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Storage: Best and worsted practices to maintain hard drive health
Best and worsted practices to maintain hard drive health
by peely_peel - 8/17/09 3:47 AMThough I have backups of all my data, so a single hard drive failure would not be a big issue, I was wondering what are the best practices to keep a hard drive health, and on the flip side, what are the worsted (that's just curiosity).
I've heard that actually spinning/powering up is the most stressful thing a hard drive can do, more so than actuality writing data to the disk, so should I leave my pc on all the time?
HD
by angelo212 - 8/21/09 7:07 PM In reply to: Best and worsted practices to maintain hard drive health by peely_peelNobody will answere this? I like to know myself.
Best & worst
by rbsjrx - 8/21/09 8:19 PM In reply to: Best and worsted practices to maintain hard drive health by peely_peelAll of the following assume you're using some version of Windows, since Linux and Mac OSs are significantly less vulnerable to software related hard drive problems, and there's little you can do to head off hardware problems.
Best:
1. Keep Windows and all of your software, especially your browser (and mail client, if you use one) patched and up to date. The easiest way to do this is to set Widows Update to run automatically.
2. Back up regularly and religiously. If your hardware fails, this is your only defense.
3. Use comprehensive security. This is essentially in heading off problems before they happen. Comprehensive security includes:
a) A good bidirectional firewall. Vista's is OK, XP's is not. 3rd party (e.g. Zone Alarm, Comodo) firewall's are often the best.
b) Antivirus software.
c) Anti-spyware software.
Full security suites are most convenient or you can use stand-alone components. The most visible suite is Norton which many PC vendors preload as tialware. However, Norton is bloated and sluggish and, worse, the consumer version has built-in holes to allow other trialware to work, so there are better options. The suites tend to be commercial packages. If you want something free, your best bet will be to assemble individual pieces, e.g. Comodo or Zone Alarm free firewall with Avast or AVG.
4. Defragment your hard drive regularly - I usually recommend once a week. You can also get defrag software that works automatically in the background from Diskeeper (commercial) and IObit (free).
5. As a last resort, you may need to run a registry cleaner. This is where you need to be careful. There are a few good ones and a lot of bad ones. Thye best ones are IObit Advanced System Care (free or Pro versions), CCleaner (free), and Uniblue's Registry Booster (commercial). The worst are noted in the next section. Use a registry cleaner when your system starts slowing down or acting funny and everything else has failed. IOW, it should be your last resort.
Worst:
1. Routinely reformatting your hard drive and/or reinstalling Windows. This is almost <u>never</u> necessary until and unless your machine becomes totally unusable. It's time-consuming and you will need ot reinstall all software (Windows and otherwise) updates to get to a stable system. Worse, if the problems were due to your own bad habits or lax use of the items in the "Best" list, it will be only a temporary solution.
2. Using a bad registry cleaner can be disastrous. The worst registry cleaners are actually malware disguised as utilities. They do nothing except help their authors steal your information and/or identity. However, most bad registry cleaners are not really criminal, but just either ineptly done or someone's get rich quick scheme with damage as a side effect. Many work as scareware, selling themselves via scary pop-up ads which tell you that you have thousands of registry errors and disaster is imminent unless you buy the software. Only slightly more subtle are the ones which invite you to run a sample scan, then try to scare you into buying them.
3. Don't be too trusting. Don't believe all the ads you see. Don't believe all the reviews you may find in a Google or Bing search. Don't believe that just because you receive an email allegedly from someone you know that any attachments may be safe to open. Learn what types of files <u>never</u> to open, e.g. .EXE, .BAT, et al.
didn't list the worst registry cleaners
by degelmom60 - 8/21/09 9:58 PM In reply to: Best & worst by rbsjrxHi, you didn't list the worst registry cleaners in the next section, like you mentioned. I use Registry Mechanic. Is that a good one? thanks K
Worst registry cleaners
by rbsjrx - 8/21/09 10:14 PM In reply to: didn't list the worst registry cleaners by degelmom60"Hi, you didn't list the worst registry cleaners in the next section, like you mentioned. I use Registry Mechanic. Is that a good one?"
There was a good discussion on the merits of registry cleaners on CNet a while back - see http://forums.cnet.com/5208-6138_102-0.html?threadID=345107&tag=forum-w;forums06. Look it up, it can provide you with a rogue's gallery of the bad ones. I've heard mixed reports on Registry Mechanic, so I'd avoid it personally. The three I mentioned are ones that I've never heard any reports of problems that were unambiguously linked to the software. I've personally used two of them (IObit ASC & ASC Pro and Registry Booster) for a total of ~6 user-years effectively and without incident. I currently use only ASC Pro on my and my wife's machines (2x WinXP MCE & 1 Vista), and ASC on my daughter's machine.
Of course, I feel compelled to add that my Linux machines don't need such things in order to run reliably.
Updates
by sirpaul1 - 8/22/09 4:22 PM In reply to: Best & worst by rbsjrxI would have to agree with everything in your post except having the updates run automatically. Set them to notify you they are ready to download. Then Google each one to see what it actually does. The reasoning for this is that MS has updates for updates. Microsoft will also tell you to update programs you don't even have. I don't have Office, but I keep getting 'important' updates for PowerPoint, Excel, and Office
I write for my audience
by rbsjrx - 8/22/09 5:05 PM In reply to: Updates by sirpaul1"I would have to agree with everything in your post except having the updates run automatically. Set them to notify you they are ready to download. Then Google each one to see what it actually does"
I actually agree, but for the casual, non-technical user, auto updates are often best. I have my wife and daughter's machines set up that way and it works well for them (except that they gripe every Wednesday morning when the machines have rebooted). On my Windows machines, I have them set to alert me to updates, at which point I select those I want to install.
Also, better than Googling, it's also helpful to subscribe to the US-CERT mailing list so you can have a heads-up on what is going to need to be fixed.
a few more things
by porsche10x - 9/29/09 12:35 PM In reply to: Best & worst by rbsjrxMany of the suggestions are very good for keeping your computer running smoothly, but I would point out that some of them have little to do with hard drive health, per se. I would add a few things: Avoid moving your PC (desktop or laptop) while it's on. I'm not talking about dropping it, I'm saying to avoid even casual motion. Moving a hard drive out of its plane of rotation can cause large internal stresses from gyroscopic forces leading to excessive wear or permanent damage. Keep the PC in a temperature and humidity controlled environment (meaning normal, comfortable indoor conditions with AC available in the summer). Clean out the dust from inside of the PC and the vents occasionally. Well, I guess dust isn't likely to get inside a hard drive, but cleaning will improve cooling. Avoid large magnetic fields. Right next to your guitar amp's 400W speaker cabinet is not a good place to locate your PC.
Time consuming?
by porsche10x - 9/29/09 12:50 PM In reply to: Best & worst by rbsjrxRoutine reformatting/reinstalling isn't time consuming if you make a backup / full drive image immediately afterwards. You just restore the last image. Takes minutes. To save time for the next time, update windows after the restore, etc., then make a new image.
PS - the last post of mine, above, was meant to be a reply to the OP.
Got a couple of suggestions...
by dexter_birdbrain - 8/22/09 9:46 AM In reply to: Best and worsted practices to maintain hard drive health by peely_peel1) Always try to avoid hard booting your PC/laptop i.e using the power button, to force your Windows (or Linux) to shutdown. This can corrupt the NTFS file system on the hard drive rendering your OS useless (I lost my Ubuntu 9.04 installation once due to this!)
2) In case of USB drives make sure you have 'Safely Removed The Device' before pulling the drive out.
4 things...
by VAPCMD - 8/23/09 12:27 PM In reply to: Best and worsted practices to maintain hard drive health by peely_peelPC is protected by a good UPS..
PC runs 24/7/365 (HDDs are set to stay running)
HDDs are cooled by 80mm fans pushing heat towards the back of the case where its exhausted by the rear case fans.
Last I run Spinrite every 12 months or so.
VAPCMD
PS...I image partitions on drive 0 to drive 1 and copy those images to an external HDDs.
Not necessarily
by rbsjrx - 8/23/09 2:24 PM In reply to: 4 things... by VAPCMD"PC is protected by a good UPS.."
Always a good idea.
"PC runs 24/7/365 (HDDs are set to stay running)"
This is where it gets arguable. For the average home user running their PC 4 hours a day or less, this could lead to a decrease in longevity rather than an increase. HDDs are electromechanical devices, subject to mechanical wear just like the motor in your blender. There are entirely different lifetime mortality profiles for mechanical versus purely electronic devices. Electronics exhibit a high infant mortality followed by a long period of low, nearly constant failure rates, leading to a rise of failure rates at the end of life. Mechanical devices tend to start out low, then have a steadily increasing failure rate over their lifetime, all due to friction, mechanical wear and abrasion, and loss of lubricants. Since mechanical devices still tend to wear out much faster than electronic ones, the life cycle of a hard drive is predominantly determined by its motor, bearings, and voice coil with its associated flex circuit - i.e. the machanical components.
The only thing running 24/7/365 is guaranteed to do is to use more electricity.
I leave mine on 24/7/365 because I use it 15+ hours/day and it takes forever to boot up. IOW, one good reason and one excuse. Still, I shut it down when I'm going to be away for more than 2 days.
"HDDs are cooled by 80mm fans pushing heat towards the back of the case where its exhausted by the rear case fans."
Most PCs are built this way. However, this is a decision that most people need to make as part of a purchase decision. Most consumers don't build their own and therefore have no control over it.
Worse is the popularity of laptops which are very difficult to cool properly. This is one reason why portable PCs have significantly higher HDD failure rates (the other is, obviously, how easy it is to knock them around).
"Last I run Spinrite every 12 months or so. [...] PS...I image partitions on drive 0 to drive 1 and copy those images to an external HDDs."
These help in case of disaster, but do nothing to prevent it, which is what I took to be the point of the post.
Never a good idea.
by morrie 52 - 9/8/09 8:45 AM In reply to: Not necessarily by rbsjrxJust to add to the running 24 /7,there is the potential off a fire,even in stand-bye,so switch of if not using(ok there is the fridge etc)
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