[Arkan]

Short, good analogy but i'm not sold on it. We all know a HDD life is only a few years and most of us here perform enough computer upgrades as to not have a problem with a piece of hardware failing. By the time something may fail, we already swapped it out for a newer piece of hardware.

I've been turning my shit on and off since '98 and never once had a problem. In all those years, i had to actually replace 2 HDD's because of a breakdown. One had a bad sector and it affected the way HL started up. The 2nd HDD started to make a loud clicking sound and i knew it was on it's way out. I backed up all my data and replaced the HDD without any loss. I also had 2 CD/ROMs fail from normal use but thats about it in all those years.

I periodically open the case and use a vacuum w/brush attachment to clean the inside and i reformat every now and again. As for defragging, haven't done it in awhile and i know it should be done. as a matter of fact, perhaps after i enter this post, i'll do just that.

I just have an issue with leaving something on which could cause a bigger problem if something were to take a shit....like a cooling fan. I don't want to come home and see the fire department at my house. I'm not in the mood for that.