Hard Drive Longevity Question

Gafoto

I just got myself a backup Seagate External Harddrive. I use it as backup and to hold extra movies and games, crap like that. I use it maybe once or twice a day and keep it turned off the in meantime. I heard something about the most stressful time for a harddrive is booting up and shutting down and all that. In terms of reducing wear, what is the best method of dealing with the drive? I'm living in a dorm right now so it sucking up power isn't a concern to me.

Everywhereasign

I don't have the numbers to back it up, but when the drive isn't being used, and still has power, it's not spining so isn't getting any wear.

Turning on the drive twice a day will cause it to spin to boot each time plus the use when you move data. I'd be inclined to leave the drive on as long as your computer is on. I don't really see it making a big difference. But if you want to reduce wear slightly, I'd say that's your best bet.

supabeast

Back in the 1980s and 90s, when computer components still suffered a lot more from little bits of wear, turning anything on and off more often than absolutely necessary was a really bad idea. But manufacturers have learned a hell of a lot about making computers over the years, and it ceased to be an issue in the late 90s. That's why we have laptops that can turn the hard drive on and off hundreds of times a day without any trouble.

Ruckus

At least once a month I replace laptop harddrives manufactured no earlier than 2002.

On the other hand, we have an FTP server running ATA66 drives (standard for around the 1998-2000 era IIRC) which has yet to have harddrive issues.

I've had old 486 Unix POS servers who's drives didn't actually die until they were shutdown (it was functioning, we shut it down and replaced it, then attempted to boot it again to access any Legacy information we might need, it wouldn't boot. Luckily we never ended up needing to access the database again, as the export we'd performed seemed to have worked perfectly).

Gafoto

Is there any downside to leaving it on all the time? I'm guessing it isn't spinning up at all but it does stay warm all the time.

st0ned messiah

Gafoto wrote:

Is there any downside to leaving it on all the time? I'm guessing it isn't spinning up at all but it does stay warm all the time.

Most enclosures will get pretty hot if you leave them on long enough and no that isn't good for the components inside. I wouldn't worry it while you're only turning the hard drive on once or twice a day. Most people with regular computers turn them on once a day or so and it isn't a big deal.