Leave your PC on, stop the software, and shutoff the monitor. Today's drives are more stable and last much longer than before. I leave my PC on 24/7. It has been ON for almost 3 years now and it is only shut off for restarts and power outages.

I leave my PC on all the time and set my monitor to shut off after 30 minutes of non-use (power settings). The monitor powers up the second a key is hit or the mouse is moved. Any number of programs/remotes can control the rest of your functionality.