Should I turn off my Mac Pro when not in use or leave it running?

I have been told I should never turn off my computer by some people, and others say that I should always turn it off when not in use!  I use my Mac Pro primarily for music recording/editing in my home studio or word processing.  Now that I have an iPad I use that for web browsing, email, FBing, etc. and I find myself on my Mac Pro a lot less.  I get the basis behind both trains of thought; those who leave it on feel always stopping and starting up puts unnecessary wear on the moving disks, and those who shut down think if the parts are always moving they are bound to wear out faster.  I am not as concerned with conserving power as I am with keeping my machine safe!  If you have any information on this topic I would love to hear it. Thanks!

Providing you have a robust firewal and are not worried as a result about being hacked then leave it turned on and allow it to sleep. Make sure you allow the screen to sleep as well a that is the item that is more prone to damage by being left on all the time.
I never turn my machine off, never have with any of my Macs ever since my first one back in 1979-ish and have never suffered any adverse affects. Today, the power drain is so small when allowed to sleep that I doubt they would offend even the ardent 'turn off everything and pull out the plug to save the planet' person.
If you have an iPad or iPod synced with the Mac for email and iCal and address Book etc. then if you leave it on it should be up to date as soon as you return home, mine is anyway. With iCloud coming out very soon that may come into play even more so with all its advance pushing etc. Just a thought.
One advantage in leaving the machine on (sleep) is that you can access it from anywhere in the world should the need arise with the appropriate settings, which you can't if you turn it off.
Leave it on.

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