How long....................

[Swivel]

I was Just wondering how long you could expect a hard disk to last this maybe be hard to answer going by how much it is used and so on.
What part would you expect to go first the disk surface, head or maybe a bearing. Just thought it might be interesting.

Thanks

[skywalker[TSG]]

well normaly a Harddrive lasts 100000hours

the first thing that goes is normaly the motor or the diskz

[SysOpt]

Unless a drive is faulty, usually the only way it will die before it becomes a dinosaur anyway (i.e.- going the way of the 100MB drives of just a few years ago, still working but obsolete), is if you damage it yourself (drop it, fry it by touching the electronics to the case, cause an electrical short someplace else in the system causing the drive to fry, etc.).

That said, I've owned two or three dozen hard drives and have had a couple fail out of the blue, and I fried another, but the rest have been reliable. Always backup your data (do as I say not as I do http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif ).

[Joel Kleppinger]

Actually, most drives usually are fine after about the first 3 month testing period. After that, they typically will start failing (or at least having problems) after about 3 years or so. The two drives that I've had longer than 3 years are both dead, and from what I hear that is relatively common. The first drive had problems at about the 4th year, and then I kept it going for another year and a half until I dropped it. (ok, user error... but it wouldn't spin in year 4 without hitting it with a screwdriver). The other one died after about 3-4 years for unknown reasons.

All the drives I currently have are less than 3 years old, but I do have one that is about to have its 3rd birthday, and it's purring along just fine.

Of course, there are exceptions. My uncle, the master of the old hardware, is using several drives that are almost 10 years old. He's also had several failures as well (opened up and hanging on his wall http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif) so it just seems you may get lucky and you may not. http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif

So, good luck. http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif

[This message has been edited by Joel Kleppinger (edited 05-28-2000).]

[Eli]

I have a 50 meg drive here that I pulled from an old 386 that's probably pushing ten years by now and it'll spin right up with no problems. Now what to do with a 50 meg drive these days I have no idea... In contrast I also have two 1.2 gig drives that both died early deaths. So basically, you never know how long it'll last until it dies.

[Warthog]

Dell sent my dad a new hard drive (the joys of being under warranty) when his 8.4gb crashed after almost 2 years of use. The funny thing is that they accidently sent him a 13.2!!!

Warthog

[Swivel]

Thanks for the info.

[Warthog]

Sure thing.

Warthog

[Eli]

Warthog, it's common for a company to replace a drive under warranty with a larger drive. They usually send you the closest size that they still make, even if it is a few gig larger.

[jadison]

I have several old 80MB hardrives that are still in use even after 8 years! So far they don't have any bad sectors per say, but I wouldn't put anything important on them!

I have a 15 Gigger which I plan on keeping For atleast 5 more years!
Unfortunately my 6.4 GB Western Digital is not in tip top shape, it has a couple bad sectors, and they seem to be spreading!

But like everything else in this world, nothing is permanent!
We just have to take care of it as best we can, and always backup whenever possible! http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif

-=jd=-

[Wiz]

Or they replace it with a similarly priced one. an 8.4 then is about the price of a 13.2 now.

[hd581]

Also depends which brand. Some brands last forever. Some act like they've fallen off the back of the truck the minute you buy it and last 6 months before crashing hard. (I'm not going to name names or me and jad### are gonna have a Western Digital war again http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/wink.gif ) (Oops did I say that out loud).

[CMonster]

...all that good stuff said, the only two sure ways (that I know of first hand) to fry an otherwise good drive are:

A. use the lowlevel format utility that comes with some older motherboard bios.

B. A strong magnet and 2-3 seconds in a microwave oven (laugh if you will but that drive you are about to RMA may have reverse engineered Roswell secrets on it)

[socalgal]

hehe CM~.. http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/wink.gif

I've had 2 WD's go right at the 3 yr mark.. built-in obsolescence? My other IBM and WD's are still less than a year old - and backed up faithfully in case of the unthinkable.

[Richard_Cranium72]

I concur with Joel that 3 yrs of continuous service is about the point where the bearings are worn from constant fighting the rotational forces of the earth, or the lubricant for the arm goes away. One on a "90's Dell 486/25 vibrated so badly that during a test of it, the HD buzzed around on the computer case. One member a while back complained of a hi pitched whine similar to a jet engine. I had three of the 7200 drives at the time and none did that. Till LATER, now very rarely do I hear a jet like whine from the HD. Odd, it is not present during most HD activity. I restart several times daily and turn it off if non active for a couple of hours or more. DrVette

[blind to truth]

I read that hard drives have a life of 4 years,and that the bearings give way first