PC hardware: How long is data viable on removeable drive?
How long is data viable on removeable drive?
by swilczynski - 3/20/07 7:53 AMHow long will data remain viable on a removeable hard drive. Is there a best practices interval for powering up a removable drive?
Once a week? Once a month? I am asking because I'd like to have several drives to store all my stuff - one for video, one for photos, one for music etc. I am running out of power outlets. I'm using 2 outlets strips right now.
5 years.
by R. Proffitt
- 3/20/07 8:06 AM
In reply to: How long is data viable on removeable drive? by swilczynski
If you read the hard drive maker's specs these are 5 year devices. So while we all know that a dry hermetic magnetically shielded chamber at say 50F could have your content stick around for decades most won't do that.
Bob
How come?
by Kees Bakker - 3/20/07 8:17 AM
In reply to: 5 years. by R. Proffitt
It is just a normal standard IDE-drive inside an aluminium case. Why should data last so much shorter than on the same drive mounted in a desktop? I don't get it.
Kees
Components age due to...
by R. Proffitt - 3/20/07 8:24 AM
In reply to: How come? by Kees Bakker
Time, temperature, humidity. If you look at say electrolytic capacitors you can see in the charts if we drop the temperature we can easily get 10x the lifespan in storage. But you can't get any maker to sign up for that.
Hope this explains it.
Bob
i've got an old celeron socket 370 with a 10gb ide drive
by ramarc - 3/20/07 8:56 AM In reply to: How come? by Kees Bakker
it's pushing 9 years old and i've just never gotten rid of it. it was in my garage (florida) and it just booted up win 98se fine.
5 years my butt
by valhalla_33 - 3/24/07 9:59 AM In reply to: i've got an old celeron socket 370 with a 10gb ide drive by ramarcInformation will last decades as long as there is no weird outside force acting upon it... I have a stack of old Commodore Vic-20 disks that still work today (that's 1980, what 27 years now)... Don't ask me how I know, I'd hate to embarrass myself telling you I still use my Vic-20 and C-64 sometimes...
Unless there is a strong magnetic field around, your info should last rather a long time... Floppy diskettes are essentially made from the same magnetic material except it has a flexible substrate rather than a rigid aluminum platter... Diskettes are said to be able to retain information for approximately 3 years if I recall, but, that is not in anyway accurate...
If you are just unplugging your external drive for a day or a week or even a year, you're safe... It is not volatile memory like your computers RAM where it degrades due to lack of electricity...
Hope this helps...
P.S. They say CD's degrade and have a life of only 20 years or so... My 20 year old CD's are still fine too... Based on the 9x greater than my floppy disks should be, that's 180 years for my CD's... 
Bryan
There are 2 ways to look at this.
by R. Proffitt - 3/24/07 10:31 AM
In reply to: 5 years my butt by valhalla_33
How long the drive maker will warrant it will work for and reality. My 5 year number is from the drive makers.
Yes, we should see longer but where's your "spec" that you can stand on?
Bob
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