Is it bad to leave my computer on for long periods of time?
Im asking because I usually download stuff using torrents, and they usually take days to complete, so I pretty much never turn my computer off.
Sure, after a while it goes into standy by/sleep mode or whatever, but I always try to keep it working so the damn torrents can finish downloading.
So, is it bad or does it not really matter?

Btw, torrents take long to download because where I live internet service is pretty bad.

It isn't bad. It does use electricity, but you have a purpose for leaving it on so it's not really a waste. You will accumulate dust fairly quickly and should shut it down to inspect and clean every few weeks to avoid cooling issues and dead fans. I leave mine on to do backups and scans in the wee hours. I rarely shut it down.

You also may have hard drive failures (slightly) more often than those who leave their computers off (or the disks sleeping) while the computer is not in use due to extra wear and tear on the drives.

The inverse is also true, however... Constant powerup, powerdown cycles for the disk drives, and fans also can cause extra wear and tear, as the motors expend far more energy, and face far more resistance, when starting from a dead stop, than they do by just.. continuing to spin an already-spinning platter/fan.

break19

In short, yes, there's a minutely greater chance that a part will fail, but it's not that bad. My comp typically runs 24/7 at least half the year. Been going strong for a year now.

But as a sidenote, I believe hard drives are only QC assured to run 180 hour days (180 x 24). Might be a bigger number, I forget what it was though.

@ Whistler: I dont think Im using too much electricity. I always leave it on the "Power Saver" setting except when I'm playing games. About the dust, that could be an issue since where I live there's a lot of dust. How can I clean a laptop? Just open it up and brush it off carefully?

@ Break19 and MsKanaka: Damn, your comments left me a little paranoid :( ("Do I leave it on? Do I turn it off?") >.>
Im just going to leave it like that until my torrents finish downloading.

Anyways, thanks for answering :)

See, you didn't mention it was a laptop. As a general rule, most laptops simply are not designed for 24x7 operation.. Heat buildup is a bad thing.. and cleaning a laptop is a difficult thing.. Take it somewhere that is an authorized service center for that particular make, and ask them the question, "What's the best way to keep the thing free of dust and gunky buildup?" They'll be happy to help..

Damn, didnt know that. I guess I'll have to turn it off more frequently. How long would you say is acceptable to keep a laptop on?
Also, does the "stand by" mode count as operation time?

If you plan to keep a laptop on constantly, discharge the battery to 40% (or whatever you manual says for storage) and remove it.

It's true, laptops are a different matter due to the heat issues and tight airflow paths.

Is there no way of obtaining a cheap computer that simply runs your BT client 24/7? You wouldn't even need a graphics accelerator card, just run it from on-board, and put a Linux distro on it (or Windows if you're a student). I guess you could get a new one for under USD 400, perhaps less if used.

Toshiro, if he's downloading stuff he would be paying for otherwise, that would defeat the purpose as it would be cheaper to buy the DVDs.... ;)

I turn off my MacBook about once a month to clean it and update stuff, that's about it.

Besides, why not get a -real- cheap one, for like 40 bucks, instead of 400 bucks.. even a 10 year old 486 can run bittorrent..

EZR

edit: storage space.. well.. that could possibly be an issue :p

And BitTorrent does require some CPU power. I mean, aside from the fact that it's got to multiplex a lot of sockets and calculate SHA-1s of every block, lots of torrents use BitTorrent's encrypted stream feature these days, which is something that no 486 can even attempt at more than a couple of kb/s.

Yeah...

I'd say he could get a machine for around USD 40 or less that is able to run a BT client (some Dell P4 or the likes). The only problem would be storage space (probably around USD 100), but even 1TB HDs aren't that expensive anymore. So, you'd need around 150 Dollars to download as much as you want (not saying it has to be illegitimate >_>). That's not too bad.

Yeah, that's very reasonable.

Hmmm, good idea...
I do happen to have an old laptop laying around. It's a toshiba with an Intel celeron processor, 2.80 GHz, 256 MB DDR RAM, and 40GB hard drive. I used to play VO on it, slow as hell, but I think it should be enough to run BT and store the data.

Btw, how can I transfer the data from that laptop to my new one without having to use CDs or mem sticks?

With my Mac I can start up in target mode and use a firewire cable, I don't know if there's something like that in Windows. If you have a couple flash drives that are at least 4GB, though, it should be pretty fast if you're loading onto one and off the other, or if you have an external drive hook it up to your old laptop and load it up, then move it to your new one. Either way should be quicker and cheaper than DVDs or CDs.

Do you have a router in your house (target mode does not work under windows, to my knowledge)? You could just access the computer via LAN. But, like Chaos said, you might want to hook up an external of 500+ GB right away (if you plan on download a lot of stuff), though, which would do away with the accessing problem.