Lifespan of External Hard drives
Dec 3, 2020 08:04:00 #
jerryc41 wrote:
Interesting. About forty years ago, a friend asked me if a cosmic particle could change something on a disk, changing a Yes to a No. I thought that with all the data it takes to produce software, changing a bit or two wouldn't do something like that. I could see it causing a glitch, but not letting the program run and produce wrong results. I'm surprised about the Livermore report.
You’re right Jerry, an occasional flipped bit often does no harm, but at Livermore, they would run models/simulations sometimes for days at a time, and since it was on a VERY large machine with a ton of storage and zillions of disk accesses, that one bit here and there would accumulate to skew the model over time. As I mentioned, it didn’t flip the bit(s) on disk - when we read the data on the disk, it was correct - it would flip bits in the read cache on the drives, which is RAM.
Dec 3, 2020 09:15:41 #
This article about ssd drives I found interesting: https://www.solarwindsmsp.com/blog/ssd-lifespan#:~:text=Current%20estimates%20put%20the%20age,of%20when%20it%20stopped%20working.
Dec 3, 2020 10:22:49 #
Picture Taker
Loc: Michigan Thumb
This has goon on long enough to replace all the hard drives we had when it started.
Dec 3, 2020 10:31:34 #
Picture Taker wrote:
This has goon on long enough to replace all the hard drives we had when it started.
Indeed!!! Had no idea my question would generate such a response!! Thanks to all. A bit overwhelmed, but thanks!
Dec 3, 2020 11:25:08 #
Picture Taker
Loc: Michigan Thumb
It seems that the answer is "Don't know" Like how long do people live. Answer is till they die, same with the hard drive.
Dec 3, 2020 11:41:12 #
Picture Taker wrote:
It seems that the answer is "Don't know" Like how long do people live. Answer is till they die, same with the hard drive.
Now thats funny
Dec 3, 2020 11:44:20 #
LWW
Loc: Banana Republic of America
dbfalconer wrote:
A speaker at a recent photo club meeting was describing the importance various redundant backup options. He mentioned that external hard drives (like Seagate and WD) need to be replaced about every 18-24 months.
I understand any such device can fail, and one needs a backup of the backup, so to speak. But I was shocked at his assertion. I keep adding more WD units as my collection grows...but I had not considered constant replacement too. Thoughts? Thanks.
I understand any such device can fail, and one needs a backup of the backup, so to speak. But I was shocked at his assertion. I keep adding more WD units as my collection grows...but I had not considered constant replacement too. Thoughts? Thanks.
I have one that is fourteen years old now.
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