Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Disproving a Friend's Myth
- Thread starter Rhyno37
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8J2 Safari/6533.18.5)
It's fine to pick it up be for it goes to sleep - but I wouldn't fling it around. If you're going to put it in a bag, I would watch it go to sleep. There have been times where my computer didn't go to sleep and my computer was cooking itself in my backpack until the battery died (or I got to my class/home). I'd say it's a good habit to have, but not something you really need to worry about.
It's fine to pick it up be for it goes to sleep - but I wouldn't fling it around. If you're going to put it in a bag, I would watch it go to sleep. There have been times where my computer didn't go to sleep and my computer was cooking itself in my backpack until the battery died (or I got to my class/home). I'd say it's a good habit to have, but not something you really need to worry about.
No big deal
We are all anal about certain things. He's right, it could 'possibly' cause harm, but not at all probable.
Sounds like he's babying it to the max. The price probably warrants it...
-gh
We are all anal about certain things. He's right, it could 'possibly' cause harm, but not at all probable.
Sounds like he's babying it to the max. The price probably warrants it...
-gh
Well, but if you use an ssd, there will be no problem at all
right?
Obviously, a SSD negates this issue entirely.
A SSD is much less prone to failure if you chronically have to use your laptop in environments with high frequency low amplitude turbulence as often occurs in planes, trains, and automobiles.
Attachments
gr8tfly said:
You're right, my mistake.
I don't know if that was directed at me, but I was not suggesting that the OP do anything, I was just stating my own preferences. Also, I don't understand why you have any issue with the way other people choose to use their computers. On top of that, if you were correct in what you were saying, I would be using safesleep but my machine can take up to 2mins and I've experienced this across multiple MBPs now.
It took me 10s to disable safesleep and a modern 120GB SSD costs $200, I'm not sure how that is a comparable solution.
I wasn't directing it at you specifically, and I do not have any care in the world how other people use a computer, but the question was asked, advice was given in a public forum so I am entitled to give my opinion as much as you are, so off the soapbox please. But since you mentioned it, my point was, why disable anything? What is the point of going through that over just letting the drive sleep as designed? What I can't understand is why not just sleep or shutdown as normal instead of taking ANY risk with your HDD, even if that risk is less than 1%, it is still a risk.
Suppose everyone has his or her own risk tollerance, but to save a few seconds of waiting time over damaging your drive, costing you money and or losing data just seems silly to me. Not directed at YOU but the OP.
As for the SSD, I wasn't comparing time saved to cost, my point was, if someone is in SUCH a hurry to shutdown or sleep a computer that they cannot wait AND they are even slightly concerned about HDD damage, then just get an SSD and eliminate every concern, no need to wait, no worry about closing and running or bouncing around, an SSD is the ONLY solution to this situation where one doesn't want to wait for a drive to sleep and or worried about having HDD failure.
Just MHO of course, to each his own, but I personally feel anyone telling the OP that he or she can just do what they want with the HDD because of SMS is giving a false sense of confidence, whether the poster has had an HDD crash or not, the risk is always there. Again, I am not saying YOU did or did not offer this opinion, I am speaking in general terms.
So now I am totally confused. I started reading this thread because I've been curious about this topic. I have had several people tell me that it is okay to move your MBP when it is asleep, but this thread seems to be saying both that it is and that it isn't okay to move it. Which is it, and are there any sources for this information?
I am a new Mac convert sort of, my first computer 20 years ago was a Mac Classic but I had been using PCs until buying this MBP a little over a month ago. I would never ever ever move my PC laptop when it was in sleep mode any further than from one room to another. I would definitely never put it in its sleeve and move it because even when it was asleep the battery would die.
With my Mac, I just put it to sleep at night or sometimes during the day if I'm not taking it with me. I move it around the house sometimes in sleep mode but have never put it in the sleeve to take out of the house with unless it is completely shut down.
So, I guess my question is, is that a necessary practice or isn't it? Could I just put my sleeping Mac in the sleeve and throw it in a backpack or should I always shut down completely if I'm removing it from my house? Also, I guess as I think of other things I occasionally do, is it hurting my HDD if I for instance find a picture I want to show my husband and carry it into the other room or hand it to him across the room while on? Of in the alternative is all this just a bunch of BS and these computers are tough enough to be used as we want to use them and we just shouldn't worry about it?
I am a new Mac convert sort of, my first computer 20 years ago was a Mac Classic but I had been using PCs until buying this MBP a little over a month ago. I would never ever ever move my PC laptop when it was in sleep mode any further than from one room to another. I would definitely never put it in its sleeve and move it because even when it was asleep the battery would die.
With my Mac, I just put it to sleep at night or sometimes during the day if I'm not taking it with me. I move it around the house sometimes in sleep mode but have never put it in the sleeve to take out of the house with unless it is completely shut down.
So, I guess my question is, is that a necessary practice or isn't it? Could I just put my sleeping Mac in the sleeve and throw it in a backpack or should I always shut down completely if I'm removing it from my house? Also, I guess as I think of other things I occasionally do, is it hurting my HDD if I for instance find a picture I want to show my husband and carry it into the other room or hand it to him across the room while on? Of in the alternative is all this just a bunch of BS and these computers are tough enough to be used as we want to use them and we just shouldn't worry about it?
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1935
The protection is not 100% effective. This applies more to moving your laptop when it is in use.
Laptops that do not have SMS protection are even more susceptible to HDD failures if moved while in a powered state.
If your laptop remains in sleep mode while being transported, then it is fine. Scenarios exist where the laptop could wake from sleep on it's own while being transported.
This is as good an answer that you will get.
The protection is not 100% effective. This applies more to moving your laptop when it is in use.
Laptops that do not have SMS protection are even more susceptible to HDD failures if moved while in a powered state.
If your laptop remains in sleep mode while being transported, then it is fine. Scenarios exist where the laptop could wake from sleep on it's own while being transported.
This is as good an answer that you will get.
Please, lose the idea that a Mac is some sort of special machine that can do things that other computers can't do.
Macs are ordinary computers, with ordinary limitations.
All computers are healthiest when stationary. Some machines tolerate shock more than others (for example the ThinkPads). Eventually these shocks will cause a computer to fail. Where most of these computers fail? The hard drive.
The hard drive is a dense metal magnet revolving below a mechanical reading head. The head is extremely close, but does NOT touch the magnetic platter itself. It's like a vinyl record player, except the needle does not come in contact with the LP.
If you hit or try to move a spinning record player, the vinyl gets scratches which distort the sound. In the same manner, hard drives get data fragmentation, or dislocation of data on the physical location on the platter, when hit with shock. OS X counters this with active defragmentation. As expected, fragmentation reduces the computer's performance.
When the impact is great enough, the hard drive's head comes in contact with the spinning platter or breaks off, causing disk failure.
That being said, the sensor built in to the MacBook Pro will park the reading head of the hard drive in position to prevent this kind of disk failure. What this prevents is the damage of the magnetic platter which contains the data. This way, the hard drive will survive a fall long enough to back up and salvage data.
What this DOES NOT DO is stop fragmentation. ANY sort of movement will fragment the hard drive, even if it's one bit of data. Small, often overlooked shocks such as walking while carrying the laptop will produce fragmentation. When this accumulates, data may become corrupt and the whole system slows down greatly.
The construction of the laptop itself, however, combats this problem with a suspended, shock-absorbing hard drive frame. If you have ever opened up your MacBook Pro and removed the hard drive, you will see the 4 Torx screws planted on the drive. These screws are inserted into a special black frame which suspends the hard drive midair, reducing shock greatly.
Do not be fooled. Although this reduces shock, this does not stop it.
The construction of the laptop and the OS is designed to stop these problems as much as it can. But it does not stop it entirely. You can probably get away with the occasional walk, but for the best performance and life of your laptop, keep it stationary.
I 100% agreed with your first sentence, but then this post rather quickly turned into complete nonsense.
I never said that I thought the Mac was some sort of special machine, I was just stating what I have been told and hence my confusion. I have thus far treated my Mac the same way I treated my PC, I know that a hard drive is a hard drive but what I didn't really know a lot about was the motion sensor. Plus, with the MBP, this machine cost twice as much as my craptastic HP laptop so I want to take even better care of it!
Hence my questions, which still were not actually answered. I gather that moving it to show someone else a picture unless they're sitting right next to me and it doesn't involve moving the laptop or walking with it is not okay, but what about when it's asleep? I have seen people post that they never completely shut their computer down, that they carry it everywhere asleep. I would normally never do this because I didn't think it was okay to do, I always thought there was still the possibility of it waking up and damage occurring. I just ask because of what others have said. Some people here need to lose the holier than though attitude, sometimes a question is just that, a question. I have always been told that the only stupid question is the one that you don't ask, and if you don't know the answer then there is probably someone else in the room who doesn't either.
Hence my questions, which still were not actually answered. I gather that moving it to show someone else a picture unless they're sitting right next to me and it doesn't involve moving the laptop or walking with it is not okay, but what about when it's asleep? I have seen people post that they never completely shut their computer down, that they carry it everywhere asleep. I would normally never do this because I didn't think it was okay to do, I always thought there was still the possibility of it waking up and damage occurring. I just ask because of what others have said. Some people here need to lose the holier than though attitude, sometimes a question is just that, a question. I have always been told that the only stupid question is the one that you don't ask, and if you don't know the answer then there is probably someone else in the room who doesn't either.
The head of the HDD is parked when the laptop is asleep. The issue is that there are some factors that will cause the laptop to wake from sleep on it's own while being transported. Once the laptop is awake, the HDD is susceptible to damage. The SMS will provide protection but this is not 100% effective.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1935
If you have 100% faith in the SMS technology, then don't worry about it.
If you want to eliminate any possibility of damage, then completely power it off before transporting over longer distances. Sleep should be sufficient for shorter distances.
As long as the laptop is not shaken a lot during the move, then this is not likely to cause issues in a laptop with SMS. I would be wary to do this with a laptop without SMS.
Laptops with SMS usually only incur damage due to high frequency low amplitude vibration, which occurs in moving vehicles (boats, planes, cars ...) or while being transported in a backpack or shoulder bag.
Some users believe this is BS. Often those are the same users that wonder why they have HDD failures.