After a weekend of record setting heat here in Chicago we decided it was time for a public service announcement from your friends at empoweringcreativity.com.
Keep your gear cool!
The optimal operating temperature range for most computer gear is between 65° and 75°. We recommend a nice 68° number.
Why is this so important? Well, electronics, somewhat like people, don't work as well in extreme temperatures. What does this mean to you the creative? If your gear gets to hot - it fails - when it fails it costs a lot to fix, and sometimes, you will lose data. Now I know that most of you back up your data at least once a day so the data loss issue isn't even on your radar - but the money sure should be.
The cost to replace a hard drive in an Xserve RAID is about $650. This cost, in many cases, is about the same amount you will pay to keep your gear cool - but - if you have more than one drive failure (I've seen it happen) it will easily exceed your cooling costs.
So the moral of the story is - keep your gear cool - your clients and wallet will thank you.
I just changed my weekend program on my thermostat. 83 down to 75.
Posted by: Gabe Hatfield | June 03, 2006 at 12:34 PM