Turn Nucleus+ Off after each use?

Have only had my Nucleus+ for three days and it is working fine after the initial fight with network issues.

I plugged a WD 1TB USB ext drive to it and it grabbed all the songs over 12K! Just noticed yesterday that the LED on the drive is flashing (I have yet to turn Nuc off) so I pick it up and can feel it spinning.
While using this ext drive plugged directly into a BDA-3 it would go to sleep if not in use.

So, do I turn the Nuc off daily (hence the drive as well) or just leave it on continuously? Is there any consensus on this or guidance from Roon?
Sorry for all the words.

Regards,
Paul

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Hi Paul, my Nucleus runs 24/7. I have installed an additional 1 TB SSD. I only switch it off if I am not at home for more than one day.

Hard drives wear out at various rates, most to least:

  1. Repeatedly powering on and off;
  2. Running all the time (but free from handling, shaking etc);
  3. Being switched completely (i.e., sitting on shelf)

You also need a bit of luck as to hard-drive failure rate, Google company Backblaze they keep track of which manufacturer performs best in this regard. Personally I’ve found HGST drives to be the most reliable.

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Thanks Uli, I should have bought an SSD, although I’m not knowledgeable about their failure rates.

Thanks Paul, Rather eye opening…so I guess my plan is to simply leave it on except during a long
absence.

Regards,
Paul

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Two types of things in my chain I never shut off are a NUC and any DAC.

Three types is you want to count the RPi…

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The drive activity is normal for a new install, it’s analysing your library, it will soon stop. 12000 tracks is a small library (relatively).

Switching off is not a bad thing. I live in a high lighting area and power down all my equipment when a storm comes and every night in summer.

I use a NUC rather than a Nucleus , it requires a long press on the On/Off button to close down “nicely”. There is advice somewhere from @danny on this technique. My NUC is a new addition but this seems to be working fine for me

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The SSD in my old MacBook Pro from 2012 has now lasted for 10 years and the thing is used daily.
The Nucleus has a Samsung SSD 850 in it, which is doing very well so far.

It requires a short press. The long press is the not-nice way of shutting down.

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Mine’s been running for almost 2 1/2 years except for a few reboots.

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I run Rock on a NUC 7i5 and SSD for music files, and it’s switched off whenever not actively in use. As Rock doesn’t have any power saving/environmental features, this is a conscious effort on my part. The NUC (includes nucleus) supports wake-on-lan which is something I suppose, but it requires an external wol app - again, because Rock doesn’t. Power down can be executed with a url: http://rock.local/1/poweroff you can replace rock.local with nucleus.local, or an IP address.

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If I short press then disconnect power, is that OK ?

I thought the long press shut down the short press puts to “sleep”

If I want to power off and disconnect from the mains what is the safest procedure ?

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What the buttons and presses do can be different by OS. The short press means power off. The long press is used to kill power in the event a system is unresponsive, exactly like just pulling the power cord.

I turn my NUC off by using the Web UI.
poweroff

If someone is unsure on how long they might press the power button, then using the Web UI is “safer”. As a side benefit, it at least gives feedback in that the web page will close when the system is off, so there is no guessing whether the Nucleus has shut down or not.

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Even though I don’t know very much about the Nuc+ I did read that a short (normal) press will cause it to go through a shut-down, a sustained press amounts to a “forced” shutdown. Please correct me if I’m wrong, I am in learning mode.

To XXX, I never shut down the BDA-3 or my outboard electronic X-over and now the Nuc+ falls into that category. I do shut down amps (4) as well as the pre. Although I have left them on for a week or so at a time when I was good to listen for extended days. Honestly can’t tell the difference as long as there is ample warm up (hours) from off.

I am so new to this that it is a bit overwhelming. But I have good…no GREAT music streaming so I’m
just figuring I can’t hurt it in the first few weeks while I come up to speed.

Thanks to all and the community at large. Amazing stuff!

Regards,
Paul

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I never turn it off, on always :slight_smile:

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BUT I want mine to last more than 2 weeks , we get such vicious thunderstorms here that stuff fries !!

A few years back I lost my Router, Switch, AV Amplifier , Audio Streamer and Video Streamer all at one go when a lightening strike took out a local palm tree and ran back down the telephone wire and blew the ADSL connection. Understandably I am reluctant to repeat the exercise. Admittedly we are now fibre so not conducting but the mains is still susceptible. A few weeks back we lost internet connection for 4 days when a local switch was zapped . This is in a big city like Johannesburg.

We also hear reports of other “electrical” stuff zapping like fridges etc eg. my coffee machine has just finally blipped and died not sure if that’s just old age or what. Electrical equals electronic these days . We have “fast action” plugs on all our big appliances just in case. and all computers and hi fi are covered by UPS but even so …

Africa is not for sissies :rofl:

I look forward to winter when I can leave stuff switched on

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Thanks Daniel , looks like I have been doing a forced shut down when I don’t need to , I’ll go for a simple “short Off” and see how it goes

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Most lightning related electronic failures are due to exposed wires for telephony or aerials for television/cable tv. You are likely a LOT less at risk now with fibre based internet.

I dont even shut down my electronics nowadays with fibre internet and no hard wired telephony or television (only IP based TV today)!

Admittedly but I am still ultra careful . It was one of the big selling points of fibre. We have no aerials or dishes our TV is pretty much Netflix plus a few local videos these days

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I use wake on Lan to turn on and off my nuc(rock). Works well.

Now that the likelihood of an ethernet-based surge has been reduced to near zero (by switching to fiber internet), just put it on a UPS and call it good. You will be doubly protected, first by the UPS and then by the external power supply. Even if a lightning strike somehow made it through the UPS, it would fry the power brick and stop there. $30 later you’re back in business.