HDD longevity

[MikeM]

I have read in a number of places that switching HDDs off when not
using them shortens their life compared to leaving them running. I
recently started using an extrnal HDD for backing up my digital photos
and would like to know if I should switch it on occasionally. I have
seen it suggested that they need to be run at least once a week to
avoid dmage.

Thanks
Mike

 

[John Weiss]

I have read in a number of places that switching HDDs off when not
using them shortens their life compared to leaving them running. I
recently started using an extrnal HDD for backing up my digital photos
and would like to know if I should switch it on occasionally. I have
seen it suggested that they need to be run at least once a week to
avoid dmage.

REPEATED on-off cycles (many per day) shorten the life, not occasional
cycles (a couple a week).

Your external drive is perfectly fine with the power and data plugs pulled
until you need it again in a month or year or 3.

 

[Rod Speed]

I have read in a number of places that switching HDDs off when
not using them shortens their life compared to leaving them running.

It isnt the black and white and depends on the drive involved too.

I recently started using an extrnal HDD for backing up my digital
photos and would like to know if I should switch it on occasionally.

It is generally best to turn the externals off when you arent using them.

Not because the startup wears them out, but because they
generally arent very well cooled and its better to not let them
get hotter than they need to by turning them off when not in use.

The other problem with externals is that you can only
monitor the temperature easily with eSATA drives.

I have seen it suggested that they need to
be run at least once a week to avoid dmage.

That is pure drivel.

 

[Guest]

I have read in a number of places that switching HDDs off when not
using them shortens their life compared to leaving them running.

What are the qualifications of the people saying that? Sometimes real
experts (plenty of formal education about hardware and experience in
industrial settings doing actual troubleshooting) and pretend experts
(nothing but A+ certification and only board swapping experience)
differ greatly in opinions.

Considering that many external drive enclosures don't seem to be
designed for good cooling, even those with fans in them, I'd rather
turn off the drives if I didn't plan to use them again in the next few
hours.

I recently started using an extrnal HDD for backing up my digital photos
and would like to know if I should switch it on occasionally. I have
seen it suggested that they need to be run at least once a week to
avoid dmage.

That's a good idea for car air conditioners, to keep their seals from
drying out and leaking. Running an external drive (or any electronic
device) for at least 30 minutes a year should be good enough to prevent
the electrolytic capacitors from spoiling quickly. I don't believe
current hard drives use such capacitors, but power supplies for
external drives do.

Considering that the most expensive hard drive costs less than the
cheapest data recovery, you should get more backup drives, external or
internal, and rotate them in order of backup date. Internal IDE
drives, whether PATA or SATA, can be far faster than USB 2, and cheaper
per byte. Flat PATA cables can wear out from repeated plugging and
unplugging, so either get quality round cables (no metal sheathing or
other gimmicks, just twisted pair wires) or SATA drives (you may need a
SATA PCI controller card if your computer doesn't support SATA.