Question on maintenance while in sleep?

[SiNNeD]

I downloaded the trial for Macaroni to force the maintenance on my macbook as I dont leave it on overnight....but I didnt like the program and thought that if everyone else just left their macbook on then why dont I do the same.

My question is if the macbook is in sleep mode then do the maintenance utilities still run during the night? Thank you for your help!!

 

[LimeiBook86]

I downloaded the trial for Macaroni to force the maintenance on my macbook as I dont leave it on overnight....but I didnt like the program and thought that if everyone else just left their macbook on then why dont I do the same.

My question is if the macbook is in sleep mode then do the maintenance utilities still run during the night? Thank you for your help!!

When the Mac is asleep everything is basically off, it's a low-power energy saving mode. The CPU, Hard Drive, RAM, and basically everything else is shut off. So nothing can run in sleep mode besides the little light on the MacBook.

 

[mad jew]

However, if in sleep mode the computer remembers to run the maintenance tasks the next time the machine is awoken assuming the machine has 10.4.2 or later installed. This is not the case if the machine is shut down.

 

[LimeiBook86]

However, if in sleep mode the computer remembers to run the maintenance tasks the next time the machine is awoken assuming the machine has 10.4.2 or later installed. This is not the case if the machine is shut down.

Wow, even I didn't know that, thanks for the tip!

 

[mad jew]

No worries mate. Of course it's still a good idea to restart the computer every now and then though.

 

[SiNNeD]

However, if in sleep mode the computer remembers to run the maintenance tasks the next time the machine is awoken assuming the machine has 10.4.2 or later installed. This is not the case if the machine is shut down.

Ok so say i leave my macbook plugged in and running all the time as others do when they are not using the portability of a macbook. Do I turn off the settings for it to go into sleep mode so that it can run the maintenance tasks when they need to be run? cuz as it stands now it is as factory settings which means the system goes into sleep mode after a certain amount of time. So it would be safe to say when the system is at home, plugged in to the wall to set the settings so that it never goes into sleep or shuts down?!?!

 

[mdickson]

Sinned,

Just leave well enough alone. The computer will perform maintenance when necessary. It wouldn't make any sense for the user of a new MacBook to have to download a 3rd party program to do these things.

 

[bousozoku]

You can always use the scheduler in the Energy Saver preference pane to start up and shut down the machine to allow the maintenance routines to run daily, if you prefer to leave it powered off at night.

Daily maintenance occurs at 03:15. However, on Saturday morning, the weekly routine follows the daily routine and at the first (or is it last?) of the month, the monthly routine will follow.

 

[decksnap]

But wouldn't they expect MOST user's systems to be asleep at that time of day? How many people actually set it to 'sleep never'? So in essence the majority of maintenance is not getting done until a user wakes it up to use it? Seems a bit poorly thought out. I'd like to hope that it's smarter than that?

 

[bousozoku]

But wouldn't they expect MOST user's systems to be asleep at that time of day? How many people actually set it to 'sleep never'? So in essence the majority of maintenance is not getting done until a user wakes it up to use it? Seems a bit poorly thought out. I'd like to hope that it's smarter than that?

Well, UNIX systems were not meant to be desktop systems since there were no desktop systems at the time when it was designed. Apple has been slowly getting to more minor issues lately.

If it weren't for the lack of thought toward it, there wouldn't be so many small shareware applications.

 

[decksnap]

What is the process that is displayed when this is happening? I'd like to watch for it.

 

[mad jew]

I think there's a bit of confusion. If the computer is asleep, the tasks will run the next time you wake it up (assuming you have 10.4.2 or later).

I don't think there's a set process but rather a selection of processes that make up the maintenance tasks. I believe they are all owned by nobody.

 

[Cameront9]

But wouldn't they expect MOST user's systems to be asleep at that time of day? How many people actually set it to 'sleep never'? So in essence the majority of maintenance is not getting done until a user wakes it up to use it? Seems a bit poorly thought out. I'd like to hope that it's smarter than that?

I am one of those people that have "Sleep Never" (when plugged in) selected. Interesting about doing the tasks after sleep for 10.4.2 or later. Anyway, I don't have a problem not sleeping the computer. I just have the display go to sleep and leave it be. My record uptime is around 40 days, so no problems just leaving it on all the time.

 

[mad jew]

I let my machine sleep to give the hard drives some downtime, but that's just me.

 

[LimeiBook86]

I let my machine sleep to give the hard drives some downtime, but that's just me.

Yeah, I'd listen mad jew on this one. Sleep...the lack of it killed my iBook's hard drive. It just never had a time to rest...poor little guy...

 

[bousozoku]

What is the process that is displayed when this is happening? I'd like to watch for it.

There are a number of UNIX items that run. I should just point you to one of the scripts (daily, weekly, monthly) but I'm concerned that you might try to modify it. I'll see if I can create an excerpt for you.

I let my machine sleep to give the hard drives some downtime, but that's just me.

I think that's a good idea, too. Note the way I do both in Energy Saver. I also do folding@home on a USB flash drive.

 

[apfhex]

It doesn't matter. As Mad Jew has been saying, if the machine is asleep when the scripts are set to run, they will run once you wake it. Use your Mac how you want, you don't need to fuss with any settings or use any 3rd party utilities.

So in essence the majority of maintenance is not getting done until a user wakes it up to use it? Seems a bit poorly thought out. I'd like to hope that it's smarter than that?

What is wrong with that? It seems like the best solution to me. It's either that or have it run at a fixed time (like it did prior to 10.4), which obviously has it's problems.

 

[decksnap]

I didn't say there is necessarily anything wrong with it... it's just odd that they would schedule it for a time when the majority of computers won't be able to run it because they are asleep.

It doesn't require much time or power, I assume?

 

[mad jew]

It doesn't require much time or power, I assume?

It doesn't stress a modern machine but it used to be quite noticeable when these tasks were run. Maybe that's why they were assigned such an early time.