I think I need a new hard drive, and now Standby button won't work. I hear that turning off the comp?

Question

is bad, as the start up is most taxing on the hard drive. But I don't want to leave the comp running constantly, as it's using electricity...(can't afford a new hard drive just yet)...what shall I do?

Answer 1

If your not going to be using your computer for long periods of time. Do not use standby, shut the computer down and let it cool off. I have seen many of systems never come out of standby or hibernation....... Just shut it off when your not using it.

I would also recommend that you defragment that hard drive a.s.a.p.

Start / Programs / Accessories / System Tools / Disk Defragmenter

Answer 2

Big deal. Then the machine wouldn't have come with an on/off button would they? And you are thinking of the old machines of the 70's.
I shut mine off daily(maybe 3x's a day) My 486 still works(how old is that?12+ years?? This machine (Pent II) probably nearly as old.
Do you shut your car off? Auto manufacturers don't want you to(as it wears out sooner and you HAVE to get another) I see the computer as the same toy.
What I suggest doing is(in your case) is turn off the machine. Don't do the step by step shut down as Windows would like you to do.....just pull the plug out of the wall(power outage style) Walk away from it for an hour or longer (until you want to use it.) Then plug it in(turn it on).
The DOS which is the base for your machine will still start up(and it will do its checks along the way) The Windows program will complain about you not shutting down correctly "BooHoo" Now the computer has to check everything. Let it check.
Maybe it will find the "snag" point and correct it. In any case, once it has done checking the files and correcting missing links and such, you will find the computer runs much better.

Now, I don't know if this program can help but download it and let it take a look -> I was gonna give you Spybot, ad-aware, and another(all seperate free programs but I found one that combines about 7 of these freebies together and lets them run almost automatically in your machine<

Answer 3

Leaving the pc on is better than turning it on and off all the time. I have had pc's running for over 8 years and no problems yet. If the hard drive is dying then turning it on and off is putting the max stress on it. Start today taking stuff off that you can't live without. You DO have a cd burner, right? That way you will be better off when it does die. Recovery companies can charge upwards of $1,000.00 just to LOOK at the problem.

Answer 4

yeah the comp uses a lot more power when first booting up, but the power supply would be the thing getting most affected buy turning the comp on and off not your hard drive

Answer 5

Go to Start Click then Click on Turn Off Computer at the bottom of the popup. Then click Turn Off Button.

Answer 6

I'm a little confused. Why do you think you need a new hard-drive?

If you do need one then buy one from Maplins or Aria or eBuyer - hard drives are fantastically cheap these days.

Answer 7

You should shutdown the computer when you dont need it. Startup is not as hard on the disk as leaving it running.

Answer 8

Actually, leaving it running constantly is harder on it than shutting it down when not in use. As long as you shut it down using the proper shut down method (i.e. throwing a cup of ice water in through the fan on the back) you should have no troubles whatsoever.

Answer 9

you can turn it off! The new generation on computers are much better now.have your hard drive fixed or buy one external one and transfer your stuff to it

Answer 10

Turning your computer off and on wont hurt it at all who ever told you that is a moron... how ever you should do the proper shutdown