Realistic Restart Interval for Mac Pro

[Sean Dempsey]

With the old PC, I'd let it go maybe 10-14 days between restarts. Part of the reason was it took about 10 minutes to boot up.

with the new mac pro, I watch my iStatPro like a hawk, always curious about performance, and I was wondering how long a Mac Pro should go between reboots. I need to leave it on overnight for backups and such, but is once a day common? Or is there no real need to restart unless something compels me to? Right now, its been on for about 46 hours, and my RAM usage reads (with just this browser open) as about:

5 GB total...
650 MB wired
680 MB Active
460 MB Inactive
3.2 GB MB Free

VM size: 24 GB

Page in/out: 2,300,000 / 1184

Having a PC has given me a phobia about restarting. You never know what's going to happen when/if it comes back...

 

[thuff13]

I don't have a Mac Pro, but with my MacBook and my Mini I only restart when I have to (i.e. after a system update). I've never noticed any problems from leaving either of them on for extended periods of times (i.e. weeks). I am guessing that if it is ok with a MacBook or Mini it should be ok with your Mac Pro to wait until something forces you to restart.

 

[hayduke]

There is generally no need to restart, but instances in which you might restart include a system freeze/kernel panic (rare), OS X or other software update, general system slowdown (sometimes due to large cache files?). I basically only restart after a software update and that is generally every week or two.

 

[Sun Baked]

Shouldn't need to restart, maybe log out if you want.

All logging out and restarting really accomplishes is to make sure you kill any of the apps/processes that might exhibit memory leak type behavior -- but Apple's old comment about this used to be "log out and log back in."

 

[Sean Dempsey]

So when I leave my office, is there a way to lock the computer, without logging out, to keep people off? Something built into OSX, preferably.

I just ask because I have alot of backup programs and automation that run when I am gone, so I have to stay logged in.

 

[Eidorian]

I've been fine going for months without a restart. Unless Apple decides to update something...ugh.

 

[swordfish5736]

So when I leave my office, is there a way to lock the computer, without logging out, to keep people off? Something built into OSX, preferably.

I just ask because I have alot of backup programs and automation that run when I am gone, so I have to stay logged in.

yup can be done. Go to system preferences--login options--check enable fast user switching and then you can choose for it to display a little person, your short name or name on the top bar.

Once you've done that you can click the icon and select login window from now and it'll lock itself

 

[Pili]

So when I leave my office, is there a way to lock the computer, without logging out, to keep people off? Something built into OSX, preferably.

I just ask because I have alot of backup programs and automation that run when I am gone, so I have to stay logged in.

In the security preferences menu, turn the option that requires a password to come back from screen saver then just have the screen saver set to a hot corner through expose. I do this all the time and everything remains running.

 

[statikcat]

In the security preferences menu, turn the option that requires a password to come back from screen saver then just have the screen saver set to a hot corner through expose. I do this all the time and everything remains running.

Ditto. Works great. I have it set to start screen saver when I move my mouse to the upper left corner. Dont want my co workers pranking my machine while I am at lunch 😀

 

[netnothing]

So when I leave my office, is there a way to lock the computer, without logging out, to keep people off? Something built into OSX, preferably.

I just ask because I have alot of backup programs and automation that run when I am gone, so I have to stay logged in.

Another way is within Keychain.

Open Keychain
Go to Keychain -> Preferences
In the General Section, select the checkbox for Show Status in Menu Bar
Close Keychain

No you will see a lock in the upper right of the menu bar. Select the lock and the first option is Lock Screen.

I use this to keep my son (2 years old) from being able to move the mouse and do untold damage 😱. I like this method because I've already assigned the 4 corners to other Expose actions.

-Kevin

 

[Sun Baked]

Ditto. Works great. I have it set to start screen saver when I move my mouse to the upper left corner. Dont want my co workers pranking my machine while I am at lunch 😀

That just leaves restarting the machine and resetting the password using the Restore DVD, then hiding that DVD. 😉

 

[DoFoT9]

macs are amazing they really dont need to be restarted.

server 2003 seems to be really good at this also... sometimes better than osx (not server versions).