Forums | MacLife
You are not logged in.
#1 2005-09-19 8:18 am
- greenscreen76
- Member
- From: the matrix
- Registered: 2001-03-24
- Posts: 535
cocktail question
i'm trying out cocktail and so far i'm just wondering what a reasonable "spindown" setting would be? 5 minutes? 10 minutes? an hour? also, why is this important?
iMac (Flat Panel)...800MHz...256MB RAM...Combo Drive...OS 10.2.8 Build 6R73
iPod 3G...30GB...v.2.3
Offline
#2 2005-09-19 10:11 am
- MacBoy4139
- BHA
- From: Big Hair Anonymous
- Registered: 2000-10-31
- Posts: 10911
Re: cocktail question
It is really a power saving feature. If you have a laptop and want maximum battery life, set it low. If you have a desktop and want maximum performance, set it high.
Honestly, I would just leave it alone personally. What it does is tell the hard dive to stop spinning after X number of minutes if there is no activity.
Dive in the Pool!
I'm still trying to figure out if you're a girl posing as Macboy4139, or a boy posing as a girl, and a bit confused sexually. <shrug> laughinol
Offline
#3 2009-01-05 9:55 pm
- reachdale
- Member
- From: Santa Cruz, California
- Registered: 2005-11-08
- Posts: 37
Re: cocktail question
Any new ideas on Cocktail?
Is this a command line utility and/or does one need a good (ahem) command of the Unix structure of OS X in order to safely use this product. Their website isn't entirely clear, but there is some indication that the above is the case, which would not make it suitable for me.
My main issue is that some Apple App's seem to take a long time from launch to ready for user state. E.g. Safari & Appleworks. Any ideas on this while we're at it?
Thanks,
Dale
iBook 1.33 GHz PPC G4 (mid 2005)
OS X 10.4.11
512 MB RAM
40 GB HD (18 GB used)
Offline
#4 2009-01-05 10:36 pm
- Nefarious
- Tuning Fork
- Moderator
- From: 45°22"N 84°57"W
- Registered: 2002-09-30
- Posts: 7998
Re: cocktail question
Cocktail is not a command line thing. It has a fairly standard user interface. I use it often.
Offline
#5 2009-01-06 6:24 am
- Pariah
- James Carville Fan..
- From: Belly Of The Beast, Oklahoma!
- Registered: 2001-05-24
- Posts: 18413
Re: cocktail question
Spinning down the drive might save energy but will likely shorten the life of your drive.
While hours of operation has some effect, the most important determiner of electronics life is the number of on/off cycles it can sustain.
The wear and tear in electronics is caused by going from room temp, to operating temp and back to room temp. For example. Lets say a light bulb typically lasts 100 days. If you stood at the switch turning it on and off repeatedly you could make the bulb fail in hours.
"and it's not surprising that they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations."
Barack Obama
Offline
#6 2009-01-06 7:44 am
Re: cocktail question
It all depends. If it is constantly spinning up and down then yes it will shorten it's life, however keeping it spinning 24/7 will also shorten its life too. The best balance for a mechanical drive is that is, was, and generally will be that it spins up or down after a reasonable period of inactivity.
Offline
