Lifespan of External Hard drives
Nov 23, 2020 15:04:53 #
Nov 23, 2020 16:13:40 #
I had one die in about 2 years . My current one is probably 5 years old and still going strong BUT i only turn it on when I need it, some people let them run when ever the computer is on.
Nov 23, 2020 16:46:02 #
bdk wrote:
I had one die in about 2 years . My current one is probably 5 years old and still going strong BUT i only turn it on when I need it, some people let them run when ever the computer is on.
Curious - brand/model for the one that died?
Nov 23, 2020 17:05:53 #
Over my 2.5 decades of drives, I have lost 4 out of around 20. One became unusable after a move because it had a proprietary power cable that got lost in the move. Another two were the small deck of cards sized drives. They fell off the table onto the floor while running. So I have to admit that as my fault. The remaining one just quit. Most likely an electronics problem. I tried several things to get it running without luck so I took the plastic case off. The disk had the electronics soldered to it so I couldn't just try another connector. Since it was dead I took it apart. When I plug it in the disk starts spinning and the heads move back and forth searching for something. After a while they give up and stop and park themselves and the disk stops.
The disk (2 platters) are nice shiny disks and they would make nice mirrors. I closed the case back up and put it in a drawer until I need some round mirrors.
The one that died by itself was a WD. There are some Seagates in the pile but they were early models.
The disk (2 platters) are nice shiny disks and they would make nice mirrors. I closed the case back up and put it in a drawer until I need some round mirrors.
The one that died by itself was a WD. There are some Seagates in the pile but they were early models.
Nov 23, 2020 17:08:24 #
DirtFarmer wrote:
Over my 2.5 decades of drives, I have lost 4 out o... (show quote)
The magnet is awesomely strong -
Nov 23, 2020 17:49:07 #
Gene51 wrote:
The magnet is awesomely strong -
Boy howdy!!!
Nov 23, 2020 22:41:03 #
I have WD drives from the era when 250GB was considered huge. They're small, but they still work.
The point of external drives is that they are not connected except when you are copying to them, so they are not spinning all the time. And, you should be rotating through a set of three or four equal sized drives, so each is only used a fraction of a fraction of the time, ie, not much. If the drive isn't spinning AND not powered AND you handle it like it's a carton of eggs (no bumps or vibration) each will last many years.
I outgrow my drives before they have had more than one or two hundred hours of use.
The point of external drives is that they are not connected except when you are copying to them, so they are not spinning all the time. And, you should be rotating through a set of three or four equal sized drives, so each is only used a fraction of a fraction of the time, ie, not much. If the drive isn't spinning AND not powered AND you handle it like it's a carton of eggs (no bumps or vibration) each will last many years.
I outgrow my drives before they have had more than one or two hundred hours of use.
Nov 24, 2020 06:06:48 #
My first Seagates which were a "huge" 500 gb from 10 years ago are still working fine. My back up since those days were always flash drives.
Nov 24, 2020 06:40:17 #
I’ve had external drives last many years.
Anymore I would not buy anything other than an SSD drive.
Anymore I would not buy anything other than an SSD drive.
Nov 24, 2020 06:46:39 #
I think it's most important to not leave the external hard drive always plugged in to your computer. If you do then the drive is always spinning and will eventually fail. I plug in mine once a month to load all of the pictures I took that month, then disconnect it, so it's only running for 5 minutes a month. I've had it for close to 10 years now. So my photos are on my computer hard drive, the external drive and in the cloud on my flickr account.
Nov 24, 2020 06:57:36 #
To the OP...At that rate of replacement, in ten years I'll have enough metal bricks to build a small cottage.
Nov 24, 2020 07:07:36 #
I used a Buffalo for 12 years before replacing it - just because it was getting old.
Nov 24, 2020 07:24:30 #
nimbushopper wrote:
I think it's most important to not leave the external hard drive always plugged in to your computer. If you do then the drive is always spinning and will eventually fail. ...
Many <newer> units "sleep" after no data access for a time. My WD Ultras do.
Nov 24, 2020 07:57:56 #
Longshadow wrote:
Many <newer> units "sleep" after no data access for a time. My WD Ultras do.
Ah, that is a great improvement!
Nov 24, 2020 07:58:01 #
I keep my LR catalog on externals and have 2 or 3 backups. At this point, I have one that has lasted 5 years. The others failed in the range of 2 to 4 years. A few months back I had 2 fail in a week. This prompted the extra backup. Ive' used WD and Seagate. My images on Flikr are what my daughter said she would like to have when I am gone. I guess that is the ultimate failure backup.
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