# Question, how many hours a Mac has been running for since it was first plugged in



## speckledmind (Jan 12, 2005)

Hey there ehMac community,

How can I tell how many hours a Mac has been running for in it's entire life (since it was first plugged in), is there an onboard clock that can be checked easily, or can the Terminal give me the answer if I prompt the right question ?

What would be the Terminal Prompt question ?

Here is why.

I'm looking at buying a used Desktop Mac Pro, with 64-bit Intel Core 2 Duo processor or better, that will supports Lion, might as well buy something with a future, and I would like to find a Mac that has relatively low mileage.

From past experience, I have seen Mac's used heavily in several environements (Graphic Design, Sound, Video editing etc...), things like 12 - 14 hours a day, day in and day out, and I don't mean on sleep mode, there is a good reason there being retired from service and offered up for sale, I'm trying to avoid that.

I have googled the question in all sorts of ways, only came up with answers leading to how many hours used since last turned off.

Let me know.


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## Guest (Jun 2, 2011)

I'm not sure this is something that is tracked quite like that any longer, at one point it was on hardware but I think about the only thing you're going to be able to do now is something like the terminal command 'ac' -- which only shows stats for the current OS install and user time logged in. It might give you an indication, but if they nuke and pave before you get the machine not sure if there are any other options available to you ... 

Good luck and let us know if you find out anything interesting.


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## Digikid (Jun 22, 2010)

I do it the proper way. Every night it gets shut off. No sense wearing it down if I am not gonna use it.


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## mkolesa (Jul 22, 2008)

i don't think that fewer hours is the same as longer lifespan. after all, a hard drive can fail at any time, regardless of the hours. and electronics are a bit funny in that you could actually argue that powering things up and down actually puts more stress on it, since you're subjecting it to lots of heating and cooling cycles, and that expansion and contraction can cause premature failure over time. however, displays are another matter and it's probably safe to say that flourescent lcd's with more hours will probably have less life in them. but with led's i'm not so sure.


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## eMacMan (Nov 27, 2006)

mkolesa said:


> i don't think that fewer hours is the same as longer lifespan. after all, a hard drive can fail at any time, regardless of the hours. and electronics are a bit funny in that you could actually argue that powering things up and down actually puts more stress on it, since you're subjecting it to lots of heating and cooling cycles, and that expansion and contraction can cause premature failure over time. however, displays are another matter and it's probably safe to say that flourescent lcd's with more hours will probably have less life in them. but with led's i'm not so sure.


Even the older machines only showed how long since the PRAM battery had been replaced. That said buying from a graphics, video or printing firm may not be a great idea.

OTH a small local newspaper that publishes weekly could be a great source. Moderate use and they tend to sell as extended warranties come close to expiring.


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## pm-r (May 17, 2009)

I'm sure I recall such a 'counter' back in the OS 8-9 days and maybe it was with TechTool Pro or some such utility.

But why bother?? As another poster stated on another forum with a reply to the same question at How Can I Verify Mac Total Runtime - The macosxhints Forums

"The number would be less than meaningful in any case. Like the kilometers on a car, HOW it is run is more important than how long. A machine running constantly for years in a cool, clean environment will be in much better shape than one sitting in the window going on and off 10 times a day."

I would tend to agree.


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## rgray (Feb 15, 2005)

Seems to me that running hours used to be listed in System Profiler once upon a time. No more.....

CoconutBattery offers the number of battery cycles. 








Battery cycles multiplied by the average charge life in hours (use a realistic value) roughly estimates the running time.

EDIT: of course this will only be useful, if questionably, if you were looking at a notebook, which a second reading of the OP shows you are not..... My bad. Sorry.


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## milhaus (Jun 1, 2004)

Digikid said:


> I do it the proper way. Every night it gets shut off. No sense wearing it down if I am not gonna use it.


That is not the proper way.


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## screature (May 14, 2007)

Digikid said:


> I do it the proper way. Every night it gets shut off. No sense wearing it down if I am not gonna use it.


If you sleep your computer over night it doesn't wear anything down.


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## screature (May 14, 2007)

speckledmind said:


> I'm looking at buying a used Desktop Mac Pro, with 64-bit *Intel Core 2 Duo processor* or better, that will supports Lion...


Just a point of clarification... no Mac Pro has a Core 2 Duo processor... they are all Xeon workstation chips and are designed to run 24/7.

You don't need to worry about how many hours they have on them. The only things that you need to be concerned about are components that actually have mechanical moving parts like the video card, the hard drives, the Superdrive etc. Pretty much everything else, as long as it is functional will remain so almost indefinitely as long as it is in a clean, warm and dry environment.


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## andreww (Nov 20, 2002)

I look after over 25 machines in a graphic environment where the machines are run about 10 hours a day, every day. We also tend to keep machines in circulation much longer than they should be. I can tell you that it has been a very rare occurrence when a Mac can't be given to an employee after we are done with it. Aside from replacing the odd HD these things just tend to keep going and going. I think the best indicator of condition is the case, keyboard and mouse. If things are clean and looking like they should, the machine likely hasn't been abused.


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## rgray (Feb 15, 2005)

Digikid said:


> I do it the proper way. Every night it gets shut off. No sense wearing it down if I am not gonna use it.





screature said:


> If you sleep your computer over night it doesn't wear anything down.


It also doesn't waste hard drive cycles (note the "mean cycles before failure" parameter in the fine print in any hard drive's specifications) putting away everything at Shut Down and reloading the OS and all on startup.....


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## krs (Mar 18, 2005)

speckledmind said:


> From past experience, I have seen Mac's used heavily in several environements (Graphic Design, Sound, Video editing etc...), things like 12 - 14 hours a day, day in and day out, and I don't mean on sleep mode, there is a good reason there being retired from service and offered up for sale, I'm trying to avoid that.


I don't buy into that at all.
My last Mac I retired, an AGP G$, ran for 11 years, 24/7
I replaced the hard drive once - not because it was giving me problems, it was just too small (I think 20 GB).
Over the years I added bits and pieces like a USB/PCI card, a TV/PCI tuner, two SATA Hard drives etc. but I never had to replace anything.
That unit ran very cool, less than 10 degree above ambient.

Oh, sorry - replaced the PRAM battery once.....


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## pm-r (May 17, 2009)

speckledmind said:


> Hey there ehMac community,
> ... ... ...
> I'm looking at buying a used Desktop Mac Pro, with 64-bit Intel Core 2 Duo processor or better, that will supports Lion, might as well buy something with a future, and I would like to find a Mac that has relatively low mileage. ... ... ...


You might want to check the specs when looking to make sure you're getting the 'bit' and processors you're expecting.
Which Intel Macs have 64-bit processors? Which have a 64-bit EFI? Which are capable of booting MacOS X 10.6 "Snow Leopard" in 64-bit mode? @ EveryMac.com

And I know it's not always directly related, but when you find the model you want, ask the seller if and when they do an oil change for their car.

If they say that doing so is just the oil companies conspiracy plot to sell oil, then *maybe* their maintenance attitude would also apply to the way they look after their Mac and other equipment??? Hmmm...?


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## Tech Elementz (Mar 15, 2011)

A little off topicish, but is it recommended to leave your Mac on? Or even on sleep? I feel weird doing this, but if it is recommended to, then I will leave it on (rather sleep)...

I still use PC's so I feel odd doing this as I mentioned...


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## pm-r (May 17, 2009)

Have a look and read
"Running the Mac OS X maintenance scripts

Mac® OS X is a UNIX®-based system, built in part on both BSD® and FreeBSD®. UNIX systems run scheduled maintenance routines — known as maintenance scripts — to clean up a variety of System logs and temporary files. By default, these are executed between 03:15 and 05:30 hours local time, depending on the script.

If your Mac is shut down or in sleep mode during these hours, the maintenance scripts will not run. [1] This results in log files that will grow over time, consuming free space on your Mac OS X startup disk.

If your Mac is shut down or left in sleep mode overnight, the maintenance scripts should be run manually on a regular basis… unless you plan on devoting a large portion of your hard drive to the files cleaned-up by these routines! ..."

Running Mac OS X Maintenance Scripts
and others like
Mac OS X: About background maintenance tasks
Run the OS X maintenance scripts - mactips


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## speckledmind (Jan 12, 2005)

screature said:


> Just a point of clarification... no Mac Pro has a Core 2 Duo processor... they are all Xeon workstation chips and are designed to run 24/7.
> 
> You don't need to worry about how many hours they have on them. The only things that you need to be concerned about are components that actually have mechanical moving parts like the video card, the hard drives, the Superdrive etc. Pretty much everything else, as long as it is functional will remain so almost indefinitely as long as it is in a clean, warm and dry environment.


Thanks,
Pm going your way.



pm-r said:


> You might want to check the specs when looking to make sure you're getting the 'bit' and processors you're expecting.
> Which Intel Macs have 64-bit processors? Which have a 64-bit EFI? Which are capable of booting MacOS X 10.6 "Snow Leopard" in 64-bit mode? @ EveryMac.com


Thanks for the info and link, I will keep it on hand and make sure I'm buying the correct Mac Pro.


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## krs (Mar 18, 2005)

pm-r said:


> Have a look and read
> "Running the Mac OS X maintenance scripts
> 
> Mac® OS X is a UNIX®-based system, built in part on both BSD® and FreeBSD®. UNIX systems run scheduled maintenance routines — known as maintenance scripts — to clean up a variety of System logs and temporary files. By default, these are executed between 03:15 and 05:30 hours local time, depending on the script.
> ...


I tested this scenario with the maintenance scripts and I'm sure I posted my results on ehMac at the time since that question came up before.
The statement at the time was: If you shut down the Mac or put it to sleep, the maintenance scripts will then automatically run when the Mac is either woken up or when it is booted up (if completely shut down).
If I recall correctly, my test showed that the maintenance scripts are *not run* when the Mac wakes up from sleep but *they are run* when you boot up the Mac (and they hadn't run during the previous normal period.

As to leaving the Mac on 24/7, the only downside is the additional power required - I have the monitor set up to go to sleep after 10 minutes of non-use; it requires a lot more power than the Mini I use now. Tested the actual power the Mini uses, somewhere less than 20 watts or about 500 watss per day which costs about 4 cents per day in my case.
For the electronics, running a device continuously is better than turning it on and off - turning a device on always creates the greatest streess for the electronics especially if one does it several times a day. Other than the power consumption, I really see no benefit a desktop Mac off after every use or even at night.
I'd be interested in comments contrary to that.
Laptop might be a different situation because of the battery use - haven't thought about that yet.
BTW - keeping the desktop Mac on will also extend the life of the PRAM battery.


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## screature (May 14, 2007)

krs said:


> ...As to leaving the Mac on 24/7, the only downside is the additional power required - I have the monitor set up to go to sleep after 10 minutes of non-use; it requires a lot more power than the Mini I use now. Tested the actual power the Mini uses, somewhere less than 20 watts or about 500 watss per day which costs about 4 cents per day in my case.
> 
> For the electronics, running a device continuously is better than turning it on and off - turning a device on always creates the greatest streess for the electronics especially if one does it several times a day. Other than the power consumption, I really see no benefit a desktop Mac off after every use or even at night.
> I'd be interested in comments contrary to that.
> ...


+1 I agree with the points you make krs...


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## pm-r (May 17, 2009)

Actually for desktop Macs, unless things have changed with some of the latest models, if the desktop Mac is powered off but still has power applied to it by being plugged into a power outlet, a small trickle voltage is present to help maintain the PRAM battery charge. 

And that's a very valid reason NOT to turn off the power with a power bar's switch that some are inclined to do,


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## Paddy (Jul 13, 2004)

krs said:


> I tested this scenario with the maintenance scripts and I'm sure I posted my results on ehMac at the time since that question came up before.
> The statement at the time was: If you shut down the Mac or put it to sleep, the maintenance scripts will then automatically run when the Mac is either woken up or when it is booted up (if completely shut down).
> If I recall correctly, my test showed that the maintenance scripts are *not run* when the Mac wakes up from sleep but *they are run* when you boot up the Mac (and they hadn't run during the previous normal period.


Krs, did you test this on 10.6? Apple says the scripts DO run when the computer awakes from sleep when running 10.6, but this does NOT happen in 10.5 or earlier.

Mac OS X: About background maintenance tasks

I leave my MacPro on 24/7, but sleep the monitor after 15 minutes and the computer itself after an hour or so, without putting the HD to sleep though. It gets woken up a couple of times after 3:30 a.m. to run automatic backups with SuperDuper, so I would presume the maintenance scripts run sometime in there.


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## krs (Mar 18, 2005)

Looks like I had it backwards in my last comment.
The maintenance scripts don't run when one boots up in the morning, that's on 10.6.4
http://www.ehmac.ca/mac-ipod-help-troubleshooting/89467-remove-osx-update-3.html

Now I'm not sure if I ever tested it if I put the Mac to sleep.
Maybe another search will find that - just a bit too late right now.

Easy enough to test.
There is a widget that tells you the times when the various maintenance scripts have actually run on your Mac, that's what I used to check if a script ran or not for each of th tests.


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## Paddy (Jul 13, 2004)

This what you were thinking of?

Maintidget - The OS X Maintenance Scripts Widget

I just installed it and according to it, the scripts were last run at 4:03 a.m. today, so all is well. One of my SuperDuper backups runs at 3:30 a.m. and finished at 3:47, and SD is instructed to sleep the computer upon completion, so I'm not sure exactly what is happening there - it must be waking back up, or have never gone to sleep again.


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## pm-r (May 17, 2009)

Ghee, I'm implicated once again with an old post. Hmmm... ;-)

Anyway, Apple's own Console provides a log to check for the 'daily.out', 'weekly.out' and 'monthly.out' maintenance routines, and for those that need something extra, there's always"Macaroni" that can set the Mac OS X maintenance to run at a maybe more convenient time for those that sleep or shut down whatever the latest Mac OS X method decides to use.
Macaroni | atomicbird


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## krs (Mar 18, 2005)

Paddy said:


> This what you were thinking of?


Yes, that's what I used to check if the scrip was automatically run or not.


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