the mover the s done and I wake it up again around 7 or 8am. The only other time it gets shut down as after 3min when there's a power failure which isn't that often. Quote Link to comment
grumpybutfun Posted January 11, 2014 Share Posted January 11, 2014 Thanks for all the quick replies. I guess I shouldnt have an issue leaving my server on all the time as long as the drives go to sleep. Im wondering if this will affect my power usage a lot over the course of a month? I never realized people have no worries about leaving the server on all the time. Unraid doesnt support WOL on my motherboard unfortunately which is why I was asking. Your drives use 5 - 10 Watts of power each. There have been COUNTLESS studies and putting your drives to sleep or not does not shorten / extend the life of your drives. Quote Link to comment
garycase Posted January 11, 2014 Share Posted January 11, 2014 Im wondering if this will affect my power usage a lot over the course of a month? Obviously this depends on how much power your system draws at idle (drives not spinning). Mine, for example, draws 20 watts in that state. 20 watts x 24 hrs x 365 days = ~ 175kwh/year, or at $0.12/kwh (typical US cost) that's about $21/year to leave it on all year. A more power-hungry server that draws 2-3 times that would obviously cost more, but still not likely more than $5/month. Quote Link to comment
grumpybutfun Posted January 11, 2014 Share Posted January 11, 2014 Obviously this depends on how much power your system draws at idle (drives not spinning). Mine, for example, draws 20 watts in that state. 20 watts x 24 hrs x 365 days = ~ 175kwh/year, or at $0.12/kwh (typical US cost) that's about $21/year to leave it on all year. A more power-hungry server that draws 2-3 times that would obviously cost more, but still not likely more than $5/month. I can't tell you how many nerds who lost their minds that I didn't spend $50, $100, $200, $500+ dollars extra when buying Hardware for a Server that was lower power or why I do not jump through hoops so my Server can sleep. I drive a car that gets 15 MPG and don't recycle my bath water... Why they expect me to spend the extra money / drive myself crazy putting a Server to sleep over $20 - $50 dollars a year is beyond me. I think for some nerds... All the power stuff is a hobby / challenge / passion / religion. Quote Link to comment
bonienl Posted January 12, 2014 Share Posted January 12, 2014 I think for some nerds... All the power stuff is a hobby / challenge / passion / religion. Aren't we all nerds ? And yes ... it is a combination of everything you mention above, and don't forget WAF (no buzzing sounds at night) Quote Link to comment
betaman Posted January 12, 2014 Share Posted January 12, 2014 Im wondering if this will affect my power usage a lot over the course of a month? Obviously this depends on how much power your system draws at idle (drives not spinning). Mine, for example, draws 20 watts in that state. 20 watts x 24 hrs x 365 days = ~ 175kwh/year, or at $0.12/kwh (typical US cost) that's about $21/year to leave it on all year. What mobo/processor and combination of drives are you using to get 20 Watts at idle? Does your processor also sleep?! Quote Link to comment
garycase Posted January 12, 2014 Share Posted January 12, 2014 What mobo/processor and combination of drives are you using to get 20 Watts at idle? Does your processor also sleep?! No, my CPU doesn't sleep. The system actually draws 19w when the drives are spun down. It's a SuperMicro X7SPA-H-D525-O motherboard with 6 3TB WD Reds (when I built it, the 4TB's weren't out yet). Quote Link to comment
StevenD Posted January 12, 2014 Share Posted January 12, 2014 It's a server...it's not meant to be turned off. I don't spin anything down either. Quote Link to comment
Flibblebot Posted January 12, 2014 Share Posted January 12, 2014 Mine is turned on 24/7 but spends most of its time asleep - mainly to keep noise down, as it lives in my office. Quote Link to comment
dlandon Posted January 12, 2014 Share Posted January 12, 2014 Mine is on 24/7 and is never turned off except to do maintenance like changing drives. It's out of the way in my basement so I don't hear any noise. Just the way I like it - out of the way so I don't even know it's running, but available when needed. Quote Link to comment
betaman Posted January 13, 2014 Share Posted January 13, 2014 What mobo/processor and combination of drives are you using to get 20 Watts at idle? Does your processor also sleep?! No, my CPU doesn't sleep. The system actually draws 19w when the drives are spun down. It's a SuperMicro X7SPA-H-D525-O motherboard with 6 3TB WD Reds (when I built it, the 4TB's weren't out yet). which processor? Quote Link to comment
garycase Posted January 13, 2014 Share Posted January 13, 2014 What mobo/processor and combination of drives are you using to get 20 Watts at idle? Does your processor also sleep?! No, my CPU doesn't sleep. The system actually draws 19w when the drives are spun down. It's a SuperMicro X7SPA-H-D525-O motherboard with 6 3TB WD Reds (when I built it, the 4TB's weren't out yet). which processor? Did you look up the motherboard?? It's got an Atom D525 embedded on it (thus the name). Quote Link to comment
dirtysanchez Posted January 13, 2014 Share Posted January 13, 2014 Add me to the list of people who never shut down their server except for maintenance or reboots for OS upgrades. Mine runs 24/7, but obviously spends most of its time at idle. Quote Link to comment
jevans04 Posted January 13, 2014 Share Posted January 13, 2014 Ditto for me...never shut down the server except for maintenance or reboots for OS upgrades. Mine runs 24/7, but obviously spends most of its time at idle. Quote Link to comment
betaman Posted January 16, 2014 Share Posted January 16, 2014 What mobo/processor and combination of drives are you using to get 20 Watts at idle? Does your processor also sleep?! No, my CPU doesn't sleep. The system actually draws 19w when the drives are spun down. It's a SuperMicro X7SPA-H-D525-O motherboard with 6 3TB WD Reds (when I built it, the 4TB's weren't out yet). which processor? Did you look up the motherboard?? It's got an Atom D525 embedded on it (thus the name). Sorry, I meant to go back and edit that post after I reviewed the MB. I wasn't familiar with embedded processors so just assumed you forgot to mention it. Quote Link to comment
dgaschk Posted January 16, 2014 Share Posted January 16, 2014 I don't understand the question. Why would anyone want to turn off a server? Just kidding. This is simply a cost-benfit problem. Does the cost of running the server 24/7 outweigh the benefits? The cost is primarily electricity. As long as the server is used daily the wear on components is not a significant factor Quote Link to comment
steini84 Posted January 16, 2014 Share Posted January 16, 2014 My esxi box is always on. I even have my router on that thing so turning it off is a big no no Quote Link to comment
FreeMan Posted January 17, 2014 Share Posted January 17, 2014 Server, 4 desktop PCs, 2 HTPCs, 4 phones, 4 tablets - all on 24/7. Too lazy to turn 'em off, and as grumpy & gary mentioned the power usage is probably about the same cost as a quick snack at Taco Bell or McDs, so I don't worry about it. Don't know if it's still the case (maybe it never was), but as a young 'un, I was always told that the greatest danger to electronics was in the initial power surge when turning them on, so it was actually better on the electronics to leave them on 24/7. I was just looking at some SMART stats on my drives - I've got one that reports almost 43000 power on hours. Quote Link to comment
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