Hard drive failures--time or useage?

[paulri]

I have a backup external hdd that is over 90% full (160 gigs of space left of 2 tb). It is a Western Digital. I don't know when it was made, but as soon as I bought it, I put folders & data on it. The folders were created in January 2020. So it is at least 5 1/2 years old, and has been used that long. However, this drive is only used as a backup for two computers, and I only back each up, say, 9-10 times a year. So it just hasn't gotten that much usage.

Is this drive equally at risk of failure, as a drive that was being turned on (almost) every day of the year?

 

[siriusc1024]

You're correct about the on/off cycles shortening the life. For platter drives, go into power management and adjust. I wouldn't rely on that drive in question.

For data backups (stuff that I care about), I buy enterprise class HDD's. Even then there's a failure rate. Search HDD reliability online and you'll come up with some good info.

Personally, I like Hitachi HGST and Western Digital Ultrastar/Gold for reliability.

If you have a regular HDD consumer grade then check the jumper settings. If there's one for Spread Spectrum Clocking then disable it.

 

[JohnnyJohnson]

My last Western Digital HD's seemed to last a little over 3.5 years. When the last one failed I went the SSD route. So much faster than the HD I never looked back.

https://www.amazon.com/SAMSUNG-Inte...+990+pro+ssd+1tb+pcie+4.0,aps,238&sr=8-1&th=1

 

[paulri]

You're correct about the on/off cycles shortening the life. For platter drives, go into power management and adjust. I wouldn't rely on that drive in question.

For data backups (stuff that I care about), I buy enterprise class HDD's. Even then there's a failure rate. Search HDD reliability online and you'll come up with some good info.

Personally, I like Hitachi HGST and Western Digital Ultrastar/Gold for reliability.

If you have a regular HDD consumer grade then check the jumper settings. If there's one for Spread Spectrum Clocking then disable it.

I just looked at a backblaze study for 2024; WD had the lowest percentage of hdd failures by far, compared to their Seagate, HGST, & Toshiba drives. I looked at their studies before getting my last WD external hdd, and for this next purchase too, I'll get WD.

Now when you say you wouldn't rely on that drive in question, do you mean my 5 1/2 year old backup drive?

 

[paulri]

I realize that SSDs are faster. My point isn't about one that has your programs or your OS. This is simply an external drive in a case, that I can plug into a USB port once a month for backups. I agree SSDs are superior for a daily driver.

My last Western Digital HD's seemed to last a little over 3.5 years. When the last one failed I went the SSD route. So much faster than the HD I never looked back.

https://www.amazon.com/SAMSUNG-Internal-Expansion-MZ-V9P1T0B-AM/dp/B0BHJF2VRN/ref=sr_1_1?crid=13A51TQ6M2XQB&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.Uuv0kVfSa3bHEiCcEueGKdO82_n1A-HVypw5l-Bj2oYuQxLQq8sPGdDk4uQbWtEhsNzxK39er3JGT2b3xc-xe4EPiFQMwf6N5Sc-3IYyP4etzjViThvdhwoIFsiRZl5NjM1K4bsv8qpIit13qxvQ1WmbFri1tRfd9oztj4sQNcObKTtEhLPO09Ec8_D_dNJK2zt92qulWUPOXjh6ok6RgFwCm3UJlVqCYaBdKr643Do.Gdujs6Mw2HRj8aUIC790VtJu1Kkfy3IXJIAbsQz0oOY&dib_tag=se&keywords=SAMSUNG+990+PRO+SSD+1TB+PCIe+4.0&qid=1746412194&sprefix=samsung+990+pro+ssd+1tb+pcie+4.0,aps,238&sr=8-1&th=1

 

[siriusc1024]

I just looked at a backblaze study for 2024; WD had the lowest percentage of hdd failures by far, compared to their Seagate, HGST, & Toshiba drives. I looked at their studies before getting my last WD external hdd, and for this next purchase too, I'll get WD.

Now when you say you wouldn't rely on that drive in question, do you mean my 5 1/2 year old backup drive?

You have to drill down by category and class. Huge difference between a WD Blue and Gold. From there it's drive size. There was a rash of failures of only 3TB size vs 4TB for one manufacturer. You can even find reliability data by model number.

No brand is the best across the board.

WD got the Ultrastar tech from Hitachi btw.

 

[paulri]

Fair enough on specific lines.

Now when you say you wouldn't rely on that drive in question (in an earlier comment you made), do you mean my 5 1/2 year old backup drive?

You have to drill down by category and class. Huge difference between a WD Blue and Gold. From there it's drive size. There was a rash of failures of only 3TB size vs 4TB for one manufacturer. You can even find reliability data by model number.

No brand is the best across the board.

WD got the Ultrastar tech from Hitachi btw.

 

[siriusc1024]

If it has important memories or documents then I'd get a new one. Long format it not quick. Keep the original offline somewhere safe. If you're curious you could run the SMART data on the one you have.

If you're wondering if the one you have is going to fail then it's pretty easy to alleviate that concern. New drive is cheap insurance.

 

[paulri]

I just ran crystal disk info on it; the health status is Good.

If it has important memories or documents then I'd get a new one. Long format it not quick. Keep the original offline somewhere safe. If you're curious you could run the SMART data on the one you have.

If you're wondering if the one you have is going to fail then it's pretty easy to alleviate that concern. New drive is cheap insurance.

 

[siriusc1024]

SMART should read a whole list of specific parameters such as uptime, return to platter count, total data up/down, etc.

Don't forget full scan.

 

[paulri]

There are a lot of parameters in the report---any in particular that you'd like me to give here?

SMART should read a whole list of specific parameters such as uptime, return to platter count, total data up/down, etc.

 

[siriusc1024]

Look up the MTTF of that particular drive model and cross reference. That'll give you some info.

https://www.toshiba-storage.com/trends-technology/mttf-what-hard-drive-reliability-really-means/

 

[dubber09]

First, remember if you have one backup copy, you got no backup. I'd suggest external SSD for backups, they are small overall, don't need external power supply, shock proof, faster than HDDs. The only use for HDDs I see is a NAS with large disks in a RAID, like Synology, but that's a different level.

 

[paulri]

I have online backup too. I just use a cheap external hdd as a second, more easily accessible recovery device.

 

[dogememe]

Some really negative people in this thread... an occasionally used five year old hard drive is no big deal.

 

[himemsys]

Power On Hours is the metric to pay attention to. 50,000 hours is a typical warranted lifespan for spinning drives. I've had drives make it over 100k hours, and ones die at 2000 hours. But it seems that if they make to 30k hours, the drive is more likely to keep chugging along. With external spinning disks, the biggest failure factor is from moving it while it's running, or wear and tear on the USB cable if you plug/unplug it frequently.

 

[Elkins45]

My computer is a Mac so I keep one drive permanently attached for hourly Time Machine backups. I keep a second in one of those locking pistol cases in the trunk of my car and backup to it every couple of weeks. I like having a drive that’s not in the same location as the computer in case there’s a catastrophe like a fire or burglary.

I recently replaced my external HDD with an SSD and the difference is remarkable.

 

[Pew]

Depends how critical the data is on the system. Since you're storing backups on there and is not critical (as a main system drive), I would say run it for at least a few more years as you're comfortable.

FWIW, I have a spread of maybe 14 WD golds at work between 8 to 3 years old, and one WD gold has failed at work in a Synology box. These are never turned off and constantly running.

I also use a 4TB WD external at work and it's been fine for the ~4 years I've used it daily. I stopped using it daily like 4 years ago though.

 

[Fordiesel69]

I have a backup external hdd that is over 90% full (160 gigs of space left of 2 tb). It is a Western Digital. I don't know when it was made, but as soon as I bought it, I put folders & data on it. The folders were created in January 2020. So it is at least 5 1/2 years old, and has been used that long. However, this drive is only used as a backup for two computers, and I only back each up, say, 9-10 times a year. So it just hasn't gotten that much usage.

Is this drive equally at risk of failure, as a drive that was being turned on (almost) every day of the year?

I have been around platter drives since the 1990's and I have learned there is no correlation to when they fail. I had 2x 2TB segates running in raid 1, both failed after a few years thankfully not at the same time. Conversely, I currently have a pair of 4TB seagates running almost non stop since 2014 and they still pass their thourough test with flying colors. I plan to upgrade them soon.

I have had all brands fail. HGST, Toshiba, WD, Segate, maxtor, quantum, conner. I run WD black 2.5" 500GB 7200RPM in my car mounted laptops, and they operate over bumpy roads, start up in negative temps, and work into the 130's temp limits. How they still work is beyond me.

 

[paulri]

Interesting. This disk is at 224 hours. Not 224K, just plain ol' vanilla 224. So it might have some life left.

Power On Hours is the metric to pay attention to. 50,000 hours is a typical warranted lifespan for spinning drives. I've had drives make it over 100k hours, and ones die at 2000 hours. But it seems that if they make to 30k hours, the drive is more likely to keep chugging along. With external spinning disks, the biggest failure factor is from moving it while it's running, or wear and tear on the USB cable if you plug/unplug it frequently.