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How long will a hard drive last?

R

rc5

Platinum Member
I have a WD 6.4GB HD running in my pc 7/24 since 1998. Does anyone know how long it will last? It doesn't show any bad thing so far.
 
The WD drives of that era were famous for failing, but I'm not sure the 6.4 was the one with the firmware that made the drive make really harsh grinding sounds all the time. 😀

If you made it this far it should keep going.
 
I think I've been lucky, but I've never outlasted any of my hard drives -- upgraded before they had their final crash. Longest time - 5 years. I do know of others who've dead crashed after a few months to a coupla years. 🙁
 
dont forget to lubricate the restistor pack, and rotate the motor bearings, and your hard drive will last at least 10 years! Most people dont know about proper maintenance and tune-up's for their hard drives.


 


<< I just RMAed a 60GB 5400RPM WD, new record for longevity. 1 whole week. >>


lol, that's gotta suck. 🙂 I guess some HD's last longer than others.....
 
And use a balancing utility to write weight files to the platters so it stays balanced, the bearings will last longer and it will be quieter.
 
Well, a lot of people don't know how to clean the platters properly. You see, when the drive spins up, it's common for small metal shavings from the housing to get on the platters. I recommend getting a large horseshoe magnet and using it to get the filings off the platters...that way you don't have to touch the platters and take a chance on damaging them or losing data...
 
Sorry guys...I'm going for a serious answer now....

Hard drives will last all different amounts of time. Since there are so many moving parts inside, it's hard to say exactly how long it will last. A good thing to compare it with is the engine in your car. You know it's running smoothly now, but who knows...tomorrow you may start your car and the timing belt may break causing the engine to crawl to a stop (damaging everything on its way to that stop). So we can't say exactly how long. I've seen some hard drives that are 15 years and older, they're just not worth anything because they're 10meg drives. Just remember, if you start to hear loud popping sounds, that's the most common sound when a drive fails. I usually descibe it as &quot;popping&quot;, &quot;clicking&quot;, or the sound of dropping ballbearings on concrete. I hope that helps.
 
In the past three months, I RMA two 6.4 gig Western Digital ata 33 drives on separate ocassions. See a pattern...
 


<< And use a balancing utility to write weight files to the platters so it stays balanced, the bearings will last longer and it will be quieter. >>



LOL!!

I have a 425MB WD that's still spinning in my proxy server, has been running for ~ 6 years total time.. 🙂

Bought it new.. for $325.00! 😱
 
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