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Storage: Is there a life expectancy on external hard drives?
- 5/29/09 1:02 PM
Life Expectancy of Hard Drives
by johnlyffe - 5/24/09 8:52 PM In reply to: Is there a life expectancy on external hard drives? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
The life expectancy of a hard drive will depend on how the device is used and maintained. If the hard drive is not safely removed connecting via USB port, it will cause some problems in the rotating disk inside the device. The data will be corrupted and damaged. Also, do not over-use defragmentation because it will also damaged the disk. The time interval for defragmentation is from four to six months respectively. Another good preventive maintenance is to make the device virus-free. Do not use faulty cables in connecting the device because it might suffer from short circuit. Do not drop the device because it will suffer from damaging the sensitive parts. Hope it helps! Cheers!!!
SMART
by curlygirly82 - 5/25/09 12:44 AM In reply to: Is there a life expectancy on external hard drives? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
there is SHARP (Self-Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology)for your Hard Disk that will keep you informed of the state of you HD so you can backup just before it dies (HA HA)
Is there a life expectancy on external hard drives?
by alswilling - 5/25/09 7:53 AM In reply to: Is there a life expectancy on external hard drives? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Yes there is - sort of...
You didn't mention the brand name of your external 250 GB hard drive; but assuming that it is a quality product, on average you should consider getting a new hard drive after five years of use, assuming that you use it every day.
One factor that you should take into consideration on a portable drive is the care with which you handle an external hard drive. The heads on the actuator arm never actually touch the platters. Sudden bumps or dropping the hard drive can cause damage to the platter, the actuator arm, or both. If the recording head touches the platter while it is being used, due to a jolt to the desk or drive, or if it is knocked off the desk and hits the floor or any other object, then you have just ruined the drive.
Another safety precaution is heat. Keep the drive cool. Its being housed in an external case, there is less room for air flow around the drive than there is inside your computer's tower; so the external drive may tend to get hotter than an internal drive. With so little space between the actuator arm and platter surface, extreme heat could close that gap and cause physical damage to both the arm and the platter.
Assuming that you have been careful, have kept the drive relatively cool, and there are no damaged sectors on the platter and no damage to the actuator arm, then five years is about as long as you should trust a hard drive, depending on the brand name. Maxtor EIDE hard drives have always given me good service.
I have an old machine that is almost nine years old which has two internal hard drives: a Western Digital and a Maxtor EIDE. The Maxtor is about a year younger than the WD drive, and both are still working just fine--and they are constantly reading, writing, wiping, and rewriting data on a daily basis. I have taken care of the computer and have kept my home office temperature at around 70 - 72 degrees F. That seems to be the optimum temperature for both the computer and me. Still, to be realistic, either of the hard drives could have failed at any time between installation and today.
In your case, your hard drive was purchased back when quality of workmanship was still a virtue. In today's business climate, it's hard to say that any particular brand of hard drive is better or worse than its competitor. Western Digital (WD) was once a benchmark product against which other brands were compared for quality. Over the past few months, though, I have heard and read quite a few bad reviews of WD hard drives. There have been more than one instances of WD hard drives being defective either straight out of the box or within a few days of installation because of poor workmanship. On the other hand, I have not heard any bad reviews of Maxtor hard drives. Based on reviews alone, it seems that Maxtor has surpassed WD in quality. Still, if you have been using the same hard drive for more than five years, you should consider adding a new second hard drive to your backup routine. If the data you are backing up is data that you want to keep forever, then you maybe should consider using DVDs to back up that data.
While external hard drives are excellent for the most part, I prefer to use DVDs for permanent data storage and backups. It is still the safest way to back up data, especially if you want a permanent solution. DVD disks have a clear, hard plastic protective coating over both sides of the foil that actually stores the data. A CD does not. The surface that you write on when you label a CD disk is just the back side of the foil on which the data is written. One accidental scratch from the raw edge of a cabinet, letter opener, scissors point, or other sharp object on the label side of a CD disk will ruin it. A typical DVD disk consists of two clear plastic disks with the data storage medium sandwiched between them. If the label side of the disk is accidentally scratched, it will not damage the stored data, and the disk can still be read by the DVD drive.
Even if your data has a shelf life and is discarded after X amount of time (7 years for tax returns, for instance), DVD disks are still an option. You can use DVD-RW disks and simply erase the DVD and write a new disk. There are disadvantages to using DVD+R and DVD-RW disks compared to using an external hard drive; but DVDs are not affected by magnetic fields, overheating (except for fire or sun damage) and the magnetic strength of the storage medium does not wane with age. DVDs will have a longer shelf life than an external hard drive for permanent data storage, and they are especially superior to an external hard drive for storage of income tax returns and photocopies of other important documents that will be kept for more than five years.
DVDs are also superior to CDs in the amount of data that can be stored on DVDs. CDs will hold approximately 700MB. Single layer DVDs hold approximately 4.7 GB.
DVDs are safe from virus attacks, too. Any time you plug in an external hard drive, you are exposing all the data on that drive to potential virus infection. Not so with DVDs--or even CDs. Once the data is written to CD or DVD, if your machine becomes infected, the files on the CD or DVD disks remain clean.
If I were in your boots, I would buy a new external hard drive. I would then use DVDs for anything I wanted to keep for more than five years and the two external hard drives for data that I expected to keep for five years or less.
Happy trails, cowboy.
Al
Maxtor Quality? and SpinRite to Save your Bacon
by rchris25 - 5/30/09 9:36 AM In reply to: Is there a life expectancy on external hard drives? by alswillingYou said, "On the other hand, I have not heard any bad reviews of Maxtor hard drives. Based on reviews alone, it seems that Maxtor has surpassed WD in quality." Just another perspective... I've read more bad reviews about Maxtor drives than any other brand. In any case, they were bought up by Seagate a few years ago.
I'm surprised no one has mentioned GRC's SpinRite software. If you have a hard drive failure, SpinRite is absolutely your best chance of recovering your drive at least long enough to get your data back (grc.com).
Spinrite
by DTavona - 6/3/09 3:51 AM In reply to: Maxtor Quality? and SpinRite to Save your Bacon by rchris25Spinrite is an outstanding program for hard drives. Steve Gibson is an amazingly talented individual in both software and computer security. It was with spinrite and cable swapping that I was able to determine that the hard drive issues with one recent client's machine were actually in the southbridge of the motherboard.
If you are going to buy an external and want to know longevity, it's going to vary. Drive lifetimes can vary.
* Read the reviews, especially those that actually test performance
* Treat it like an internal drive - pack it carefully when moving it
* Make sure it has good ventilation
* Once a year, back up the old data, clean the drive, and then reuse -- this will help keep the magnetic data bits chipper and active
* Like internal drives - run maintenance programs - defrag, but also a deeper maintenance like spinrite
* like desktops, make sure your power is regulated to protect the electronics (via AVR on UPS; that's Automatic Voltage Regulator on Uninterruptable Power Supply)
* Back up to secondary source for important/unique information, such as DVD and/or secondary drive stored at secondary location
* Decide if you want to buy a "prebuilt" external drive, or buy a kit to convert an internal to external
* Consider the newer technology of the bubble-memory drives; more expensive, but NO internal drive mechanism to fail down the road
When it comes to drives - don't skimp on quality. I have run Seagate and Maxtor and WD drives. The Caviar series of WD, for me, have been not particularly fast, but extremely reliable. Speed is nice, but I'm willing to put that second to having it work reliably and for years. That same rule should also apply to external drives. Drives that run faster also run hotter and wear out faster, and will need more cooling to maintain viability.
External hard drive life expectancy
by SupraGuy - 5/25/09 11:15 AM In reply to: Is there a life expectancy on external hard drives? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
First off, MTBF (Mean Time Before Failure) should be specified somewhere in the documentation for your hard drive, though this is often difficult to locate, as it's often buried somewhere in the technical specifications along wtih a bunch of stuff that you don't really care about.
Most external hard drives use exactly the same technology as the internal hard drives. This takes advantage of economy of scale, allowing the manufacturer to reap the benefits of the existing production line, and turn it into another profic center. As such, a matter of a few years isn't likely to pose a problem.
Many of these are basically a 3.5" desktop hard drive in a case with a USB interface and power supply, though some of them are 2.5" laptop hard drives, which tend to have lower speeds, but also lower power consumtion, and can be powered directly from the USB interface.
The most likely cause of failure for an external hard drive is physical shock, such as being dropped from your desk while you're reaching for the morning cup of coffee... Not that this has ever happened to me.
is there a life expectancy on external hard drives?
by 3116t - 5/25/09 1:17 PM In reply to: Is there a life expectancy on external hard drives? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Well Ted, in my opinion a external hard drive have a period life (between 5 to 7 years average according to my experience and use)depending some things like: type of work, carefully handling, etc. these units are most expensive than internal and they be handling very carefully, because are external is most expose to a injury that decreases xtreme hot or humidity, bad storage of unit, hard movements, etc.(your constantly use may decrease the utility life) , in other way is most confiable and capable than the cd`s or dvd`s. In that case Ted, depending cost you should buy another external dispositive like a flash memory. In my opinion, actually is more secure and confiable. in the market are differents options available (until 256gb) to your work.
Is there a life expectancy on external hard drives?
by scottbuik - 5/25/09 2:30 PM In reply to: Is there a life expectancy on external hard drives? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Is there a life expectancy on external hard drives?
Well yes if you using the same external hard drive for more than five years. I backup quicken files, thousands of photos and a lot of other files to & to a portable drive several times a year. I would like to know if it has a life expectancy and should I eventually retire it? Are there maintenance procedures that will enable me to prolong the life of these drives. All external hard drive & portable are for life
if you need more info then ring... 07960825711
Thanks this is djscottbuik..
hard drive failure
by ruggb - 5/25/09 4:11 PM In reply to: Is there a life expectancy on external hard drives? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
a hard drive COULD last forever except for the effects of:
Heat
Shock & vibration
Power failures
Obsolescence
I have had to replace a drive for each one of those occurrences.
The BIGGEST issue I faced were power failures.
I lost three drive before I figured out what the issue was. Added a UPS to my system and have not had one die after a storm, blackout, brownout, etc. It is the interruptions that last about 1/2 to 1 sec that do them in. Anything shorter or longer they seem to withstand.
Of course dropping a laptop on the floor is NOT good. Did that once.
Had an external unit with no fan - That does not work. I got too hot and was history.
Then there is just the lack of space to do a defrag. I have a 1TB unit in the mail now.
Theoretically, I suppose there is a limit to how many times u can magnetize those particles, but that is beyond me and I have never had a failure because of it.
External Hard Drive Life Expectancy
by jhauprich - 5/26/09 6:30 AM In reply to: Is there a life expectancy on external hard drives? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
The answer to your question is a definitive "YES"! Please remeber that external hard drives are no more than internal hard drives parked in nice little drive enclosures with a power supply and an interface to your computer. Generally speaking, if you open the enclosure, you will likely find a PATA or SATA drive that you could install directly inside your computer with a little know how. The manufacturer of the the drive provides MTBF (Mean Time Between Failure) specifications usuually with a 300K Hour rating. 300K hours is approximately 11+ years of 24/7 continuous use, and most of us will tell you that this specification refers to optimal usage under optimal conditions which almost none of us have unless we run a line conditioner in tandem with a UPS. Understand that power fluctuations (i.e. drops, spikes, brown outs, surges, etc.) will gradually damage the circuitry, spindle motor, and heads in an electro-magnetic device such as a hard drive. So you can usually expect atleast half of that life span running continuously unless you take a major power hit. This means that pretty soon you will be operating on borrowed time if you use the drive continuously. If you only use the drive occasionally, say for backing up data, then you probably have a few years to go. But many think that most of the wear and tear to a hard drive is powering it on and off. Dependent on the data you are storing to the drive, and its criticality if lost, you might want to buy a secondary drive. They are cheap! The question with any hard drive isn't if, but when.
I hope this answers your question.
expectancy on external hard drives
by jrvazzer - 5/26/09 6:30 AM In reply to: Is there a life expectancy on external hard drives? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Their is very little to do. Just make sure that you do not disconnect improperly. Also I purchase two Seagate external and they fail losing all info within one month. Received a replacement by seagate only to have same problem over and over again. Seagate refuse to say that they have problems, except that they keep replacing them with used drives. Has anybody else had problem with seagate external drives. I have a Lace for more than two years never had a problem.
Seagate drives are supposed to be very good....
by darrenforster99 - 5/30/09 3:50 AM In reply to: expectancy on external hard drives by jrvazzerMy sister has a Seagate drive in her computer and they're fine. They are supposed to be very good. The only thing with the external Seagate drives is that some of them have special electronics which means when they fail you can't just take them out of the box and put them into a new box.
Best thing to do is get an external 3.5" SATA HDD enclosure and build your own with an internal SATA HDD rather than getting these manufactured external drives,
That way if the enclosure fails you know how you built it and you just need to pull a few screws out pull the hard drive out and put it in a new enclosure (of course this doesn't fully protect from full hard disk failure, but it at least gives you a little bit more protection from just the enclosure failing).
I had one person call me up recently asking if I could rescue his data, it was one a Seagate external drive and he'd damaged the USB port, unfortunately as it was a sealed unit there was no way into it to get the hard drive out (and it was highly likely that inside it was a non-standard hard drive), so nothing he could do but send it back to Seagate and see if they could help him. If it had been a DIY unit it would have been so much more easier, just unscrew screws, disconnect hard drive, discard broken case and put in a new case.
Yes, but nobody knows what it is!
by OldGrayGeek - 5/26/09 11:19 AM In reply to: Is there a life expectancy on external hard drives? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
First, congratulations. In making an attempt to back up your stuff you're way ahead of a bunch of folks.
The problem is that you're dealing with a electronic/magnetic/mechanical device and there is no hard answer, there is only advice.
For full time drives in the aggregate, the probability of failure has a peak during the first three-six months, falls off to near nothing then rises slowly for maybe three'ish years then starts a precipitous climb. At five years you're living on borrowed time.
External drives are a different animal and I don't even want to pretend I know that answer. Life expectancy will depend upon storage handling somewhat but more directly the number of power cycles, total run time and the heat the drive endures.
Since you are only hitting this puppy "several times a year" you aren't stressing it much. The reverse of this is that you aren't exercising it much either, which may be a stress of its own. This is why military vehicles are driven monthly, but I don't know if the analogy is valid.
Suffice it to say, NOTHING is backed up if it doesn't reside on AT LEAST TWO spindles (separate media/locations gets into another discussion). Be advised that this also means that you're at risk in the period between backups.
Portable Hard drive life expectancy.
by tenpennys - 5/27/09 5:30 PM In reply to: Is there a life expectancy on external hard drives? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
First and foremost, NEVER trust all of your files to One form or type of backup. You could drop the portable drive and its instantly toast. If your stuff is important, back it up three times minimum. Portable hard drive, Cd's, connect your portable drive to another computer and store them there. Email important stuff to relatives and ask them to store them for you. A flash drive is not good backup but its a good way to get files from one place to another FOR backup.
Now back to the original question. I have seen hard drives running continuously for 10 or more years and some have died in a couple of months. Thats why you never put all of your eggs in one basket. Portable drives should be scan-disked and de-fragmented from time to time. They should be connected to your computer and checked for virus as well.
Portable drives should last as long as a drive in a computer with the caveat that its portable and more susceptible to physical damage than a "stationary" drive. Most drives have a warranty of three to five years. That might give you some kind of idea how long the manufacturer thinks they will last. Most Mfgrs aslo list average mean life expectancy. It doesn't really mean much except that by test methods a drive under ideal conditions should probably last x number of operational hours.
My best advice, spread your backups over several media and replace the portable at the first sign of a problem (unusual noises such as whines clicks etc) or any problems reading or writing, or being recognized when you plug it in. Use normal scan-disk and de-fragmentation procedures and take care of the portable when transporting or storing. Better safe than sorry
everything fails eventually!!!!
by jimnaro - 5/27/09 6:26 PM In reply to: Is there a life expectancy on external hard drives? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Backup on DVD and get a NEW big external HD to copy your files to and then unplug it (power cord and USB/Firewire/eSATA) and only use it to copy your files to when you add more to your "everyday" external HD!! Anything that has moving parts--such as a disk-- will fail after a lot of use, or just time.
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