[Techtalk] rebooting bad?

Kathryn Andersen kat_lists at katspace.com
Fri Aug 23 08:01:00 EST 2002


On Tue, Aug 20, 2002 at 04:25:38PM +0100, hobbit at aloss.ukuu.org.uk wrote:
> On Tue, Aug 20, 2002 at 10:51:15AM -0400 or thereabouts, Malcolm-Rannirl wrote:
> > Now, I was right about the not needing to reboot (all it actually took was 
> > for the main application to be not running for five minutes, which was not a 
> > problem as at 4am no one would be using the machine). However, I couldn't 
> > explain why rebooting was inherently bad (as opposed to merely unnecessary).
> > So, is it, and if so why? Or was this just a "linux is not NT" reaction?
> 
> I have been told that with very ancient disc drives which have 
> been chuntering along for a long time, spinning them down and up 
> is the point they're most likely finally to die.

This actually happened to me with my previous PC.  Yea, verily, it was
the eve of Y2K, and I took the advice of those I trusted, and shut down
my computer for that fateful night.  So I ended up not being zapped by
Y2K -- but my second disk, the one Linux was on, turned up its toes and
was an ex-disk.  My friend the hardware guru who investigated (and
finally replaced said disk) told me that for PCs which are normally on
all the time, if you just stop them cold, then the head has a tendency
to stick to the disk, and what one is supposed to do is
- turn the machine off
- wait 15 minutes
- turn the machine on
- turn the machine off

This apparently ensures that the head doesn't stick, because you've
restarted the disk while it's still warm, thus ensuring that the gunk
that might cause the head to stick to the disk, gets scraped off.
And then it's safe to power down the disk.

Or something like that.

Kathryn Andersen
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Gan: She seems to be on our side.
Vila: The poor woman's insane.
Avon: Not necessarily.		(of Meegat) (Blake's 7: Deliverance [A12])
-- 
 _--_|\	    | Kathryn Andersen	<kat at katspace.com> <http://www.katspace.com>
/      \    | 
\_.--.*/    | GenFicCrit mailing list <http://www.katspace.com/gen_fic_crit/>
      v	    | 
------------| Melbourne -> Victoria -> Australia -> Southern Hemisphere
Maranatha!  |	-> Earth -> Sol -> Milky Way Galaxy -> Universe



More information about the Techtalk mailing list