Saving eide hard-disk drive power – Dell OptiPlex GX1 User Manual
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System Setup Options: Dell OptiPlex GX1 Small-Form-Factor System User's Guide
file:///C|/infodev/2013/eDoc/OpGX1/UG/setupopt.htm[2/21/2013 11:47:16 AM]
periods (see
) for the two successive monitor shutdown stages, standby and off.
NOTE: Each monitor manufacturer defines the details of the shutdown stages for its own monitors.
But in all cases, power consumption decreases with each stage from "on" (full power) to "standby"
(reduced power; the display image usually disappears) to "off" (where power consumption is minimal).
To define these stages for your monitor, see the documentation that came with the monitor.
From either shutdown stage, you can return full power to the monitor in one of the following ways:
For most DPMS-compliant monitors, any subsequent activity—including moving the mouse—should
return full power to the monitor.
A few DPMS-compliant monitors require that you turn monitor power off and then on again to return to
full power.
Check your monitor documentation for information on how your monitor is designed to operate.
Saving EIDE Hard-Disk Drive Power
For most systems, enabling Power Management at any level causes EIDE hard-disk drives to switch to low-
power mode after about 20 minutes of system inactivity (see
NOTES: All EIDE drives shipped with your system support this feature. (For more information, see
"
However, not all EIDE hard-disk drives support this feature. Enabling this feature for drives that do not
support it may cause the EIDE drive to become inoperable until the computer is restarted and the
Power Management option is disabled.
In low-power mode, the disks inside the drive stop spinning. They remain idle until the next drive access,
which causes them to start spinning again. (Because the disks take a few seconds to regain full speed, you
may notice a slight delay when you next access the hard-disk drive.)
When Power Management is set to Disabled (the default), the disks spin constantly as long as the system
is turned on.
Table 3. Power Time-Out Periods
Power
Management Setting
EIDE Drive
Spindown
Time-Outs
Monitor Standby
Time-Outs
Monitor Off
Time-Outs
Disabled
Never
Never
Never
Maximum
20 minutes
10 minutes
1 hour
Regular
20 minutes
20 minutes
1 hour
Minimum
20 minutes
1 hour
Never