Hard drive lifetime. Hard drive service life. Where is the best place to store information?

Average service life of external and internal HDDs A hard disk has a limited service life, since during the operation of the device it is affected by many factors. With our tips, you can increase the number of HDD operating hours per failure. An external hard drive can have a maximum lifespan of 10 years. A negative impact on the performance and, accordingly, rapid wear of the drive is caused by the presence of excess moisture in the environment, external influences and powerful magnets that may be located close to the device.

The internal hard drive, however, has a service life of 5 to 10 years, depending on its size and operating condition. The service life depends on the heat generated during operation and how well or poorly the heat is removed from the drive. You should pay special attention to choosing a system unit if you want to extend the life of your components.

If you use a solid state drive on your computer, you can expect a maximum lifespan of about 10 years. But remember that the life of an SSD, unlike a HDD, is limited to a certain number of rewrite cycles. So, in theory, an SSD may not survive a more capacious and slower hard drive.

Cloud storage has an almost infinite lifespan. But in this case, you will face certain risks, such as, for example, bankruptcy of the provider or hacker attacks. How do you take care of your HDDs? I periodically do defragmentation I monitor the heating temperature and clean the system unit in a timely manner I worried in advance about reducing harmful vibration and bought a good PC case All answer options are about me View the results Loading... Correct operation of the HDD will help extend its service life You can ensure the maximum service life of the hard drive if you use it correctly. Below we have summarized some tips for you. Defragmentation. Since the hard drive is used almost daily, it would be a good idea to defragment it at least once a quarter.

Overheat warning. The hard drive should not get too hot during normal operation, otherwise its service life will be significantly reduced. Do not forget to monitor the temperature of the hard drive and, if necessary, update the cooling system in the system unit or on the external HDD box. Often, simply cleaning the insides of your computer is enough.

Repairing a damaged disk. If you think that the disk is faulty, you can check it with special utilities and repair it. Sometimes reversing the magnetization of sectors allows you to bring back to life an HDD that has begun to “crumble.” Although, we do not recommend storing important data on such drives. It is better to replace them immediately and not play with fate.

SSD optimization. Those who use solid-state drives will be able to find on the pages of our website tips for optimizing SSDs, which will not only increase their service life, but also slightly improve their overall performance. Read also: 7 most capacious 2.5-inch hard drives: HDD rating of 2017

4 tips on how to properly handle hard drives and SSDs Can magnetic fields damage HDDs?

The main causes of external hard drive failures. Ways to extend their life

Those personal computer users who are tired of dealing with a constant lack of free space on their computer hard drive are now increasingly thinking about purchasing an external hard drive (hereinafter referred to as EHD). And there are many reasons for this: when you delete your favorite films and TV series, you have to almost literally tear them from your heart, from your music collections you only have to leave what you listen to most often; fans of virtual entertainment have to uninstall half-completed games that were left until better times. And for some, the volume of existing flash memory was simply no longer enough.

When we go to the Internet in search of reviews about VZD, we may encounter a decent number of horror stories telling about frequent breakdowns of these devices. And, perhaps, this will even scare someone away from purchasing this very useful device. In response, we can only say that any equipment can fail. And most often, breakdown occurs due to improper operation of the device and failure to comply with some basic rules. It is also necessary to take into account a number of factors when purchasing VZD. We will talk about these factors first.

One of the most important points is compactness. When you go to a website or come to a store, we can often see that VZDs of the same capacity can have significantly different sizes and appearances.

For example, one model may resemble in its shape and volume a slightly smaller system unit of your computer.

At the same time, another can fit, if not in the breast pocket of an office shirt (although there are some), then in the inner pocket of a denim jacket or the pockets of a pair of jackets - easily.

Hitachi HXSMEA5001ABB

After this, we may have a completely fair question: why are they so different? And do I need an additional miniature system unit at home that has an active cooling system, the fan (cooler) of which produces, although slightly, additional noise? (Now desktop versions of VZD are also actively gaining popularity, which do not use a cooler for cooling, but are limited to a well-designed ventilation system.) Or should you still save space on your desktop and buy a stylish little thing that takes up almost no space, lying on the next shelf?

It would seem that the answer is obvious. However, not everything is so simple here, and a choice made based only on appearance can lead to the fact that your new acquisition will quickly fail. This can happen if we do not take into account a number of other, equally important nuances.

Let's look at an example from everyday life. Recently, an acquaintance complained that two new external hard drives, which he bought almost simultaneously, failed within six months. Each of them had a service life of less than three months. Why did this happen? Let's figure it out.

What we have? Two miniature broken VHD form factors of 2.5 inches, with a capacity of 500 GB each. Manufacturers are different, but each of them is a recognized global brand. It seems unlikely that my friend received two defective hard drives in a row. Let's see how they were used.

Let's start with the fact that the friend I'm talking about is an active PC user and constantly works with a large amount of various data. Accordingly, he used the VZD very, very intensively - he often recorded, read and played multimedia files (movies, music, etc.). Plus, both models were constantly connected to the computer and were used with approximately the same load as the main internal hard drive.

Quite soon problems began. One VZD, when playing movies, spontaneously lost the connection to the computer, and fragments of the video file disappeared by themselves. The device began to make a loud noise and the indicator blinked. The worst thing is that copying various files from the VHD itself has stopped working. An error message began to appear: “Unable to read from the disk or file.” And, of course, according to the law of meanness, important data was stored on it, which became impossible to work with. Therefore, in order to restore them, we had to resort to the help of special workshops. And their services are far from the cheapest - restoring lost data can easily cost you an amount corresponding to the cost of a couple of high-speed railways themselves, or even significantly more. The second copy, some time after the start of operation, simply became unavailable. When trying to access it, a system message appeared: “No access to drive G. The file or folder is damaged. Reading is impossible."

The main reason for the incident was the incorrect choice of operating mode for these devices. Let's start with the fact that there are two main types of external hard drives - VZD form factor 3.5 inches and VZD form factor 2.5 inches.

TO VZD form factor 3.5 inches These include those models that are larger in size.

3.5" external hard drive

They operate using mains power, that is, they are equipped with their own power supply and a cord for connecting to an outlet. The presence of an outlet for these models is most often a prerequisite for their operation. This form factor can also be equipped with an active cooling system (a small fan inside the case that prevents the VZD from overheating). VZD of this format can be used for constant and long-term operation. Therefore, if you expect to use the device as an additional hard drive for a computer or media player, then the 3.5-inch form factor is your choice.

On the other hand, the main disadvantage of these drives is their lack of mobility. Due to its significant weight, carrying this device, even within an apartment, may not be particularly convenient. Add to this the power cord that gets tangled under your feet, the search for an outlet or extension cord to connect the device and, of course, the size - such VHDs will not fit in your pocket. These significant points make external hard drives of the 3.5-inch form factor rather inconvenient for using them as a portable mobile device such as a flash card.

But an almost ideal choice for mobile information storage would be VZD form factor 2.5 inches.

2.5" external hard drive

Their main advantages are their small size and weight with fairly large volumes of information that they can store (currently up to 1.5 TB). They fit easily into almost any pocket, do not require a power outlet, and use one small cord to power and exchange information with a computer via a USB port.

The disadvantages of this form factor, oddly enough, also stem from the small volume of the case. The absence of a normal cooling system leads to excessive overheating of the HDD, which, in turn, can cause premature failure of the device - this is exactly what happened with my friend’s hard drives. We conclude that VZD of this format needs to be purchased if we need a lightweight mobile solution, primarily for storing backup information and its prompt use. At the same time, you should not use a 2.5-inch VHD form factor as a constantly connected and constantly running hard drive - this is fraught with equipment failure. This recommendation is especially relevant on hot summer days, when the temperature outside, and for some, perhaps at home, can easily reach more than thirty degrees.

And, of course, for long-term and safe operation of your device, you must follow basic safety rules.

Rule one. Disconnection must be carried out strictly according to the instructions. If you are going to disconnect the HDD from a Windows computer, then this should be done through the menu in the notification area, also known as the system tray. In the same way as when properly disconnecting a flash card, move the cursor to the lower right corner of the screen, go to the system tray menu and right-click on the external device connection icon. Next, left-click on the “Extract” menu item. We wait for the message from the system “Equipment can be removed”, then disconnect the HDD.

Rule two. Under no circumstances should the device be allowed to fall or shake during operation. It is also highly advisable to take into account the presence of small children and pets nearby. For example, my cat loves to be next to me and lie on my lap when I work on the computer. At the same time, he really likes to twitch his paw or try the hanging and dangling wires from the keyboard, headphones, etc. He can unexpectedly jump onto the table with the monitor if something attracts him on the screen. So, with all the respect I have for the animal, I have to make sure that it is not around while working with the VZD.

Rule three. Do not allow the device to get wet. And if in winter you brought a VZD from the street, then you should not turn on the device immediately, in order to avoid the formation of condensation on the disk plates. In general, when working with a VZD, you should always remember that this is an extremely sensitive device, and treat it accordingly. Even advertised shock-resistant models simply fail if they are dropped during operation.

We should also talk about the types of connections between external hard drives and a computer.

USB 2.0 And USB 3.0 are by far the most common interfaces.

The main difference between them is that USB 3.0 is significantly faster than USB 2.0, and allows data transfer at almost the same speed as when connected via the SATA interface used by the internal hard drive. Accordingly, the cost of models that support this standard is higher than that of models using USB 2.0.

The main disadvantage of the USB 3.0 standard is its current low prevalence compared to USB 2.0. Although in the not too distant future the situation will probably change. USB 3.0 is backward compatible with the USB 2.0 standard, so working with a VHD using USB 3.0 is also possible in all systems that support USB 2.0, but the speed will be typical for USB 2.0.

Of the types of connections that are not as common as the USB standard, FireWire and eSATA interfaces are relatively common. They are found mainly among 3.5-inch VHDs and are an addition to the USB interface, although, of course, they can be used as the main type of connection, since they have a number of their own advantages over connecting via a USB port.

FireWire (IEEE 1394)- a fairly old standard, it appeared in the mid-nineties.

FireWire (IEEE 1394)

Most often, FireWire was used to capture video signals and even made it possible to process them in real time. This interface is especially popular among Macintosh computer users. For some types of operations it shows higher speed compared to USB 2.0. It has a number of internal standards that differ from each other. The use of a large number of internal standards, specifications and types of connectors makes the FireWire interface significantly less popular than connecting via a USB port. The lack of full versatility is the main disadvantage when using FireWire.

Much more promising than FireWire is the eSATA interface. eSATA is a modified version of the SATA interface, used for internal connections.

eSATA“tailored” for convenient connection of external peripherals. The presence of only one type of connector and a slightly higher data transfer speed compared to USB 3.0 make this standard the main competitor to the USB interface. The main disadvantage of eSATA is the lack of power. Therefore, an external drive when using this connection standard also requires power via a USB port or from the network.

So, let's summarize. With the huge selection that stores and manufacturing companies offer today, choosing the right device for you in terms of price, quality, appearance, data volume, etc. will not be difficult. The main thing is to correctly determine how exactly you are going to operate the VHD: if as a constantly working additional hard drive, then choose a 3.5-inch form factor VHD powered from the mains. If mobility and small size are primarily important to you, then we purchase a 2.5-inch form factor VHD, which will be sufficiently powered by a USB port.

Of all the problems that can happen to a computer, a hard drive failure is perhaps the biggest nuisance for the user. After all, a broken processor or a burnt-out power supply, although expensive, does not contain any valuable information, which cannot be said about a hard drive. So, if you want your hard drive to last a long time, and valuable electronic documents and lovely family photos to remain safe and sound, then you should pay a little attention to creating suitable conditions for the hard drive to operate. In fact, the lion's share of hard drive failures does not occur due to the natural wear and tear of its components, or even due to the fault of an unscrupulous manufacturer. Since the hard drive is the most sensitive component of a PC, it quite often fails precisely because of unsuitable operating conditions. Below are tips that you can follow to extend the life of your hard drive.

Avoid mechanical damage to the hard drive. This most often happens when transporting a computer or when replacing a hard drive. If you need to move a system unit or you bought a new hard drive and want to install it, try to do such actions very carefully. Remember that after you miss a hard drive or accidentally hit it, you will almost certainly have to take it in for repair. The Winchester is a complex electronic-mechanical device, and inside it there are moving elements that are very easy to damage if handled carelessly.
Monitor the disk temperature. Hard drives are quite sensitive to overheating, so it is recommended from time to time to monitor the temperature state of the hard drive (and other computer components) using an appropriate diagnostic program, for example AIDA 64. If the temperature of the hard drive exceeds 45 degrees, then it must be lowered urgently, since elevated temperatures sharply shorten the lifespan of the hard drive. To lower the temperature of the hard drive, you can install additional fans or other elements of the cooling system. Also make sure that the system unit is not placed in a place that could cause overheating, such as a closed, cramped desk drawer. If your laptop hard drive is overheating, a special laptop cooling pad will help solve the problem.
Keep it clean. This point is closely related to the previous one. As mentioned above, overheating is extremely destructive for hard drives, and dust inside the PC case is one of the main sources of overheating. In addition, dust accumulated on metal contacts can even cause a short circuit inside the system unit, which, as you probably understand, is unlikely to contribute to the long and stable operation of your hard drive and, in general, the entire PC. Therefore, cleaning your computer from dust should be carried out regularly, this is especially true in the hot summer.
Install HDD correctly. Despite the fact that solid-state drives are now in vogue, many users still prefer old, proven HDD drives. And for good reason - unlike SSDs, hard magnetic disk drives, that is, HDDs, do not have a limit on write cycles. This means it will last longer. But this may not happen if you secure it in the system unit somehow, and even with the lid down. The fact is that when released, all HDD drives are tested in a strictly horizontal position, with the electronics board pointing down. And this position is optimal for stable operation of the hard drive. However, if you particularly wish, you can also install the hard drive in a vertical position - this will not significantly affect performance. But if the hard drive deviates from a straight horizontal or vertical line by more than 5 degrees, its “life” can be reduced by three to four times. The same applies to installing the HDD upside down.
Reduce vibration. Almost half of all components inside the system unit are sources of vibration. The power supply fan, cooling system coolers, DVD drive motor - all these elements transmit their small mechanical vibrations through common parts of the case to other PC components. And if RAM strips are deeply indifferent to vibration, then for the mechanical component of an HDD drive, vibration is a slow death. The gap between the hard drive platter and the read head is measured in nanometers and constant vibration can lead to an increase or decrease in this gap over time, which will significantly accelerate the wear of the HDD drive. There are several methods to combat vibration inside a PC case. The most radical way is to install water cooling. Or you can replace the cooling system coolers with low-speed fans. Well, the “cheap and cheerful” method is to fasten the hard drive with screws and rubber gaskets.
Ensure stable power supply. Among other things, hard drives are also sensitive to power outages and interference in the electrical network. If such problems are often observed in your area, then you can, without hesitation, buy a voltage stabilizer, or even better, an uninterruptible power supply. But even if everything is fine with your electricity at the moment, small precautions like using a surge protector instead of a regular extension cord won’t hurt. Also, the quality of the hard drive's power supply largely depends on the quality of the power supply. Avoid buying cheap “No-name” power supplies, since a low-quality power supply can, at a minimum, break itself, and in especially serious cases, burn out the controller of your HDD. Well, of course, the power of the power supply must exceed the total power of all components inside the system unit. To roughly calculate the power of the power supply, you can use the online calculator Power Calculator, which is located on the Cooler Master website.
Always turn off your computer via Shut Down. Of course, it would hardly occur to anyone to turn off their PC by unplugging the plug from the socket, but by pressing and holding the button on the case it’s easy, especially if the user is in a hurry. So: this should not be done, since pressing the power button for more than 4 seconds is an emergency shutdown of the computer and should be used only when the computer is frozen and does not respond to anything else. If you turn it off constantly, this will contribute to accelerated wear of PC components, and especially the HDD drive.
Don't forget about defragmentation. When a hard disk is used for a long time, fragmented clusters gradually begin to form on it, as a result of which the magnetic heads of the disk have to work in an enhanced mode, which reduces the service life of the HDD. To prevent this from happening, defragment your hard drive regularly: you can do it manually or set up defragmentation on a schedule.

And one last piece of advice that applies to external hard drives connected via a USB port.

Always remove your drive using Safely Remove. In a hurry, some users pull out the USB cable of the hard drive from the computer port, not wanting to waste time. But as a result of such actions, the external drive may simply refuse to work, so first decide what is more important to you: a few seconds to “Safely Remove” or the money that you will then have to spend on repairing the drive.

Have you ever thought about the lifespan of a hard drive? How long will it serve you faithfully? I think few people ask this question until the hard drive fails and information is lost.

But you need it, believe me, this is a very unpleasant feeling, photographs, films, books, music... everything that you have collected over the years. In one moment it disappears.

It is generally accepted that a hard drive will work normally for about 5 years. But in practice, everything is not so happy. If the disk does not break within 2-3 years, then most likely it will last 5 or 7 years. But often new disks break within 2-3 years.

I would like to advise you not to tempt fate, but to save your information in advance.

Where is the best place to store information?

In cloud storage. This is an online storage located on special servers.

This method has a lot of advantages:

You no longer need to carry a flash drive with you; your information can be accessed from any computer connected to the Internet.
Synchronization with a tablet, smartphone... A very convenient thing. You took a photo or video from your phone and it automatically appears in your storage if there is Internet access. When you delete a file from your phone, it remains in the storage.
Ability to share files with friends. For each file there is a link where you can download the file if you allow it.
You can upload large files without limiting the storage period. It is possible to get space for storing files for free.
Not high prices for extra space.

Nowadays, many such services have appeared on the Internet. I recommend using Yandex Disk, it is especially convenient for those who use Yandex mail. At the same time, I am pleased with the speed of uploading and downloading files. + Special program Yandex disk for computer. A system folder will appear on your computer, moving files into which they will be automatically uploaded to the server.
Yandex often gives away additional space. Initially you will receive about 10 gigabytes.

For example, now I have 216 gigabytes, which Yandex gave me for no reason. So draw your own conclusions. For more reliable safety of information, well, for the paranoid, I recommend storing files on several services.

Read how to tell if your hard drive is reaching the end of its lifespan, how to prevent a possible failure and not lose important data. Computer technologies have become so firmly established in our daily lives that many can no longer imagine a day without them. They are used for work and play, covering various aspects of our lives. The main result of the development of computer technology is personal computers. They are involved in many production processes, the development and creation of a diverse array of information, assist in learning, are used to obtain and store various information, are used for leisure and games, etc.

Content:

The essence of the problem

A logical continuation of personal computers are additional devices that are used by the user depending on the need. Laptops allow the user to always have at hand a full-fledged personal computer, made in a portable (mobile) version. It has all the advantages of a desktop computer and allows the user to process any amount of data, regardless of its structure and content (working with documents, processing video files, editing images, creating projects and presentations, and much more). Modern mobile phones are not only a means of communication, but also serve as small pocket personal computers used to solve various tasks.

Manufacturers of personal computers and components for them are constantly striving to improve their products. And they regularly offer users more modern devices that have a greater range of capabilities compared to previous versions.

An important element of personal computers, along with the performance and speed of information processing, is the amount of hard drive memory, which is used as user data storage.

Each of us has valuable files such as personal documents, photos, videos or audio files, and we usually store them on hard drives. Few people know that most electronic storage devices, including hard drives, have a fairly limited lifespan compared to more ancient methods of storing information, such as stone, papyrus, paper, etc. The average service life of a stationary hard drive today is about 5 – 10 years, depending on the type of drive and its manufacturer. And this period quickly decreases if the drive is subject to strong fluctuations in temperature, humidity and movement, because it is not stationary.

Since most people today own laptops and external hard drives that are moved around quite often, the realistic lifespan of a hard drive is probably around 3 – 5 years. This is a very short time to securely store important data.

In the best case scenario, a hard drive deteriorates gradually, giving you the opportunity to quickly respond to changes in the drive's performance, copy your data, and replace the storage device before a fatal failure occurs and the hard drive becomes permanently damaged. There are many signs that indicate the gradual failure of your hard drive.

If you don't know how long your hard drive will last, then read this article. We will try to list the main signs that will help you identify the approaching disappointing ending (complete collapse of the hard drive), so that such a problem does not take you by surprise at the most inopportune moment.

Slow computer response, frequent freezes, blue screen of death

These are very non-specific symptoms and can be caused by a million different things. However, no matter what is causing these symptoms, we recommend that you create a backup immediately. If these problems occur after performing new installations or in Safe Mode "Windows", then it's almost certainly due to bad hardware and possibly impending hard drive failure.

Corrupted data

If you start finding files that won't open and are corrupted, even if they are saved without errors, or files suddenly disappear suddenly, then you should be concerned. While, again, this could be due to a variety of other issues, it is also a typical sign of gradual hard drive failure.

Increasing number of bad sectors

Bad sectors are areas of the hard drive that do not maintain data integrity. They are automatically masked by the operating system and are therefore difficult to identify, especially in cases where large disks are used. Therefore, if you are actually facing bad sectors, it is definitely a bad sign.

You can run a manual disk check to identify errors that the operating system "Windows" I haven't noticed yet. IN "Windows 10", and earlier versions of the operating system, open File Explorer "This computer" and right-click on the drive or partition you want to check. Select a section from the pop-up menu "Properties".

In the window that opens, go to the tab "Service" and press the button "Check…".

Additional in the operating system "Windows" you can check for errors in the file system and the presence of bad sectors using a standard application "chkdsk".

Strange noises

When you hear strange noises coming from your hard drive, it may already be too late. The repeating sound, also known as the click of death, is caused by the disk head as it tries to write data and stops due to errors while doing so. Grinding or squealing noises indicate that parts of the equipment, such as bearings or the spindle motor, have become unusable.

"S.M.A.R.T." data

There are tools designed to assess the health of a hard drive and predict when it will fail. Technology "S.M.A.R.T." is a self-monitoring, analysis and reporting technology that monitors the main characteristics of the drive, giving each its own reliability rating. Unfortunately, like most of the other methods listed above, technology "S.M.A.R.T." unreliable in predicting hard drive failure. Very often, a hard drive disaster occurs before a warning is received. "S.M.A.R.T." Check "S.M.A.R.T." status of your hard drive, and if you see the corresponding error, then there is a high probability that your disk will be completely damaged in the near future.

I think my hard drive is failing, what should I do?

So, are you concerned that a possible hard drive failure is imminent? True, even if you don’t think about it, you most likely will not be able to avoid a possible hard drive failure. The only thing you can do in this situation is to regularly back up your data to a second hard drive. The chance of both drives failing at the same time is very slim. An exception may be fatal circumstances or natural disasters such as floods or fires. In these cases, it is better to store a copy of your most important data in another physical location, such as an office or on a remote server (for example, using an online data backup solution).

Try to prevent possible failure of your hard drive

Don't rely on signs of hard drive failure or various software that can tell you whether your drive is at risk of failure. This will most likely happen unexpectedly and without any warning signs. Instead of trying to predict a possible failure, you should take care of regularly creating backup copies of your data. In this case, you will be prepared for possible troubles.